It’s rather surprising that I missed the first Swords and Soldiers given my longstanding love for the RTS genre, on which I cut my teeth back in the days of Command & Conquer via the hundreds of hours of play I sank into each of the original masterpieces (until EA took it over and made a veritable wreck of the franchise… sorry EA). Nevertheless, I was excited to see a review code for the sequel sitting on my desk recently, and I’m pleased to report that my time with the game has been quite enjoyable.
Better known as the developers of the smash hit Awesomenauts, Ronimo has already proven that they know their art and they have a great sense of humor. But with Swords and Soldiers II, their grasp of the fundamentals of real-time strategy balance and pacing is the real story. Many headlines have been written regarding the developer’s “simplification” of RTS principles to create the uniquely accessible concoction that is Swords and Soldiers (including the one with which I began this article). And it’s true that the game is most certainly the product of a distillation of RTS ingredients (the reduction of battlefield complexity from planar to linear, the removal of unit command issuance, the simplification of the skill tree, the relative lack of base construction as a primary gameplay element). However, simple it is not; in fact, the biggest differences as compared to the modern RTS are 1) the length of a typical battle and 2) the amount of time and effort required to become proficient with the game’s basic concepts. In other words, the biggest difference is accessibility.
So yeah, sure, it’s nothing like the Major League Gaming likes of StarCraft II or even the somewhat less-sophisticated C&C series of my youth. But for those who enjoy the clever micromanagement and tense resource planning and deployment that is the hallmark of the genre, Swords and Soldiers II is sure to please, especially at an undeniably palatable $20 MSRP.
The best way to grasp a sense of how the game functions is certainly to look up a quick gameplay video. But to quickly explain the design: players command a “home base” on either the left or right side of a two-dimensional linear battlefield. As (most) units are produced, they move in a straight line at their particular pace toward the enemy’s base, stopping only when encountering some sort of resistance, whether it’s an enemy unit (which they will automatically attack), an enemy barrier (which they will also attack), or something else environmental.
With very few exceptions, it is not possible to control the movement of your units; they simply continue their trek forward until they’re either killed or interrupted (or until you win). Rather, you’re more preoccupied instead with managing the order and frequency of production of these units, commanding your resource gatherers to pick up supply drops (optionally), and firing off supplemental skills.
Speaking of resources, there’s two in total: gold and mana. Gold is used to purchase units and what structures do exist (such as guard towers, cannons, etc.), and mana is used to activate skills and spells. Your resource gatherers will automatically ping-pong repeatedly between your base and the nearby gold/mana mine without your intervention, but you can also highlight supply drops elsewhere on the battlefield for a quick infusion of gold or mana (or both) at the risk of venturing a bit further into perilous territory and possibly being attacked in the process (painful flashbacks to Harvesters ensue).
As is always the case with resource management, it is a secondary activity which is overshadowed by the more immediately pressing concern of needing to advance upon your enemy, which in the case of Swords and Soldiers II is really quite the same thing as playing defense against his ever-advancing armies (since the production of a unit immediately invokes advancement on your foe’s territory). This forced movement of combat-capable units is the biggest contributing factor in S&S2’s truncated battle lengths, which nearly always are under ten minutes in duration.
But don’t let it fool you into thinking that there isn’t much a player can do to influence the flow of the battle. Thanks to the wide array (dozens) of units available—ranging from basic grunts to ranged units, healers, invisible stealth pieces, suicidal demons, and countless others—plus the equally expansive assortment of player skills—attack skills, healing skills, unit flow disrupters, bribery, trickery, and more—there’s actually an overwhelming sense of choice at hand during the typical contest.
There’s also the aforementioned variable that is player skills/spells, which accomplish everything from grouping all of your units together at the next-most enemy to striking units with deadly lightning to even bribing units (using mana and gold) to fight for your cause instead. And although the game is certainly linear in the strictest sense, there are occasional branching paths which require you to switch a nearby sign to indicate which way oncoming troops will walk upon reaching them. This, of course, is the foundation of a good RTS: the excitement of forging your own unique style for victory alongside the anxiety of requisite fast-paced decision-making. And S&S2 undeniably has plenty of that dichotomous duo.
Most of my time with the game was spent in single-player because the game curiously does not feature an online component. Versus matches can be played in local multiplayer, and they do work quite smoothly (and are likely a lot of fun when two experienced players are involved). But if you aren’t in a position to play regularly against other nearby humans, you’ll have to stick to the single-player campaign and the skirmish missions, both of which hold their own sort of unique appeal. The skirmishes are just that: pick a faction, ready your skills and unit selections, and get to battling. The AI seems pretty capable in fact; it’s certainly smarter than I am in my current form, so that’s saying something I suppose.
As for the campaign, it’s glued together by a world map where, for the most part, your progress is linear through the areas (though some extra missions appear from time to time). In this mode, you’ll actually be experiencing a mixture of factions, with even some units from different alignments fighting on the same teams at times. There’s also a wonderful voice-acted interlude between missions featuring a drunken war veteran recovering from injuries sustained during the first Swords and Soldiers. The humor is frequently hilarious and stupid all at once, but the game is all the better for it. Between Al’Yucaneet and the legendary sacred barbecue sauce after which the Vikings quest, the lighthearted presentation of S&S2 makes it a pleasure to progress and see what ridiculousness awaits you.
Unfortunately, while it’s lots of fun, the campaign doesn’t last much longer than McLongLife’s tenure; that is to say, it’ll probably occupy most players for six to eight hours, depending on how much time and effort they put into seeing all the missions and indulging in the optional battles that intersplice the primary ones. Still, for 20 bucks, that’s not a terrible proposition—and the game retains its appeal throughout most of the adventure thanks to the new units and other situational variations that it tosses the player’s way.
In the realm of presentation, Swords and Soldiers II is a big winner. The art is both hilarious and beautiful, featuring lively character designs and vivid backgrounds that leverage layers and parallax scrolling-style effects to dazzle the eye in spite of its two-dimensional linear nature. The soundtrack is equally commendable, leveraging catchy compositions that don’t intrude into the foreground of the experience too heavily, but which nevertheless are well written and themed appropriately (primarily it’s orchestral-style affair with quality synthesis and samples).
While it’s nothing epic or particularly lengthy, S&S2 will scratch the itch for the average RTS Wii U owner, and it’s easy enough to pick up and play for short sessions to qualify it as a reasonable investment, even if you only decide to indulge in relatively short spurts.