While in it's alpha stage, King Arthur's Gold is an experiment with resource gathering and action oriented survival combat. Does the king deliver his weight in gold, or will the game topple with the amount of features KAG promises to deliver?
Presentation:
When I jumped into the tutorial it was simple and easy to follow. I quickly picked up that you can harvest materials and dig the earth to build structures and weapons. There are few keys to manage controls and it's nice and simple. In a matter of minutes, I felt ready to jump into multiplayer, cause that's what this game is really for.
I first opened a Zombie Fortress map, cause I wanted to test out my survival skills. There's no music playing, just a calm breeze and the twitter of birds as the zombies feast. I tried to build a quick fortress, but it turned out, building required combining certain materials that I didn't have. Some materials can take quite awhile to harvest and then if you die, you have to gather all the resources again. Did I just see zombies with jetpacks and dynamite?
Gameplay:
Multiplayer has several game modes: Capture the flag, Zombie Fortress, war, deathmatch, and free build. I can't see the free build mode becoming that appealing unless there is a graphical and content update. For now, the other modes are worth jumping into.
I mostly played Rapid Team Deathmatch. You start by a tent on the edge of the map and choose your class. I chose to play as the archer, which I noticed is way under balanced at the moment. As a knight, you get a shield, a much more powerful attack, and a bomb. The bombs are necessary for what makes the deathmatch fun and can often turn the tide of battle into your favor, even in dire situations.
What makes the gameplay more interesting is the role of physics. Each battlemap is different, and includes large structures and caverns. If the support of these structures is compromised, you might have a load of gibing body pieces flying through the air as players are crushed by toppling rocks.
Closing Comments:
King Arthur's Gold is in it's Alpha state, but already it feels like a well crafted experience. The official site explains the new features and content coming to those that pre-order the game today. There is also a free version of the game that is fun enough to play right now. I'm looking forward to seeing the full release, but I hope they consider improving the graphics first. I'm a fan of pixel art and it just bothered me that these pixels were a bit too pixeld, I'd pick pixels that were less pixily. Say that 5 times fast
Rating | Description
8 - Presentation
I got exactly what I was looking for. It was clean and easy to understand, but not too flashy.
6 - Graphics
I like the pixels, just bump it up a notch. I enjoyed building and exploring, just not looking at what I built.
7 - Sound
I noticed only one midi, but the sound effects appeared when they were needed.
8 - Gameplay
Gameplay can be fun and varied. Deathmatch took the cake and always has the most people playing. Connection issues cut me off several times.
8 - Lasting Appeal
I'm going to play again and I want to see the updates. That's good enough to keep me around.
8.0 - Overall
The overall score is not an average, but it does reflect how much we enjoyed the game. Games between the score of 7 - 9 are favorable. Games that get a rating of 9.0 are a must buy.
