PSP | DOS | Retro | DIY | Offtop
|
Blood and Magic(DOS, 1996)
Blood & Magic is a real time strategy game set in the fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons - Forgotten World. 
A group of warriors raid the necromancer's lair located on the local graveyard. The game story is divided into a couple of separate campaigns with raising difficulty, each consisnting of 3 missions. Every campaign starts with selection of one of opposide two sides - this basically means you can play each scenario twice. At the beginning of each mission you gain control of a couple of base units called Basal Golems and a Blood Forge. This is an unique object (building?) letting you create new golems at the cost of the only game resource - Mana. Golems on the other hand have a very unique ability - they automatically transform to Mana-generating obelisks every time when staying in a place. 
Golems in their static obelisk form slowly generate Mana energy, but player's intervention can speed up the process. Golems have also other transformation options to buildings and combat units. To build a structure, four of basal golems have to stay on a special foundation site - only then transformation to a building is allowed. You can choose from a various types of buildings, for example barracks, temple or crypt. This will affect the types of units you can produce here. Once you control a building, you will get an ability to transform the golems into more powerful creatures. This require you to move the golem next to the building. Selecting one of the available creature transformation turns the golem into some kind of a cocoon (Metapod). After a while a creature of your choice hatches from the Metapod. The pool of available transformations depends on the type of structure. 
A lone golem stuck in the pod slowly transforming in combat unit. Each unit can also wield one of many artifacts found during the game. Usually they just lie on the ground or are hidden inside the destructible scenery or buildings. Artifacts can be usable or grant some additional effects, like water-walking. Additionally, the terain on which the units stand can also affect their properties, like attack or defense ability or even speed. Skillful unit positioning can significally affect the battle result, especially in 1 on 1 fights. 
Troops stationing on the rough terrain get defence boost at the cost of mobility. Player's actions, such as creating new units or killing enemies also increase the experience gauge. This in turn allow you to 'research' new, more powerful forms of transformation for your golems. The game was released at the peak of popularity of RTG genre, but it never gained large attention, mostly due to its competitors (B&M was released 4 days after the C&C sequel: Red Alert), but also due to its general quality. Summary: Charming but a bit too rough
Blood and Magic, Tachyon Studios/Interplay, PC (DOS) 1996 P.S. For all you interested in how the Forgotten Realms could look from an RTS perspective: instructions on how to run B&M on modern systems can be found on this awesome site: http://brut.me/viewforum.php?f=48 ------------ It is my first entry in the "Probably forgotten" series, where I plan to recall some less popular titles of the '90s, that I myself almost forgot ;) |
PSP regional codes