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More complex than Kohan 1, but not quite as fun

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

At first I really enjoyed Kohan 2. As the campaign wore on, I began to wonder if I'd ever play as the shadow. I didn't, but I always build maps to play as well, so that didn't worry me.

OK, several things Kohan 1 had that this doesn't and I want it:
1. Khaldunite golems - I loved those units
2. Slaanri as a playable race - Totally removed except for 2 units that anyone can get.
3. The really big evil monsters - The strongest monster you can get now excluding Abbadon is a dragon, and not much of them
4. Independently moving units - By this I mean the monsters and units which have no control mechanism. Some may build more lairs, but that's it. The monsters are strictly defensive. If they have no lair, you must engage. If they do, they'll engage only when you go to the lair. I personally thing this a step backwards. I liked being able to generate shadow lords, khaldunite golems and having critters like Ceyahdev to wander around at random killing things.
5. Technology cheats - You can only have so many kinds of tech and then no more.
6. This ties in with number 5. There are actually fewer specialized units. I just liked the choice.

Not to say there wasn't a lot I liked. It's just that what they got rid of was some of the stuff I liked best about Kohan 1.

Not Groundbreaking but Worth a Look

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: February 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Kohan II is a Real Time Strategy with a wide selection of units and races and some fairly interesting gameplay mechanics. Though in many ways it seems a mishmash of other RTS games, it has a couple twists to it that make it more of its own game.

The game takes place in an epic fantasy land. There is a vast campaign mode that covers the many different races present in the game. The sides in the war are defined both by what race a group is and what affiliation they hold. Races in the game include Humans, Drauga (a warlike tribal race similar in some ways to orcs), Gauri (a stone-based race similar in theory to Dwarves but influenced more by Sumerian culture), Haroun (nature-worshipping elves), Shadows (demons and their worshippers), and the Undead. Each race has a couple different affiliations available, as well. Royalists get bonuses in combat. Nationalists have bonuses in more supply-related areas. Council followers get a reduction to structure costs. Ceyah, or exiles, can entrench and run faster to support their guerilla warfare. The Fallen - the dark forces that seek to invade the world - can see farther and are more resilient than the other groups.

The races have similarities and differences. All groups use the same basic formula for units and buildings; both are reminiscent of Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth's particular style. Buildings are constructed in settlements - towns or cities that can only be built on certain spots. These settlements have a limit to the number of structures they can hold, which necessitates upgrading. Upgrading also increases the strength of the city's walls. Building structures allows you to access new technologies and new unit types. Units are grouped into "companies" of 4 to 8 units. Unit types include melee soldiers like swordsmen and pikemen, ranged units like archers, and support units like catapults, engineers, healers, and mages. Aside from the homogenous regular companies, it is also possible to create custom companies that mix and match several unit groups. Companies are led either by a generic captain or a hero. Heroes give bonuses to the units they command, and can also gain experience from combat. In non-Campaign missions, the number of heroes can be set and all are available from the start to be attached to a unit.

Resources come in two varities: Gold, which can be stockpiled, and miscellaneous materials like wood, iron, and stone that are done with a different mechanic. Both types are generated by certain buildings. Gold is used to pay directly for units. Materials, however, are necessary to keep them. For example, training a cavalry company costs gold and wood. For the gold, you can simply wait until you have the amount that you need. Wood, on the other hand, will be generated in a certain amount by buildings like sawmills. Non-upgraded sawmills generate 6 wood. A lancer unit costs 4 wood. So basically as long as that company is alive it will consume 4 of the 6 wood units generated by a sawmill. Resource collectors can be built either in towns or on resource deposits outside of towns. Inside of towns, resource collecting buildings can either be upgraded to make more of their resource, or upgraded to markets to get gold at a slight cost to the resource. Which to do - keeping in mind the limited space in each town - is an important tactical decision.

Combat consists of companies clashing against each other. The front line will engage first, with the leader providing support. When the front line is destroyed, the leader will come under attack. There are several options for combat. Formation can be changed, basically trading speed for power or vice versa. Morale can falter in dire circumstances, causing the unit to rout until it recovers. There are also strengths and weaknesses for each unit; for example, cavalry can easily ride down archers. The other main thing about combat is supply areas. This is an area around towns and outposts where friendly units can heal and replenish their lost members. It is better to fight close to your towns and outposts so that you can get this bonus, or you can go there to recover after a battle. Furthermore, the maps are littered with important sites; settlement points where new towns can be built (once the point's monster inhabitants are removed), creature lairs and bandit camps that can be attacked and destroyed for gold, for research bonuses, and to ensure safe passage through the wilderness, and resource points where engineers can construct mines.

As a whole, the gameplay works pretty well. While it is complex, the nuances and options available make the experience pretty interesting. I think the main problem is pacing - the game starts to slow down once you go through your starting gold, and apart from finding gold deposits out in the wilderness there's not a lot you can do to speed it up. The races do have their own little unique touches despite keeping the same basic formula.

The graphics in this game are reminiscent of Warcraft 3, though not as cartoony. The game uses the same style and the same "animated head in portrait" that WC3 uses. Overall, they're pretty good, and the colors are bright and identifiable to avoid confusion during play. There's not a lot that's really spectacular about them - I wouldn't say that they're great by any means - but they do the job and they look pretty nice too. The sound is about the same - it's good, but not great. It's serviceable, if anything. The music is an exception, as the composition is really nice. The voice acting is bland, and tends to be over-enunciated, but doesn't have a lot of active problems.

As a whole, this game is pretty good. It's not groundbreaking, and it's not fantastic in any particular field, but it's a pretty solid package. It's worth a look if you're a fan of either Warcraft III or Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, but don't expect anything extraordinary.

Rating: 6/10.

Kind of bland.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game kind of stands on its own amongst other RTS games like Dawn of War, and Warcraft which makes it kind of difficult to objectively review it. It's good in it's own right I suppose, but it's a little too simplistic. You can be really tactical with the game by choosing what terrain to fight on and how to build up your units and towns, but there's rarely ever any need for fast thinking once you have a good understanding of what works. The same strategies are going to come in to play over and over again and there's very little skill involved after implementing these tactics. This may hold true to other RTS games too, but there's a certain chaos factor that forces you to think differently and adjust your strategies in those games that you won't find in Kohan. It is a breath of fresh air when compared to your standard RTS but there's simply no flair to draw me back to playing it. A decent game if you can find it cheap and it really isn't "bad" but in no way shape or form do I see how anybody could give this game a 5/5.

Real "strategy" gamers will like this

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you like to tell every spellcaster when to cast his spell, every peasant exactly what to do, and where every building should be placed, this game is not for you. If you enjoy telling your peasants to cut another tree 10 yards away from the tree they just cut down, this game is not for you. If you enjoy clicking the mouse around quickly to have your military units dodge cannons, catapults, and slow-firing ranged artillery, this game is not for you.

If you are single-player minded and do not care about the online experience, there are better single-player RTS games (though I thought this one was OK though not at the "top").

However, If you want an RTS game that focuses on strategy, where to attack, and when to attack, without the managing of the insanely annoying details of most current RTS games, this is THE game for you. The online community is very competitive (though not extremely large), and will provide one of the best multiplayer experiences you can find even several years after release. Players that like and are good at this game tend to be college age / 20ish and older. It requires more thought and isn't as "twitchy" as the other RTS games.

I've played all the RTS games (some for a really long time), but I always come back to Kohan because I simply do not enjoy all the micromanagement and/or lack of strategy of the other RTS games.

The RTS for the Strategic Minded

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I decided to write a review for this game as I did not feel that the other reviews gave it justice. You just can not compare this game to games like Warcraft 3, Warhammer, etc. as it's not your typical RTS.

This is the game for the Turn Based Strategists who want to play an RTS. Most RTS's really aren't for the Tacticians / Strategists - they are more geared towards the good micromanagers and quick minded. Kohan 2 is not the same - it's in real time but is more slow paced and requires more strategy.

The main review on here does this game justice in terms of the game basics. However, there is more strategy involved in this game then other reviews have noted. My guess is that none of these others have even played this game online... it's much complex than they describe.

Terrain makes a difference (for example, forest gives you increased defense from archers), flanking is very important as the physically weaker but important units (like mages) are in the rear of the battle, and your companies formation makes a difference as well (you need to know when to switch from one to the other - some are better for movement while others for battle). Also, there are many different units to combine together... There is a strategy involved in just the types of companies to build (some work better against certain races or units). What I'm trying to get to here is that there is much more strategy / tactics involved that your typical RTS.

The only drawback to this game is the multiplayer community is not very large. However, most are consistent players leading to some good, large battles (most games are team games).

The single player is only decent (hence the other bad reviews). If you are strictly looking for a single player experience, I'd say this is a good one but there are much better ones.

I have been playing this game for over a year now (online) and I am still playing it. This game is still the best RTS there is for the strategic minded.

Fun while it lasted, but not good to the last drop

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed the first campaign, the 'Kings of War' campaign I geuss it's called, but I was very disappointed when I beat the first campaign and found that there is NO bad-guy campaign.

Before I go on, even with the negatives, this was STILL a VERY FUN game that I would recommend to anyone who likes strategy/RTS/ect.

It's really strange because right from the start of the game through the game they give you a taste of the bad guys by letting you play them for like 3 levels, but mostly it's just running away or scouting, not actual strategic Kohan combat (Khombat? lol)

I dl'd the update thinking MAYBE I just needed to DL another campaign, but nothing.....no bad-guy campaign.

I mean, honest, I expected there to be a campaign with each race before I played, and when I realized all of the good races are tied into the Kings of War campaign I figure the Shadow and Undead must similarly be tied into a....Shadow of the War campaign.

Also I was hoping someone had made custom maps and put them on the internet somewhere, but to no avail. None I've found yet at least.

Fun while it lasted, but not good to the last drop.

Maybe if I can find some custom maps I can redeem the replayability value....=-)

what a total an utter let down

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 15
Date: February 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

what a disappointment this game has turned out to be. A tremendous fan of the original and its expansion, I was really looking forward to the sequel. (considering the advancements in graphics that have been made)

to begin let me start on what is good about the game,

The AI of the computer units seem to be good, however this is countered with the poor AI of your friendly units. some of my men just stand around when their is work to be done. However, this should not surprise me because when ever I click on the engineers the voice acting lets out a complaint somewhat along the line of "oh man, more work?!" in such a tone that I just grit my teeth. I work all day with people who complain about doing work, I don't need my computerized army complaining about building a fort or marching off to their death. fortunately you can shut this off. Long gone is the original " I will not let my people down ! " from the first game.

ok now lets move on to what is bad.

1. clutter- the viewing area is blocked by some much junk from the bottom information panel which is greatly oversized, to the units id which appears as a giant circle that hovers over the unit.
the overview map sits cockeyed in the lower left corner just taking up space. next to it is a ridiculous cartoon head of the main character in the unit you have selected.

2. asinine looking units and weapons. Although I enjoy fantasy, I don't thing a crossbow should be a plasma cannon in disguise, a plasma cannon the size of a shoulder launched rocket that is. The character running around are huge and disproportionate, taking on the look of the units from warcraft which I never particularly cared for. the arms on some of the men are gigantic and look foolish.

3. upgrades don't seem to have any noticeable effect, your units are just better but it is nothing you will notice on the map. even if you could see your idiotic looking units improve on the map, the unit id icon mentioned above would be blocking your men.

If you are looking for a good RTS game look no further than Rome Total War ! that game has it right.Where on the earlier total war games I did not play the tactical battles on Rome I have played almost all. The battles on that game are what I am looking for. Every man that is killed in the battle will have his body left on the field, as a result, by the end the carnage is all over the place, it is tremendous to see.
the battles are nothing short of spectacular, and you can actually manage and control your units in combat zooming in or out (something that Kohan 2 is also lacking)

I could go on and on with other things that I don't like or enjoy but I feel that I have already given this game to much of my time. I am not sure what the rest of you are looking for in a game, I would just like to warn a few people from falling into the trap that I fell into on this game, with the gaming magazine reviews of 78% and 3.5 stars out of 5. I was thinking I would enjoy this since I liked the original so much, figuring the original would be improved on, however, the game may play like the original, but does not feel like it in the least bit

Solid

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: January 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There is really no better way to describe this game than 'solid'. The graphics are n't great, but OK. The gameplay is not super addictive, but OK. The story (and story telling) is not the best I've ever seen, but in most cases, it gets the job done. The game has good production values.

There just is a little something the game lacks. The tacticts are just not quite tactical enough. If everything else fails, speed up the time and wait until you have maxed out your army and tech trees. The tech trees are interesting, but most of the time, you just max things out as individual advantages are not obvious enough (OK, so have have a +10 attack bonus... but how do I really see that? I have flaming arrows, but there is no visible clue?) to make them worth considering. You never find yourself researching just one more thing that will allow you to do X so your plan works out. The plan always is to send out troops in masses and pull units back when they get to weak. Researching never truely influences that plan a lot. You just may have to pull back and wait for some more research to up your stats, and then re-try your 'plan'.

The game is also a bit slow-paced. I found myself playing at 200% time acceleration a lot.

Nevertheless, the game is compelling enough to keep me playing (all the way through the campaign in fact). It just can't quite compete with current top-titles like Warhammer.

the biggest waste of money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 12
Date: January 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

wow...this is so much like the warcraft battlechest that its not even worth buying. i mean, you have hero units that don't die, gain experience and cast spells. just go out and get the battlechest for about half the price and voila...you have Kohan two.

if i could, i would get my money back

Great game, a good buy!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: December 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Among real-time strategy (RTS) games distributed today, I would put this game next to Warcraft 3. It is really that good! I really enjoy the economy model, the heroes, and the units. Graphic is excellent and gameplay is straightfoward and simple. Of course, if I had to buy *only* one RTS game now, I would buy Warcraft 3 BattleChest.

But life is good and I could buy other games as well. This game is a lot like a Warcraft 3 clone. You basically create a group of soldiers led by a powerful hero (called a Kohan) to seek battle and wreak havoc. Different heros/Kohans can be recruited, and each have certain powers that can benefit the entire group. The group is called a company, and is composed of a frontline (tanks), a hero, and some support units (e.g., archers, mages, healers, etc). Kohan 2 takes away the micro-management during battle. All you do is create your group, position it, and send it to attack when you're ready. The computer AI will do the rest. There is no micro-management of the individual unit during battle. I think this is a great thing, since this will streamline gameplay during large skirmishes with over 50 units.

The main difference between this game and Warcraft 3 is the economy structure. As you know, the Warcraft series require you to take down forest and mine gold and other resources. In Kohan 2, you do not need to take down forests. Instead, you can generate resources from within your city by building the appropriate structures. For example, in my city, I could choose to build a woodmill, which will give me more wood. This is important, because certain unit depends on wood (like archers). A deficiency in a resource will hamper the ability to support certain units and the overall power of the army. On the other hand, a surplus is a good thing, as it can not only benefit the army, but also there is an option to set up an "export system" to exchange extra resources for gold. In order to decisively win this game and other RTS game, a good economy is a must, and I'm glad to see Kohan 2 has implemented a good model for it.

In closing, this is an excellent alternative to Warcraft 3. The story-line takes a back step though. It's really very simple (good vs evil, blah blah blah). There are about the same amount of races to play as well. Strangely, in Kohan 2, the dwarves are known as Guari and the Elves are called Haroun. I don't get that. The races have units that are unique to them (elves have powerful archers and so forth). The animation is good, and sometimes it's just fun to see the screen filled with 100 units battling it out. Just pure mayhem! If you want a change from Warcraft, give this game a try.

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