Dawn of Fantasy is a MMORTS, otherwise known as a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game. It was developed by Reverie World Studios and published by 505 Games. Currently, the game retails for $39.99, but is on sale for $19.99. It is set in the typical high fantasy world and puts players in the shoes of one of three races: Humans, Orcs, or Elves. Will Dawn of Fantasy offer up something new and unique for experienced veterans of the genre? More importantly, how will it treat someone who hasn’t played a traditional RTS since the original Command and Conquer?
Dawn of Fantasy takes place in the mythical land of (I swear I’m not making this up) Mythador. Despite the laughable name of the world in which Dawn of Fantasy takes place, there’s a shocking amount of passable back-story. From the descriptions of the different lands you can establish your kingdom in to the quest descriptions and dialogue with NPCs, there’s a lot to take in. While it’s well written, it’s very bland. It’s a generic world filled with generic races fighting a generic war. It’s a shame too. This could have been something truly unique and special, but instead it falls flat on its face in the story department. Of course, one could argue that I’m being too harsh. Why does an MMORTS need a sweeping narrative when players are responsible for crafting the world around them? My counter argument would fall along the lines of “Why not?” If a team of writers is going to put that much effort in creating a back-story, why not take it the extra step and give the game some kind of structure as you proceed? One that is a little more engrossing than “Kill the random spawns of Goblins in the area to recruit more peasants.” Tell me why the three races hate each other. Introduce some main characters set the stage for the skirmishes and the player advances.
Speaking of peasants, they’re some of the ugliest creations this side of the digital plane. Understandably, polygon counts are going to be low on the numerous minions that populate this world. However, once you get up close, it’s embarrassing how poorly rendered they are. Some barely have faces or details on their clothing. Of course, one shouldn’t be playing Dawn of Fantasy in a zoomed-in intimate nature. This is a game of wide spread carnage, and it looks its best when fully zoomed-out. Of course, this isn’t that far and I was left wanting as I always felt I couldn’t see enough of what was happening at one time. Graphically, it still isn’t astounding even on the highest settings, but it’s passable. Orcs look like Orcs, Humans look like Humans, and Elves look like Humans in green.
Don’t look at us Mi’lord. The chemical burns stole our beauty.
That’s better Mi’lord. Now our soulless faces won’t haunt your dreams.
Dawn of Fantasy comes with a multitude of game modes including: Kingdom Wars, Online Kingdom, Skirmish Mode, and Scenario Design.
Scenario Design allows players to craft a world with rules as unique as their map. Once created, a map can be played both online and off.
Skirmish Mode comes in two varieties, Lay Siege and Stronghold Defense. For quick pickup and play, Skirmish Mode is the way to go. There’s nothing extra to worry about besides killing the enemy king if you’re attacking or wiping out the enemy forces if you’re defending. Skirmish Mode was by far my favorite of the four modes to play as it wasn’t terribly complicated. There was no concern about maintaining an economy or recruiting troops and building barracks. It allowed me indulge my fantasy of a medieval blitzkrieg. Granted, my planning could have used some work as I tended to destroy my battering rams before making it to the final barrier. Despite my incompetency as an armchair general, this was a blast to play as I flooded the enemy fortress and overran their defenses, laughing maniacally the entire time.
Kingdom Wars takes place on a world map and very much resembles a famous board game of world domination. Starting out, players will chose their initial city. There are a handful of ways to claim victory, but all ultimately wind down to taking over the world. Players must be careful not to enrage other races or the entire world too quickly or they will soon find themselves like the Nazis towards the end of World War II. There’s an economy to manage, alliances to be made, and enemies to conquer. While this sounds great in theory, the execution is rather sloppy. I was placed in my starting city and then left to my own devices upon starting a new game. I didn’t know how to invade another city or strike a deal, or any of the other war-time tactics that usually take place in the RTS genre. To attack a city, I would have to declare war on them. Well, how do I do that?
Nothing is very clearly explained in Dawn of Fantasy and newcomers like me will feel lost for far too long. In the end, I waited for an enemy nation to invade my city before something interesting happened. Once the enemy had invaded, the game switched from the world map to a traditional view. From there, voices prompted me to ready my troops and that my minions were standing idle with no tasks. As much as I would like to prepare my troops and get my peasants to work for me, I had no idea how to make that happen. So, the enemy invaded and I did all I knew. I selected all of the guys in my fortress and sent them to meet the enemy which was promptly slaughtered. Then it was back to controlling my army that I had no idea what to do with.
These problems are lessened to a degree in the Online Kingdom Mode. This mode has a little more structure as players are guided by a series of quests that show them the basics of building their empire. However, through sheer bad luck or bugs, I was unable to progress past the beginning quests. For example, I would be told to wipe out the Goblins in the surrounding area. I would do so, and the quest would still be active. I could log out and come back 18 hours later and the Goblins would have respawned (which makes sense), but it seemed ridiculous to hand out a quest that never ends.
Another quest as the Humans was pretty straight forward. I was tasked with building a house that would give me a reward. In the end, I built three houses and was still unable to complete the quest. Combine that with the lack of explanation as to how to do basically anything and you’ve got a frustrating game.
There are four main resources which drive everything in Dawn of Fantasy: wood, stone, food, and gold. A certain combination of each is required to build structures in the game. Building structures takes a long time. I cannot make this point clearly enough. Building a basic structure can take hours. Because of this, the Online Kingdom becomes like a slow, drawn-out, better looking Farmville. It would make sense if things progressed at a much quicker rate in the beginning and took longer as your empire grew, but when it takes upwards of a week to get things rolling, it’s hard to keep players engaged. I found myself logging on for 20 minute intervals to set my minions about their tasks and build my structures. It became more of a chore to check in daily than it was enjoyment. Once a game moves into that area, it stops being a game.
In the end, Dawn of Fantasy has a solid concept, but stumbles out of the starting block. It takes too long to do anything in the game and nothing is clearly explained to the player. To counter this, I would strongly recommend incorporating a tutorial which covers all of the basics in the game. As it stands, Dawn of Fantasy is a near equal mix of boredom and frustration. In such a generic, lackluster world, there’s not much to attract newcomers to the genre. Playing this game reaffirmed why I avoid the RTS genre. For the most part, it’s bland, boring, and unrewarding. Granted, there may be something to gleam from the title if you’re an avid RTS fan, but I would still advise caution. There’s a lot to do and if one has the patience, it could prove worth the wait. Tack on the $30 price tag and I’m not certain Dawn of Fantasy is worth the admission fee for anyone.
by~ Christian D.
GamingClimax.com Writer and Author of ZeroAnd09 Blog
