Even since I played the demo for Heroes of Annihilated Empires the game gave me a strange feeling. But now after I played and completed the game I realized what it was. A perhaps good idea messed up.

Why do I say that? Because if in the trailer you were able to see fighter jets, modern troops, elves clashing against the undead, in the final version all you get is a bad taste in your mouth. In the first episode, because Heroes of Annihilated Empires is a trilogy, you will be mostly all by yourself against the enemy.

The game starts with a beautiful cinematic and you find out that he elves are threaten by the undead and one of their beautiful cities felt to the undead. Since your hero, Elhant, is a stubborn one, your job to save the elves begins.

 

All the game is about trying to find out why the undead attacked and looking for a solution to this mess. Elhant, an elven ranger, will battle waves of undead which only purpose is to destroy the elves. During your undead slaughter (how can you kill the undead if they are already dead ??) you will gain experience and items which slowly will transform Elhant into a killing machine. Of course it is fun to kill hundreds of enemies all by yourself but soon this excitement will wear thin.

From time to time you will be able to build a base and train troops which will aid you in your battle but most of the mission lack the balance since the enemy has always more troops then you and in a short time your base and your troops will be only a memory and you are again all by yourself.

Elhant starts with a bow but soon you will find your first sword (you will find only four bows and four swords in the game and these are all the weapons in the game) and you will be able to transform yourself in a melee attacker. In addition to the weapons you will be able to use magic which are given by cards. During the campaign you will find magic cards which allow you to use spells. At the beginning these will be weak but as you become stronger so will the magic affect increase. To use spells you also need mana. How fast the mana and health recharges depends on your skills so it's a great idea to pay attention to health and mana regeneration skills too. While you are waiting to restore your mana/health you will explore the map too see where the enemies are located and to create a strategy, if you can name it like that because there is almost no strategy necessary. In time all you will have to do is to hit hard and run to heal. Most of the time the enemy will return to their original position allowing you to escape.

All this hit and run will become so boring but right when I was about to let the game go I found the dwarves and decided that I should give the game another chance. Did I mentioned that I am also paid to play these boring games? Going back to the dwarves their addition is nothing but a reason to further increase the length of the games without bringing something new to the game. More maps with killing, finding new items and new magic cards.

On your campaign you will find alchemy shops where you will be able to sell your useless potions and buy new, potent ones, you will also find libraries which will allow you to gain more cards (most of the magic cards are found in the game so I ended up ignoring the libraries). The third shop found in the game regards the items you will find in the game. Weapons, gloves, robes, armor, rings, talismans, belts and boots can be found in the game and here you have a chance to sell the ones you don't use or to buy new ones. Too bad that you will find at the shops either weaker items or copies of what you have as your equipment.

The magics that Elhant uses look good and are probably the only good thing in the game. The person who designes the spell graphical effects did a very good job. Used wisely, you can make your life a lot easier. Use ice to slow your enemies and them bring a fireball from the skies to send the undead back to Hades' realm. If the enemy has a higher resistance to your weapon damage (piercing, slashing or crushing), use lightning eye to bring him down quickly. There are powerful monsters who have a lot of life (5000-8000hp) so staying in front of them and trying to kill them is useless. In the end you will die and one of your lives will be consumed (you can die three times until you are finally dead) which most of the times means load game.

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