Abba Zabba

Last week I got a new PC game, "Heritage of Kings". It's a pretty standard RTS, with a few features to set it apart from the rest of the genre. I wouldn't call it a great game, but it's fairly fun.

So far I've mostly played the campaign mode, but last night I decided to see what the scenario mode is like. And, as it turns out, there is no scenario mode. At least, for all practical purposes. There are a few scenarios, which are basically the same as the levels of the campaign mode. Everything is preset; there's no customization at all.

The game supposedly offers a real scenario mode, with a variety of maps and different options, but only for multiplayer games. (I don't play multiplayer.) Basically, the designers were too lazy to design an AI that can work on levels, so the only way to make the game interesting is to play online. The result is a game with absolutely no replay value.

An RTS with a good scenario mode can keep me interested for months as I try different combinations of enemies, strategies, and maps. But once I'm done with the campaign and the handful of scenarios in "Heritage of Kings", I might as well throw the game away, because there's no point in playing it anymore.