While strolling by the Atari booth on my first hour of the convention, my attention was immediately drawn to what turns out to be my biggest surprise of Gen Con—King’s Bounty: The Legend.  I had no idea this was even in the works, I’m ashamed to say, but now that I’m aware I’m as excited as can be.  Being a huge fan of the original and its spin-off series, Heroes of Might and Magic, I could barely contain myself when I saw that brightly-colored fantasy game staring me in the face.  I quickly set myself up for a quick run-down of the game.

Turns out that King’s Bounty: The Legend has already been available in European markets for some time, and it’s been gathering award after award with its addictive game play.  Those familiar with the original or the HoMM series will instantly recognize the game style, although King’s Bounty is much more an RPG than a strategy.

Players take control of one of three Hero types, and set across the map in real-time action, acquiring quests and goodies as they go.  Heroes also gather forces for their armies, much as in the HoMM series, building up stacks of various forces and critters.  When confronted with an enemy, game play drops into a turn-based tactical mode, very similar to the predecessor games.  Here stacks of units battle it out, moving about the hex map and jockeying for that perfect attack position.  There is a nice assortment of units to choose from, many with some fairly nifty abilities.  To round things out, the Hero units can influence battle with spells and powers, either fueled by Magic or a force called Rage.  Heroes gain experience and levels as they quest about the land, and in typical RPG fashion they gain special abilities as they grow.  Given about 30 levels to attain, players can tailor their Heroes with some impressive abilities as fits their play style.

Graphically, King’s Bounty: The Legend looks great.  From the brightly-colored setting, to the detailed units and spell effects, to the background detail, there’s a constant treat for the eyes.  I didn’t get a lot of time hands-on, but the interface seemed smooth and easily navigable.   I can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on this one, which is currently slated for English-language release sometime this fall. 

Gen Con was full of both collectable card games and electronic offerings, and a few games that bridged that gap.  Chaotic is one of the latest titles to make the leap between tabletop and online play, this time targeted at the 6-to-14-year-old audience.  

As a card game, Chaotic is pretty solid.  It’s not terribly deep, but there seems to be plenty of room for creative deck building.  Those familiar with CCGs in general will have no problem dropping right in, since Chaotic features the usual menagerie of monsters and magic (or “mugic”, in this case).  Players set up their creatures to batter their opponents, trying to break through the enemy armies with tactics and various special cards.  Creatures have elemental alliances and a simple set of stats.  One thing that sets Chaotic apart from most games I’ve seen is the fact that few creatures, even of the same name, have the exact same stats.  So even if I and my opponent have the exact same deck build, card for card we may have enough differences to keep things interesting.  

Where Chaotic leaps to the electronic front is through a code on the bottom of each card.  This card can be entered into the online portion of the game to generate an exact virtual copy of the card for use against online foes.  So players can have mirror copies of both cardboard and virtual decks, allowing them to play with friends next door or opponents across the globe.  The online portion is a straightforward virtual game table, with the requisite chat rooms, ranking system, and match-finding areas.  The interface looked clean, and it was quite simple to call out a challenge and dive into a quick match.  They’re still working on spiffing up portions of the game, as they had just implemented some new graphics and sound effects to heighten the game a bit.  All in all, it looks like a neat little CCG. 

In addition, Chaotic also sports a weekend animated TV show to entertain and educate the kiddies about the new cards and some possible strategies.  I haven’t had a chance to check out the show itself, so I don’t know if there’s any quality there or if it’s just a half-hour infomercial in disguise.  Regardless, Chaotic looks to be an interesting CCG for the younger set, who probably already know much more about this title than I ever will.  

For more details, head over to www.chaoticgame.com