This is where Legion Arena begins to show its true colors as a complex game disguised as an easier “click and kill”. While in the Army Camp you may initially think that customization and management are limited. You may look at simple screens, and easy to read stats and think that the game is too basic to really be interesting. But, if you happen to look deeper you will find that there is an abundance of customization and management available to you. For example, the easy play in the Army Camp is just to go around promoting all your squads when the promotions are available, and recruiting new squads when you have enough denari. Although this may work initially, being successful at Legion Arena means far more than just promotions and more units. You will not only need to promote your men and actively recruit, but you will also need to equip your men properly, change their uniforms, analyze squad stats, and read the squad history if you wish to be successful in some of the more difficult battles. A useful tip for squad management is to spend some time on the squad uniform. Although the uniform serves no real purpose (it does not make your men stronger or provide any additional benefits) it does help distinguish one squad from another squad of the same type. This can be extremely useful on the battlefield when you need to locate your most experienced cavalry squad quickly. Taking the extra moment to change the uniform, and make mental note of the uniform style and color, will save you a lot of headache on the battlefield later.

A pitched battle.

After finishing in the Army Camp you will head out to the battlefield and begin to place your units and provide them with commands. Again, this can be extremely simple, or extremely complicated, and it all depends on you. This screen is called the “deployment screen” and you can think of it as table with gridlines. In fact, you will find out that it is a table, and there are gridlines that you must pay attention to when positioning units and issuing commands. You can either take the simple approach of “line them up and rush”, a fast easy way to get the battle started, or you can take a little more difficult approach. The more difficult approach is, of course, recommended because it will (hopefully) reduce your casualties and maximize the number of kills. This approach involves taking a moment to review the battlefield, terrain, enemy units and characteristics of your squads. While positioning your units in Legion Arena you should pay particular attention to the terrain and make sure that the squads you are using are suited to the terrain they will be fighting on. Terrain plays a huge role in the combat calculations in the game, and it is quite possible that you will watch your prized squad of cavalry get handed their heads by lowly skirmishers on uneven ground in the forest.

There is another aspect of Legion Arena that follows the same ‘simple yet complex’ theme and that is the issuing of orders to your squads. The issuing of orders on its face is rather simple: during deployment select the squad(s) and click the order. But you will soon learn that you should understand waypoints, general strategy (such as envelop or outflank), and formations. You can take this even further because as you progress in Legion Arena you will unlock new formations. To put it simply, just look at the positioning of your troops and the issuing of orders together. You can quickly see how acting as General can become quite complicated. Again, it’s your choice whether you should spend 5 minutes preparing, or 5 seconds. You choose the units, you place the units, and you issue the orders. This can all be done in just a few minutes, or you can take your time and really analyze each individual battle.

Overall Legion Arena does an excellent job of holding your attention. The game really does offer a great deal of depth when it comes to customization and management of units. The intriguing part is that you really don’t need all of this to have a great battle. You can easily get into the game, get on the battlefield, and play repeatedly. There are plenty of battles, and as you’ll soon find out, Legion Arena offers much more than meets the eye.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 75%.  Legion Arena is a good buy for any gamer that loves playing General. It satisfies the need for a quick bloody battle and yet still provides enough depth to keep it all interesting.

« Page 1 of 2