Reign of Swords

Reign of Swords offers users a medieval chess match of war strategy on their computer. While the gameplay was a little clunky, the strategy and challenge made this an addictive toy.

The game's interface was equally professional and frustrating. Although its graphics were worthy of a pricey store-bought game, its commands held us back. The tutorial provided a long list of mouse and keyboard commands that confused us. Luckily, a noble in-game knight told us what to do, which eased our worries considerably. We navigated a fictitious map of a medieval kingdom and did battle with armies for king and country and the claim of the land. While the layout looked similar to the excellent strategy game Age of Empires, the start/stop gameplay was as old-fashioned as Risk. We had to move each individual soldier at a time, which took forever and killed any fluidity. On the plus side, this created a chess-like feel, and the strategy alone was enough to keep us hooked. The program also offered a feature to quickly jump online and play against other Reign of Swords players, which added a layer of unpredictability to the competition that the computer couldn't match. While the game could have moved more smoothly, we quickly became addicted to its strategic gameplay.

Reign of Swords comes with a three-level trial limit. It leaves folders behind after uninstalling. Though its controls and movement were a bit of a pain, we loved the strategy enough to recommend this game.