The Dark Legions is a fantasy RTS by Reef Entertainment - not to be confused with a game of a similar name from back in the early 90s.

The Dark Legions feels similar to Settlers in its resource gathering (wood, stone, gold) and building game-play and its graphical style, and as such is very easy to get into. If you have played any build and conquer games of that style you should immediately know what you are doing in this game. The controls are very intuitive and everything behaves as you would expect.

This is a 3D RTS, the graphics are acceptable but not amazing, as is the sound - the music is pleasant enough, but the same ‘atmosphere’ sounds each time you click on a particular building gets irritating quickly. There is the option to turn those off though.

The tutorial is fairly long and does not inspire you about the game ahead, but the story mode is more interesting and gives you something to get your teeth into. The mission objectives are clear and well set out, taking you along a story from small beginnings and gaining your first followers to commanding a huge force in the fight against evil. There are also random skirmish battles for when the mood strikes.

Warfare plays a strong role in The Dark Legions, with a wide array of unit types and defences to play with, and several upgrade options for each unit type. The game takes place over several different maps, some of them feel rather small, but there is a decent amount of variety, aided by changing weather, and by seafaring.

There is little new in The Dark Legions - Reef have attempted to add a slight twist - you can convert neutral units and get them to join your side, and they have added some puzzles to the campaign game, but these are familiar features from other games. This is more an evolution of an existing genre.

It is hard to enthuse about this game, but it is hard to criticise it either - it offers little new, which is a problem when you consider the games it is competing against, but by itself it is a solid enough game - If you have played Settlers to death and are looking for something similar to keep you entertained then this will interest you. If you are not a fan of the genre then I doubt you would be converted, although for the cost, £16.99 it could well be worth a look.

Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Game play: 7/10
Longevity: 7/10
Overall: 7/10