Reviewed: April 8, 2010
Reviewed by: Jason Flick

Publisher
Ray Flame Entertainment Inc.

Developer
Ray Flame Entertainment Inc.

Released: February 2, 2010
Genre: MMORPG
Players: Online

7
5
0
7
6.2

System Requirements:

Ray Flame is one company that has been offering free-to-play browser based titles at WEBMMO.COM for the last couple years including The Legacy of Holy Castle. I've been given the opportunity to try out this title and am here to write about a side of gaming that a lot of people have probably forgotten about.

The Legacy of Holy Castle is a fantasy warfare based title that combines both RPG and simulation elements. There isn’t really much of a background story to the game other than you’re a hero that has his/her own castle. One thing that does impress me is that The Legacy of Holy Castle has a certain old school feel to it. I almost feel like I am playing a pen and paper adventure.

Gameplay is pretty simple and easy to get used to. There are no keystrokes to master, no macros to build, just easy mouse clicks and the occasional number inputs. You can even enjoy The Legacy of Holy Castle on the go via an iPhone or any touch-based device with Internet support. And since this title is browser based there is no limitation to the places that you can play it even for just 5 minutes at a time.

In The Legacy of Holy Castle, players must gather resources, earn cash, build facilities, and build up their castle forces and defenses. You also can customize your character with different abilities to suit your play style. Now I’ve never been a huge fan of simulation style games, mainly because I dislike micromanaging and well I just don’t have a knack for these types of titles. However, I found things in The Legacy of Holy Castle to be quite easy to manage and do.

There are several areas in which a player can improve their castle. You can build or demolish new structures in Construction with a required amount of gold and lumber as well as increase your manufacturing potentials. The Construction screen is basically your hub for increasing your castles overall stats. For instance, building and upgrading your town Hall you gain an increase in construction and research speed by 15% and 10% respectively. Like most titles in this genre you can also increase the amount of gold and food earned by advancing your mines or fields. Food, Gold and Wood are the three main ingredients required to do anything in The Legacy of Holy Castle. Without these you’re not going to get too far.

The next vital area is the Technology Screen. This screen allows the player to raise food income as well but more importantly to raise the abilities of your horses, troops and your hero as well as increasing your maximum castle land. Most of the options in this area mainly deal with strengthening the troops that you build. For instance you can increase and archers attack by 6% for each level you gain in that area. There is an option to increase the attack for every type of defensive or offensive force you have available. The sheer amount of things you can do in The Legacy of Holy Castle makes this a very deep experience and will give players entertainment for a long time.

One of the things that I enjoy most about Holy Castle are the RPG elements found within. As mentioned above you control a main hero as well as hiring others. Like in all RPG’s you must raise up your characters core areas such as vitality and wisdom. This is where a player can really customize what kind of a role the want their hero to have. You raise your stats by using Experience points gained while sending your hero to train or go out on adventures. There is a small surprise in this mainly text-only title when it comes to taking your hero out on an adventure. When you engage I adventures you are pitted against random enemies in a 2D visual semi turned based combat. Adventuring is a great way to earn experience and you can keep on fighting random enemies until you get tired of it.

Graphically, The Legacy of Holy Castle is not some big fancy isometric strategy or the next greatest visual MMO. There are a few places that contain graphical elements like the adventuring. You are treated with a visual representation of a hero and your opponent, which is cool in an old fashion sort of way. The other place that graphics come into play is when you place your formations for battle. In most titles like this you never get to see this, so it’s pretty cool to have a feature like this in The Legacy of Holy Castle. I do give the developers credits however for creating an appealing and clean website. The one thing that I’m not overly surprised about is that there is no audio or sound whatsoever in this title.

The Legacy of Holy Castle is a title that won’t take long to learn but awhile to master thanks to its complexity and time based functions. It is a crucial aspect for an MMO of any kind to give the player ample content and options. Everything you do takes a certain amount of time to do. You can only do one action at a time in any given area with the exception of your heroes. If you hire additional heroes via the tavern you can send each of them to so task or another.

Since this is an MMO there is always player versus player interaction to be had. The Legacy of Holy Castle features an auction feature where players can buy or sell items with gems instead of the customary money source seen in other titles. Players can even attempt to take over castles that fall within a certain level spectrum. If you manage to take over a castle you take 75% of their gold and food.

Browser based MMO’s, are a dime a dozen these days but The Legacy of Holy Castle is definitely an interesting take on fantasy warfare. As I said I’ve never been good at this genre but the blend of RPG and Simulation style gameplay made it an enjoyable experience. And best of all its free to play on any web-browser. I definitely recommend giving The Legacy of Holy Castle a try if you’re looking for a change of pace or something that is a lot easier on the wallet.