The past couple of months have been slow.  Not many games that interested me have been released lately, and I had been feeling the strain.  Then the Game Fairy dropped a beta copy of SSI's Dark Legions in my lap.  It looked like it might be okay, so I took a crack at it.  Now I'm hooked.  I'm prepared to pounce at the first production copy I see.  It was more than okay; it was great.  It was war!

	If you played Archon Ultra, another SSI game that was released in December, you should get the basic idea of Dark Legions.  Both games combine strategy and arcade action by allowing you to move pieces on a 3D tactical board and then engaging in an overhead-view arcade sequence when a battle ensues.  I thought Archon Ultra was a great premise, but the game was fatally flawed by an artificial intelligence routine that made Gomer Pyle look like Norman Schwartzkopf; also, a number of characters were ridiculously hard to control in combat, and this combination turned what could have been a terrific game into cybershit.  I wanted to fall to my knees in praise, but like the immortal Frank Zappa once said, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.

	If the beta copy I played around with is an accurate indication, Dark Legions will correct the flaws I found in Archon Ultra, and will finally deliver that great game that SSI couldn't quite squeeze out a few months ago.  But as much as I tend to compare the two, Dark Legions is not Archon Ultra 2.  The arcade portion is almost identical, but the strategic portion of the game is very different.

	Archon Ultra was a mutant game of chess, where Dark Legions is more of a war game.  You start by building an army by purchasing military units with a predetermined amount of credits.  The twist here is that instead of buying infantry and tanks you buy wizards, conjurers, and demons, as well as a host of other fantasy creatures.  Naturally, each creature type has its own strengths and weaknesses.  The also have specialized powers that can be used on the battlefield.  Conjurers summon additional creatures, wizards hurl bolts of ice to freeze opponents, trolls morph into seemingly harmless rock, that sort of thing.  Additionally, each character has two (and sometimes three) types of attack during hand-to-hand combat.  Once you have amassed the forces you desire, you can spend any remaining cash on traps to hinder the enemy and rings to boost your players' attributes.  When you have spent all your money you choose your computer opponent's intelligence (a feature that somehow got left out of Archon Ultra) and select the battlefield you will play on.  The beta version came with a good variety of battlefields in several sizes, but I hope a construction kit or random map generator will make its way into the final version.

	Once you place your army you must decide which character will be your orb holder.  Each side gets one orb, and the goal of the war is to slay the enemy orb holder and unite the two orbs, which brings the bearer ultimate power.  This is a unique feature that sets Dark Legions apart from more traditional chess-like games, since you can't tell which piece is the enemy orb holder!  

	I was having a lot of fun with the tactical portion of the game, so when it finally came time to do battle I felt a curious mix of excitement and dread.  After all, this was where Archon Ultra really came apart for me.  I was happily surprised.  All the characters I tried out responded flawlessly to my commands.  Sure, a lot of them died, but that was my fault.  In retrospect, attacking that demon with a thief probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had.

	The one fault I found with the game is very minor, just a harmless annoyance, which may well be remedied in the final version.  When creating your army you scroll through all possible army types, traps, and rings.  You see their icons, but you aren't given the price of each unit.  Fortunately, you can sell a unit back and be fully reimbursed, so all you have to do to figure out a price is watch your credit counter to see how much you are docked.  Still, I'd like to see the unit price spelled out for me.  I guess I'm just that kinda guy.

	I had a lot of fun playing Dark Legions, and it's one of very few games on the horizon that I'm already drooling over.  The combat system is obviously cleaned up.  I only hope that SSI pays attention and puts in strong AI as well.  The final version will support modem play, and this will make an ideal modem game; I just hope that those of us who will be waging war all by our lonesome won't get lost in the shuffle.  Action and strategy have always proven difficult to mix, and I'm sure purists on both sides of the fence will write Dark Legions off without giving it a fair trial.  Apparently I am not a purist, 'cause I had a great time!  When Dark Legions comes out early this summer, I strongly urge you to take a look.  If you approach it with an open mind you have nothing to loose but your blinders.  And 50 bucks or so.

	Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a war to plan.