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Archon is one of those games that
I never discovered during my initial NES tenure. Agent K first showed me this game a few
years ago and I instantly fell in love with it. Interestingly, I’ve almost
never played this game against the computer. To
me it is one of those classic 2-player Battle of the Minds.
 OK, so what is it? When the game first starts it looks just
like a game of chess. You have a
board with dark and light pieces, and each piece moves in a unique
way. The difference between Archon
and chess is that in this game you actually control each battle. So if my Djini (lights’s queen)
battles a Goblin (a dark pawn) I should definitely win, but there is
always a chance of an upset. One
unique quality that Archon has is that the squares on the board are constantly moving between
shades of black to shades of white.
So if you are dark, then you will have a significant edge in
battle when the square that you’re battling on is also black. The two coolest pieces are the Wizard
(light) and the Sorceress
(dark). These guys can heal or
revive a piece, imprison an opponent, switch the tide of time or
transport one of your guys across the board. The goal in Archon is to either kill
all of your opponent’s pieces or to occupy 5 specific spots
on the board. There is a lot of strategy involved in
Archon and whenever I play it I feel like I’m playing
the version of chess that the characters in Star Wars play.
Positives:
This game is flat-out fun. The battles are very easy to control,
the board is easy to  understand and you never know when an
upset will occur. Everyone
discovers their own favorite pieces; the two sides have different
characters. The dark side for
instance has a shape-shifter that is really cool. The computer is a decent challenge
although I imagine with a little practice the one-player version will
grow old. This game thrives as a
two-player game. You will want to
teach your opponent how to play though because if you destroy them the
first time, they will probably not be interested in a repeat defeat.
Negatives:
You have to have the volume
turned on for this game because during battle mode you can only take on
shot at a time. The game will beep
when you are allowed to shoot again.
There should also be difficulty levels for the computer just like
in real chess.
Graphics
and Sound: Good Enough
If this game were to come out on a
system today, this would be the only area that could be vastly
improved. Having said that though,
I like the graphics just as they are.
The battles feel like they are at the right speed, often games
feel too slow when the graphics get all snazzy.
Gameplay
and Controls: Awesome
Archon has excellent
controls. The slow guys are slow
but powerful and the fast guys are quick but a bit weaker. Everything feels right when you play: good speed, accurate shooting, cool
backgrounds during battles. I can’t find
anything to complain about.
Features:
None
There is only one difficulty
level but the real beauty of this game is the two-player mode
anyway.
Fun?:
Yes
Play the computer a few times to
get the hang of the controls and then find someone that you can play
with. Trust me, you will have a
good time.
Challenge:
Decent
That really depends on how good
your opponent is. Against the
computer, it is pretty easy not to lose as the computer tends to play for
a stalemate. In fact the computer
almost never leaves their color which makes it hard to win but with a
little practice you will be running roughshod over the CPU.
Replay:
Definitely
You can switch up what side you
use against the computer and you can change the difficulty level in
2-player mode by playing different people.
2
Player: Yes
Have you not been reading this
review?
Online
Manual?: Yes
Check out Vimm’s Lair.
Bottom
Line: Maybe
The game rocks, get it
immediately.
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