Introduction

Most PC games can be categorized as RPG, strategy, or shooter. However, Legion Arena continues a recent trend of developers blurring the lines between genres. It borrows elements from both a typical RPG and strategy game. As general of an army, the player commands troops in real-time battles. Along the way he also earns experience points, denarii (currency), and fame which are used to buy new units and upgrade old ones. The challenge of the game rests in both thick-of-battle tactical decisions and the more RPGish element of choosing a strategy to best furnish troops with these rewards.

Although similar in name to the 2002 Slitherine effort Legion, this game is not a true sequel but is able to continue the franchise tag by merit of its subject. Legion Arena, like Legion, takes its ancient Roman setting seriously. Although artistic liberties are taken on the battlefield and the storyline often blurs myth with fact, the campaigns largely mirror the historical record. The Roman campaign, like the empire, starts off modestly with backyard tiffs against antagonistic neighbors, but eventually escalates to Rome’s grander conflicts like the Samnite and Punic Wars. 

Installation, Documentation, and Tutorials

Legion Arena starts auspiciously. The tutorial is like the installation, quick and painless. After installing Arena’s lone disc in just minutes, I was immediately thrown into an introductory campaign as the Latins. Text boxes pop up frequently to provide the basics of gameplay, but not so much to distract from the battlefield. The integration of the tutorial with an actual campaign keeps the introduction interactive and provides a chance for the player to roll up his toga sleeves immediately. Legion Arena also comes with a thirty-two page manual that includes some helpful tactical advice on unit strengths and weaknesses that make it worth a read.

Gameplay and Game Mechanics

There are three campaigns in Legion Arena: the brief Latin introduction and a Roman campaign that upon completion unlocks a Celtic one. Each campaign consists of a series of battles. Each battle starts with a deployment phase where the player positions his units on the battlefield. When ready, the game then progresses to the actual battles. Unlike the deployment phase, the battle itself occurs in accelerated real-time. The game can be paused in single-player mode only, but no orders can be given while paused.  During the battle, the player still has control, albeit limited, over his troops. Lastly, after battle the player improves his army with the spoils of victory.

The original Legion was an empire builder with a focus on strategic-level decision-making. Legion Arena’s focus is lower on the command chain. The Legion Arena player lacks strategic oversight in the rigidly scripted campaigns; it isn’t possible to decide where, when, or who to attack and there is no building infrastructure. Instead the player is constrained to performing tactical battlefield decisions.

Most of the thinking required by the game comes in the pre-battle deployment phase. Two variables displayed on the deployment map will greatly affect the performance of troops. The first is terrain. Each unit type performs differently on the various terrains. For example, the lightly armed skirmishers thrive on broken ground, like forests, while cavalry get bogged down in wooded areas. The second variable is the opposing unit type. Like an extremely complicated system of paper-rock-scissors, each unit type has other units to which it is particularly deadly and vulnerable.

Since the opposing troop deployment and the terrain type can both be seen during the deployment phase, the player’s pre-battle decisions are effectively a one-move chess match. Positioning troops carefully with both these factors in mind are the most important decisions in regards to the outcome the battle. For instance, those pesky Samnites have a left flank composed entirely of light infantry. Seeing this, a smart player will deploy cavalry against them on open terrain and they will make short work of the lighter troops on foot.