"A very good buy if you are a fan of Disciples 2 and a psychopathic meanie !! ;)"

OVERVIEW OF THE GAME

Disciples 2: Servants of the Dark is an OFFICIAL Expansion Pack for Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy (see my review of that game if you want to know more about it). As with its sister expansion pack "Guardians of the Light", Servants of the Dark focuses solely on TWO of the four main races - the Legions of the Damned, and the Undead Hordes, and continues their respective plotlines from where they left off in Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy.

The Legions of the Damned, having lost Bethrezen to imprisonment YET AGAIN (GOD they're careless aren't they), set about turning Nevendaar into someplace a bit more homely for them - i.e. Hell. They plan on unleashing a plague across Nevendaar that will scar the world for all time.

The Undead Hordes on the other hand, WELL angry at Gallean for having spurned his former lover Solonielle (now Mortis, Goddess of Death), pursue his Elven people across Nevendaar in a scourge of tyranny and murder.

As with Disciples 2, the expansion pack is a turn-based strategy game. You select one of the two races on offer, and must IMPORT your leader (which can be a bit of a pain if you've uninstalled Disciples 2 at any point in the past), and then get on with it ... gameplay is split into two main sections - the ''map'' section and the ''combat'' section - you move your troops around, cast general world and troop spells, build structures, research spells and interact with the other players on the map section, and whenever you come across enemies or want to take over another player's cities, the action switches to the “combat” section, where your party (which can be up to 6 units) is pitted against your opponents party (again, up to 6 units), and you take turns at hitting each other until one side is victorious - a VERY simplified take on what goes on, but you get the idea …

GRAPHICS - 9/10
The graphics in the expansion pack are identical to the graphics in the original game - i.e. very impressive - the characters are all very well drawn, and boast good levels of detail. Each has their own fighting stance, move(s) and feel, which makes compiling your armies quite a personal and versatile experience. Combat takes place on a backdrop which reflects your position on the map (e.g. on a boat on the seas, in forests, etc., etc.) and there are neat little additions like seagulls flying overland to keep the map section interesting, and all in all the graphics are one of the games strongest points. They are impressive and varied, and will leave you FAR from bored (there's a certain ''YES !!'' factor to some of the moves you can pull off, and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is rather fulfilling I have to say).

SOUND - 7/10
As with Disciples 2, considerable thought has gone into the sounds for this game. The background music has a couple of new pieces available for differing situations - unless I am mistaken the COMBAT music is a bit more upbeat - and the majority remains true to what you are used to of the Disciples 2 title(s). It's not the most memorable (you probably won't wind up humming it whilst you're not playing the game), but it's certainly NOT bad - with very few exceptions each of the characters has their own voice which is separate and distinctive from the others in the game, and the general feel is quite polished. One thing I DID notice with this expansion pack, however, is that the very memorable voice of the original commentator is MISSING ... perhaps they couldn't get him back, who knows ... but your introductions to each of the three levels with each of the two races are TEXT ONLY ... which is a little disappointing.

GAMEPLAY - 8/10
To be honest with you, if you've enjoyed playing Disciples 2 you WILL enjoy playing this expansion pack. Unfortunately there are only THREE levels per race, but trust me they are MASSIVE massive levels ... it took me QUITE a while to explore them fully so as to be able to write my walkthroughs for them ... The levels have been given considerable thought - whilst there aren't that many ADDITIONS to the game - the levels playing more like "these could have been added onto the end of the original levels as levels 8, 9 and 10" (or whatever), the plot flows well throughout, and as with Disciples 2, one plot has a tendency of weaving across another so they all merge together really quite well ...

All the things that made Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy fun are present in this game and if anything, since you are by now FAMILIAR with the characters ? You SHOULD enjoy this a little more !!

Gameplay is EVER SO SLIGHTLY marred by the fact that you MUST have a leader from the Disciples 2 campaign that is AT LEAST level 10, to import into the expansion packs, and your leader CANNOT level up in the expansion pack past level 18. What this meant for yours truly was that I had to play through the entire Disciples 2 saga with each race to CREATE a new leader, BEFORE I could play the expansion packs, so that was a bit of a pain ... but I didn't really mind because by the time I came to the expansion pack, I was WELL up for it !!

Another consideration is, of course, that because this is the case ? Even though it is touted as being a "standalone expansion pack" it really ISN'T because you have to have played and exported a leader from Disciples 2 in order to play it ;)

HOWEVER, all in all I'm still very impressed.

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

As with Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy, this expansion pack's replay value is reasonably high as the levels are long, and take quite a while to complete ... it is fun seeing how the plot of the two races develops during the expansion, as quite often there are twists and turns in the storyline that unfold DURING the levels ... and if you just go the most direct route to your target you will often miss those ... so I would say there IS definite replay potential there.

OVERALL - 8/10

A very worthy expansion pack to a very enjoyable game. If you enjoyed Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy and want to see what happens next to the Legions of the Damned and/or the Undead Hordes ? Then THIS is the game for YOU :)

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* Well written plot that unfolds from where Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy left off.
* With three levels per race that's SIX more levels to play - that's almost an ENTIRE new saga from Disciples 2 !!
* Great graphics and good sounds.

MAIN BAD POINTS

* There are only three levels per race, and even though the ENDINGS to the expansion pack levels are reasonably conclusive, I'd still have liked to have seen maybe ONE more level per race ... =./
* Still only one leader and five items can be brought from the last quest to the next one, which means that sometimes you wind up leaving behind items that you really wanted to take with you.
* You MIGHT have to play through Disciples 2 to get a leader before you can play the Expansion Pack.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/04