It's not very easy to pigeonhole Hinterland into a genre. At any given moment in an average playthrough, it seems to switch between real-time strategy, "Diablo" style roleplaying, and something altogether unique in the blink of an eye.
You may be familiar already with Tilted Mill, the developers behind Hinterland. They were the team responsible for SimCity Societies, the first non-Maxis title in the hugely successful franchise. They also developed Caesar IV, another fairly well-known game.
I should mention that I'm not an RTS guy. I do play them, but it's a rare occasion to see me frantically clicking to mine more gold or Vespene Gas. It's not that I don't like the genre; I just suck at it. I always seem to build the most vulnerable bases, the worst fleets of units, etc.
With this in mind, I am very pleased with the accessibility of Hinterland. It matters little where you place each building, since any time the enemy sends raiders after your town, it's more a matter of action-RPG swords and sorcery fighting than massive fleets assaulting your buildings.
This is because, unlike similar games where you are a bodiless general scrolling around the map to direct units, you are an actual character on the field itself. It's you against the world, battle-wise. You can take NPCs along with you to help fight and loot for supplies, but they are merely wingmen.
That brings us to the RPG aspect. Another genre I play on occasion, yet generally fail at. This is easily the more fleshed out half of the game, with a wide variety of character classes to choose, each wildly different than the last in stats and starting equipment. There is also a surprising amount of items and weapons. Daggers, swords, axes, hammers, bows, potions, armors, various accoutrements for your workers... get the picture? You'll not be left wanting for armaments nor magic baubles.
In true RPG style, you'll be on an endless quest for the perfect weaponry to finish off the enemy encampments with. And herein lies the goal of playing. Take out the encampments one at a time, until you and your town are all that's left. Wipe out certain bases, and you'll have access to a new natural resource. Sound easy? Sure, at first. Then you start facing Level 10 Trolls and the like, and you discover the joy of NPCs.
Thanks to the relatively simple gameplay, you won't have to worry about braindead computer compadres hindering your progress. That's not to say they aren't braindead, but there's nothing they can do besides follow you and attack enemies, so don't worry about them suddenly running in circles or attempting to couple with trees.
Same goes for the various creatures you'll battle. They never show any deeper reasoning than "Kill kill kill". Normally I'd hate this, but it serves it's purpose just fine. This isn't Rainbow Six, after all.
It's not all happy days and rainbow puppies in Hinterland, unfortunately. While the game is definitely a joy to play, you may have a hell of a hard time trying to play it at all.
I refer to the loading time. This is not a graphically advanced game. My PC should be able to chew it up without a hitch. Yet, I sat for a good ten to fifteen minutes waiting for it to load. After some research, I'm not the only one who encountered this either. On top of inexplicable slowdown at random points of the game, the engine feels terribly unoptimized.
One thing it does well, on the other hand, is graphics. Take note of the art on the loading screens as well, as they are quite professional looking. Engine-wise, everything looks good for a 2D title, despite a lack of variation in terrain. Characters are well animated, nicely detailed, and the variety of models is just large enough to carry the short running time.
Don't let the short gameplay deter you. The replay value is insane. If you want to see every variation on the Hinterland experience, be prepared to play it through many, many times. You'll easily get as much gameplay out of it as the average big name title, and then some. Randomly generated playing fields push the fun even further.
There is nothing memorable about the sound design, though, no matter how many replays you squeeze out of Hinterland. I'm not saying it's bad, it just made no impression on me whatsoever. Ask me to hum a bar of the game's theme at this very moment, and I'll be struck silent.
The same can be said about the storyline. If there was one, it definitely isn't important to the gameplay. Basically, you work for the king, (who oftentimes gives you small tasks to complete for a gain or loss in Fame points), and you want to take over your part of the countryside. Yeah, it's not Chaucer.
Controls are as simple as it gets without being voice activated. Like most RTS titles, it's all about the mouse. The left mouse button, to be exact. Click to walk, click to loot, click to attack, click to manage your town. You may even need to click a few times, should the action reach a boiling point. Got all of that written down? I know, it's a lot to remember, and it may scare away small children and those with weak constitutions. Clickin' ain't easy.
All outdated jokes aside, Hinterland gives you a lot of strategy bang for your buck, if not a lot of bells and/or whistles. Just don't come in expecting Starcraft from the RTS side, or Diablo 2 from the action-RPG side. Think of it more as a concept game that does things well, if not in a particularly ground-breaking fashion. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that it's a tiny bit buggy.
For the pittance of $20, fans of the genre(s) have little excuse not to grab Hinterland. This belongs on every strategist's hard drive, right next to Blizzard's megahits.
"Hinterland (PC)" is on sale September 30, 2008 and is rated T. Action, RPG, Strategy.
