Siege King: The Siege of Aurum

Siege King: The Siege of Aurum – Demo Impressions

Siege King: The Siege of Aurum is an action adventure game that brings back some of my childhood memories of playing Gauntlet in the arcades. Developed and published by Ziba Games for Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace (XBLGM). Siege King: The Siege of Aurum released on January 14, 2012.

When you first boot up the title screen you’re shown the menus Campaign, Arena, Buy Game and Exit. The title screen and menus were organized nicely. No clutter, no confusion and seamless to navigate. The controls via the Xbos 360 gamepad: LS-move, A-basic defense, B-strong attack, X-defense, Y-special, LB-use item 1, RB-use item 2 and LT-respawn (you will be doing this alote). The controls weren’t much of a problem. There are many variables and buttons all over the gamepad you have to push though. Why do i have to press a button to re-spawn? Shouldn’t that happen automatically when i die? Little stuff like that i don’t understand. As far as combat is concerned no real complaints there.

Siege King: The Siege of Aurum gives you a nice little story snippet before you start causing chaos for the Kingdom of Aurum. The story goes, long ago seven knights of Aurum were sent to collect the Gems of Antiquity (seven total gems). Only three knights actually returned with gems (3). You as a gamer must retrieve those three gems from Aurum and return them to your King. The gameplay starts out at Aurum’s sea on your boat. You immediately must siege the beach. As far as the lore goes its there at least. Its nothing special or Shakespeare (thats sarcasm btw). I do give credit for adding a story to this top down action adventure game.

Siege King: The Siege of Aurum is a class based co-op game at heart. There are four playable classes all distinct from one another. You have the Mage, Soldier, Jester and Archer. Each class does have different strengths and weaknesses and quite frankly feel different while playing. Siege King can be played either local in co-op (1-4) players or online (2-4). I wasn’t able to play any co-op in the demo but i’m sure this game is more fun playing with others. As far as the obvious presentation aspects are concerned this game is a mixed bag. The visuals are lackluster and appear blurry with a static setting. However the music is really good and the game’s overall sound design.

Gameplay is old school is some aspects with its top down co-op roots. I must say playing North Beach Garrison was at times difficult. If you get into a swarm of enemies and unable to use your special attack or magic you’re dead pretty much. Simple grunts with arrows and swords can kill you pretty easily if they surround you. If you do use your magic or special attack you can take out quite a bit of them fairly easy. Enemies drop coins which can be used to replenish supplies for your character. I do like how you have to play defense in Siege King: The Siege of Aurum. You have to protect yourself when you can. You just can’t run around the map and swing your sword at enemies all day.

Siege King: The Siege of Aurum demo was good. I do like the class system and the co-op functionality (even though i didn’t get to play co-op). There is depth regarding its gameplay and some story to keep you interested. Siege King: The Siege of Aurum retails for 240 msp. Thanks for reading.