The Settlers: Heritage of Kings - Expansion Disc

Well, they didn't waste any time did they? A mere four months after the release of Heritage Of Kings and the first expansion pack is already here, carrying the hugely imaginative moniker of... Expansion Disk. Perhaps Blue Byte just forgot to name it in its rush to satiate the management lusts of tens of thousands of impatient Teutonic c strategists. Or perhaps it was just a case of cobbling together a haphazard add-on pack before the original's fans got bored and spent their money on something else instead. Call me a cynic, but I suspect it's the latter.

So, what have you got to look forward to should you decide to empty out your copper jar and invest in it? Well, not a huge amount to be honest. But if I'm being dishonest, hours of varied entertainment that takes the remise of the original and expands it in imaginative and challenging ways.

Woe Is Me

Sadly, Expansion Disk (surely something like the Expansionists Of Doom would have been better?) is about as uninspiring as add-on packs get. The new campaign picks up where the last one left off. with our atrociously-acted hero Dario tasked with fending off a new and sinister evil that threatens his land. Original it ain't.

In fact, it's testament to its utter lack of ambition that Expansion Disk's most notable new feature is an ability to build bridges over water, which if nothing else, does inject a modicum of tactical diversity to the proceedings. Add to that a whopping one new military unit -riflemen - and a couple of predictable heroes and you start getting an idea of just how lacklustre this package really is.

Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom. The new campaign does prove to be fairly challenging, and will no doubt push most Heritage Of Kings fans (a big hello to all our readers in Germany) to their limits, without ever being so vexing that you'll want to rip out your own fingernails with a pair of pliers. Which would hurt like buggery, so we wouldn't advise it. The new custom maps are fairly well designed too, especially the larger ones which work perfectly with Heritage Of King's expansionist gameplay.

Just Say No

Despite these small glimmers of potential though, I really can't recommend Expansion Disk - unless you fell utterly in love with Heritage Of Kings and simply can't go on without playing more of the same. Just like its name, this game is utterly insipid.