Ilanders is a scenario that appears very rushed and newbish at first glance, but is actually quite fun to play. The enemies seem to have a good AI and they often land a transport or make naval attacks. The resources are quite balanced, and you’ll need to get to the forest somehow to get all important wood.
Balance: 3
For me, this was pretty well balanced, although I was very close to just giving up. The main problem is that you island has very little wood, and the forest across the sea is guarded by a wall of priests. Beating them isn’t very easy, because you don’t have the wood necessary to mass chariots. Most players would probably give up here. I pretty much did as well, but after reveal mapping it I realized the number of priests was quite finite, and I eventually managed to beat them and their nasty catapults. The rest of the scenario is razing and killing, and quite difficult as well. Tactics are important here too, you’ll need a good navy to finish them off and plenty of units that can outrange the towers.
The average player is going to struggle with this scenario. I played on moderate instead of hardest, and came very close to giving up. For me the balance was good but a bit too hard at the start.
Creativity: 3
The objectives here and the story are very trite – conquest and no story. The map however has a unique layout that enhances the gameplay, map design, balance and creativity – some interesting features like a unique bridge and a waterfall appear too. The gameplay is quite creative, but for the very weak effort in those first areas it only deserves a 3.
Map Design: 4
Not a lot of finesse is shown in this map, but plenty of eye candy, well placed resources, tough but not overpowered enemies and a unique and interesting map make up for it.
Story: 2
The scenario falls flat here – there is no story to speak of, the instructions and general presentation is sloppy, and there are many typos, even in the name, which is very poor. The instructions basically tell you it is conquest, so it’s redundant to tell the player to kill the enemy heroes, since that’s part of defeating them. A bitmap and the fact I could figure out what to do were enough for a 2.
Overall: 3.2
I enjoyed this scenario, eventually. The players who are experienced enough to beat it may well find it too “newbish” to enjoy though.