Demigod - 15/20 hours

I've now played all five of the generals, and I must say, I seriously underestimated how they'd do against the Unclean Beast. I figured that, because they were specialists in healing and buffing allied demigods, they would be vulnerable to direct attack by assassins. It turns out that the minions you summon do more than enough damage to make up for your inferior offensive powers. I found the trickiest part of a general was keeping track of which of your minions was alive and which ones needed to be re-summoned.

Although, I have to acknowledge what a close call I had with failure here. I did not realize, until I played a game with my friend Daniel, that the shops sold items other than consumable potions. That realization came roughly 11 hours after I'd started playing the game. I don't think it had too much of an influence on my success, because the only thing I wound up buying with the generals were the summoning idols - ie something the game is balanced around them having. Nonetheless, I should probably go back and see if some basic equipment might make the more fragile characters a bit more survivable.

Oak was probably the most interesting general to play. He was a melee combatant who didn't get any special troops aside from the summoning idols. What he had to do was place a flag on the map and resurrect fallen units as spirits. The spirits appeared to be pretty ineffectual in battle, but they could boost his attack power. As a result, I found Oak's effectiveness to fluctuate wildly as I played him. I imagine a more attentive and experienced player could get a lot out of this character.

Oculus was the character who game me the most decisive victory. I suspect it was because the Unclean Beast was ill-suited to deal with his ranged attack. Aside from getting around the map while reclining in a magically floating throne (which is pretty badass, granted), he struck me as a pretty forgettable character. He had the ability to restore mana to other demigods, which is almost certainly an ability that could wreak havoc in co-op play.

Sedna gave me a fast victory, but a low score. Because she had incredible healing abilities, she hardly ever died, but she didn't do enough damage to take down the Unclean Beast, so it would retreat from battle and lick its wounds before coming back for more. Her main advantage, strategically, is that she needed very little support. I could stay out in the field for a long time without having to go back to base for items (though, in a way, this was something of a disadvantage as well, because I could definitely improved my performance with some extra items). Overall, a good character, but I found her special minions, the yetis, to be too fragile. I was constantly having to re-summon them.

The Queen of Thorns was an excellent character, with a good offense and great defense. Her special minions, the shamblers, have a ranged attack, which gives them a great deal of survivability. Plus, unlike Sedna's yetis, they were mana-cheap enough that replacing them was not a big deal. My biggest problem with this character is that she's a nearly naked woman. I'm no prude, but I appreciate games I can show my wife without dying of shame.

Finally, Lord Erebus. He was some kind of vampire. He had life-draining powers that I never really used, concentrated as I was on a minion-centric build. I was fairly underwhelmed by his Night Walkers. They didn't really become a threat until I nearly maxed out the tree. However, they rose automatically from the ranks of my fallen enemies without me having to spend mana to summon them or place a resurrection flag, like Oak, so they were eminently expendable. I got a lot of mileage out of using them as a human shield, or to block the Unclean Beast's escape. And while he may not have been the greatest leader among the general, he did have the advantage of being the strongest combatant (maybe Oak was better, but he didn't have the ability to turn into a mist and escape, so, against the AI, Lord Erebus is more useful), so I was able to get quite a few kills with him.

Winning with the generals took me an average of about a half-hour, and I can't say for sure whether it's because they're stronger characters, or if perhaps I'm simply getting better at beating the map. So, I might have to go back and try the Undead Assassin and the Torch Bearer again, and see if perhaps I misjudged their abilities. It's looking like just figuring out the mechanics of the game is going to take the majority of my 20 hours.

I did get an opportunity to play a few "real" games of online multiplayer. It was pretty fun, though the game's chat function is virtually useless for coordinating strategy. Having eight characters on the map at once was exactly as chaotic as I thought it would be. I also have the feeling that the AI is not nearly sophisticated enough to cope with two human players. We beat it quite handily, despite the fact that I am almost totally a newb (seriously, I didn't even know you could buy equipment from the shop until we'd almost finished our first match).

I'm finding myself enjoying Demigod more as I go on. Real time strategy isn't my usual genre, but this is casual enough that I'm not stressing too much.