The writers soft-sell a bit of the evil stuff with explanations about how there always has to be a balance between the light and the dark, and a lot of nudge-nudge, wink-wink humor has been tossed in. You choose between a vampire lord, a sultry demoness, and an orc warlord, each of whom has been booted from his or her homeland by white-hatted servants of the light. And those races are a long way from the usual heroic figures you guided before. Here, for the first time, you get to choose your starting race. The plot is straightforward, although there are significant twists and turns from past King's Bounty games. The latest addition to the long-running fantasy franchise is expectedly excellent, thanks to tremendous tactical depth both on the battlefield and with character progression, loads of monsters to command, and a turned-on-its-head story that gives the bad guys a starring role. Comparisons to a hit single seem oddly apropos here, given how this turn-based strategizer sticks to your brain.

Depending on your age, it might be difficult to get John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band's 'On the Dark Side' out of your head during the entire 30-ish hours it takes to finish King's Bounty: Dark Side.

King's Bounty: Dark Side free