Fantasy General

Wäre Fantasy General heute von einem Indie-Studio veröffentlicht worden, hätte man vermutlich die Pixelgrafik gefeiert. Die kommt nämlich auch heute noch richtig gut rüber. Ja, die Einheiten haben minimale Animationen (wenn überhaupt) und auf dem ersten Blick wirkt es etwas schlicht. Umso erstaunlicher, wie schnell mich das Spiel in den Bann gezogen hat und ich hatte wirklich richtig Spaß und Spannung. Von daher auch heute noch eine echte Empfehlung. Hier geht's zu meinem "Nostalgie"-Video: https://youtu.be/ZO8nHqwBAvo

When Fantasy General was brand new, the 5 Star Series (aka General series) was already my favorite. Yet because of coincidence/life I didn't get to play it more than a battle or something. I didn't even buy it to be exact and only tried the demo. I was in love with previous and following games of the series and still am. I think they are great games. Now, in 2023 I decided to finally give this game a proper go. In particular for my Twitch stream (same name as here). It was all fun for the first several battles, though I did notice something which I didn't want to believe. I could see spawning of units out of thin air and also units which just happen to be the perfect units to counter mine, no matter what I did. The last two stream sessions as I was advancing more in the game, it became clearer that there was something wrong. The AI cheats. Big time. Tonight was my last stream and my last attempt of this game. The AI cheating can be accepted depending on the game as long as it is well hidden and not broken. Broken it is. Just spawning units out of thin air, having whole armies appear without cost consideration and just the perfect composition. I play strategy games since the mid 1980s and this is one of the worst cases of cheating I have ever experienced. The General series is not perfect, but this is ridiculous. I would have no problem giving the rest of the games anything from 4 to 5 stars, but this I can't go over 2. The two are for the art, graphics drawings, music and for the game mechanics which are definitely very "general". But the actual cheating is not acceptable. Bad game. At least single player campaign.

DISCLAIMER: I got the game for free when it was up as a giveaway on GOG An amazing Turn-based Strategy game, with great sprites, chalenging strategy from the enemy AI, and a plethora of units to choose from (including some Heroes, magical units, beasts etc.). Its one of my favorite additions to my library because i wasn't able to play it when it first came out in 1996, but i can appreciate it right now and even 28 years after its release its still better in my opinion compared to other games of the genre. Truly an extremely "old but gold" game from the golden age of gaming. Thank you GOG for restoring it.

All I can really say about fantasy General is it's a classic and it's true to its the classic form it's basically Panzer General or allied General but in a fantasy setting it's done very good it's easy to pick up easy to play definitely a good game very dated graphics it's an older game but it plays well and it's definitely a fun game to play I definitely recommend it.

Classic wargaming at it's finest. It is as I remember it to be, gritty and challenging! Once you get over the myriad of buttons that litter the screen, the game will challenge you with its fantastic scenarios and fantastic beasts of war.