Posted on: June 13, 2014

Cinlef

Games: 256 Reviews: 13

The Fantasy Strategy Game par Excellence

The best and most unique feature of AoW as compared to Master of Magic or Heores of Might and Magic, is the large and detailed combat system, which adds a strategic depth that Heroes (much as I love those games) tends to lack. One of the few 4x style games where a large number of low level units behind fortification can defeat higher level units, which adds alot of strategic depth. An essential for any strategy fan.

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Posted on: June 4, 2011

slcrawfu

Games: 22 Reviews: 2

Really good game

i just wish I didn't have to buy it again to play it again. The original install disks refuse to work for this and the sequels. One of the games I saved in my recent old software purge... 3 large boxes didn't meet the cut, but this is one of the ones that did.

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Posted on: September 12, 2012

AquaticIdealist

Verified owner

Games: 1071 Reviews: 12

Great Concept, Poor Execution

Yeah, I did not finish this game. This is a gamer who loves games like Battle for Wesnoth, Fire Emblem, Civilization IV, Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX, and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. I'd like to think that I'm in Age of Wonders' Demographic, and I do feel that it is not a bad game. But here's the thing: it was executed poorly. The first level relies on the player's speed to assault enemy territories, but for some reason the enemy is extremely resilient, more so than say Battle for Wesnoth (but that game has flaws like RNG making you miss constantly). They just won't die, and manage to rush you with several troops to overwhelm the cities that can't replenish your armies fast enough. GOG offers games like Panzer General II that are much less frustrating experiences, but if you're an excellent tactician who likes throwing yourself at foes swiftly then by all means choose this game. I might be incompetent at this game but hey don't let that stop you from buying it. Reviews are subjective, and this strategy gamer did not like this game, but don't let that stop you.

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Posted on: December 25, 2015

jcparkin

Verified owner

Games: 509 Reviews: 1

Frustrating game

People love this game. People adore this game. I am not one of those people. I bought this years ago when it was new to scratch the itch created by Master of Magic. Despite all arguments to the contrary, this game borrows much from it but feels like MOM lite. MOM has more upgrades for units and buildings. But MoM became nearly extinct while this game has several sequels. What frustrated me about the game then and now is the way in which it is stacked against the player at the start. I have restarted the very first scenario 10 times trying many different strategies to find one that would actually work and haven't yet. Games of this era substituted good AI with giving your computer opponent overwhelming superiority. You can barely scrape together 8 units but the computer is sending 24 at you even though their 8 are better than your 8. Your hero is barely more than a starting unit abut they send 24 units to attack your puny 8 and then 6 units all get a shot on your hero and you die in your first battle. And then you restart it because there must be a different way to replay this, right? Conquer a bunch of cities to get your economy rolling? Nope, you'll be spread out so thin that they'll send a mere unit or 3 and conquer your poorly defended cities. Take one city and build its strength? They'll conquer everything around you and build so strong you'll struggle to defeat a single stack of units. Ignore conquering cities and go exploring, hoping to find a cache of loot to upgrade your initial army? They'll conquer everything, migrate the cities from friendly halflings to goblins so you have no allies even after you retake the cities. Quit the game, write an angry review and find some other game to play instead? Better idea. When I was a kid an uncle let my cousin punch me in the face before a boxing match started and laughed as I struggled to defend myself as he punched me in the face each time I'd get off a knee. Playing this game rekindles the feeling I had that day.

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Posted on: January 19, 2024

dkshsg

Games: 17 Reviews: 3

For fans of the series only

With the exception of gamers who really love the series, most casual gamers won't be able to adapt to this older game, don't get me wrong. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the game itself, it's just that the inherent unkindness of old games makes it difficult to play. If you leave the game in fullscreen and use alt+tab to come back in, the graphics are ruined. Otherwise, you have to utilize a utility like DxWnd, which honestly doesn't make for a smooth experience. Also, the game's difficulty is left to the gamer to achieve through a lot of trial and error without any help. From the first campaign, I found it too difficult and it took a lot of retries to get through.

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