Age of Wonders

As a kid i used to play rts games almost exclusively. I did try a few turn-based games but they always struck me as boring or too complicated. However Age of Wonders struck me as different. it had interesting graphics, beautiful music and intuitive gameplay. For a long time it was the only turn-based strategy that i could and wanted to play. I can say with certainty that although almost 20 years old, AoW still holds that charming and fun aroma that makes it worth having. Here is a shot analysis of key game elements: Gameplay - Overall a standard turn-based system, you research and produce units in your cities and towns via gold, form them into stacks and march them off to new conquests. Your empire doesn't need micromanagement, and what little of it is there is fairly easy and quick. Your playing area is divided into a world map with up to three layers (overland, underground and depths) peppered with various independent sites and creatures. In combat, there is the option of manual combat (fighting on a special tactical map with direct unit commanding) or a quick auto-resolve. There is also a rpg element as your hero levels up and can gain new spells and equipment from wizard towers and ancient ruins/dungeons respectively. Story - The story is a fairly nice if straightforward one. Long ago, elven king Inioch maintained the balance between good and evil races, but one day humans came after being banished and slew Inioch and his court. You take the role of one of his two surviving children - Julia, head of The Keepers, and Meandor, leader of the Cult of Storms. There are multiple endings based on your ally choice, which adds a nice variety to the story's conclusion. Music - The soundtrack is truly endearing and provides an excellent epic backdrop and ''feel'' to the game, a true fantasy music. Miscellaneous - The player should keep their hero safe, as his or her death means game over no matter what. In conclusion, you won't regret buying this game.

I'll admit my nostalgia is strong here, but there's really nothing quite like Age of Wonders, and even if its a bit dated, the game still holds up.

I spent hours with this game in middle-school role-playing my Undead leader backstabbing allies and gathering resources across scenarios. I have never really played the campaign, so I cannot really speak to its effectiveness, but customizing/leveling unique leaders, promoting hero units, managing cities, making and breaking treaties are a few points where this game shines. I like being able to have different faction's units at my disposal. The mix of 4x with more granular strategy in battles is hit or miss. For an important battle, I find myself controlling my units, but if I don't particularly care about the units, I will most often automate the battles. It's an interesting mix of genres, even if the game isn't always effective 100% of the time. My favorite aspect of this game is the art direction. The sound design, music, portraits, map art all hold up for me--a lot of this is probably nostalgia. It's still a game from 1999. But that's the charm! Overall, this game holds up. Worth playing if you can figure out the patch situation (see below). (Regarding performance on Windows 10: I won't link here, but there is a popular, easy-to-find patch on GitHub that I found to fix frequent crashing. Without this fix, the game is pretty much unplayable.)

This fantastic game is what Heroes of M&M should have become, instead of a dreary 3D slugfest with as much sense behind it as Mario arcade. Graphics is exactly what strategy gaming fans expect it to be, which is sharp and distinctive without visual overload. Do yourself a favor and get this game if you already haven't!

From today's perspective this game may seems like it has outdated graphics, but when I first played it roughly 20 years ago I enjoyed every moment of it! The campaign is very interesting, the units are very cute (Halflings in particular) and there are some RPG elements incorporated as well. I can wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys turn based strategy games with a fantasy setting!