Age of Wonders 3

Heroes of Might and Magic 5 and Civilization 4 used to be my go to games. I'd only heard of the Age of Wonders series 15 years ago when my brother tried to get me to play it. My wife found AOW 3 on GOG and I was quite surprised. For me, it was a nice merger of what I liked about the two games mentioned above. I like the tactical battles of HoMM5, but this game adds more depth to those battles with mechanics like flanking, using the hero to fight, and being able to use multiple armies in one battle. I liked the strategy and empire development of Civ4. In AoW3 you can build settlements but mostly conquer existing ones. You can expand influence as the city grows and try to get new resources. You have a smaller selection of buildings than Civ4, but I think that's a good thing, it keeps empire management pretty simple. I really like the potential for randomness. It's got a good map generator and tons of leader options. It keeps the game interesting for me. With the two expansions the game seems almost perfect. The only change I'd like to see is one more small expansion adding more random encounters, sites to visit, etc, because it feels just a touch repetitive to me after playing a few games in a row.

First things first, I like the game; Singleplayer 5/5; Multiplayer 3/5 If you plan to play Multiplayer, be it Coop or Competitive, be aware that the game is limited to one tactical battle at a time. That means as soon as a player enters manual combat, all other players have to wait until that combat is over. This can lead to prolonged and boring games, if all battles are played out manually instead of automatically. However, since the game shines especially in its tactical part, autoresolving all battles is not very practical.

I am an old school gamer. I like the AoW series and I was excited about the possibilities "new-age" would bring for AoW3. Little did I know that - new-age would strip off long supported features like Play by Email. And don't get me wrong. It was nothing fancy (understand expensive) back then. Just an automated way of sending a local save file over email. No rocket science. - new-age would force people to register on an idiotic server for *ANY KIND* of multiplayer. (Let's screw people with no internet access, right?) - new-age would deny us the possibility of running our own dedicated server. (The dev's typically cry about how expensive it is to support the multiplayer servers yet they force them on us. What an irony! And to crown it all they shut them down in a few years.) - new-age would allow software to be released in an alpha state. (Guest account save problem anyone?) Unfortunately, since the majority of gamers seems to accept it there's no hope in the future. And GoG instead of rejecting this title puts a "no activation or online connection required to play" stamp on it. Which "play" are we talkin' about? Online multiplayer, local multiplayer or singleplayer? I am really sad I can't play (and review) the content of the game. I really like the series. But I refuse to support this business practice with my money. You cripple your customers and they go buy something else. I sure do.

...Is the usual reaction after a session. AoW, Civ, HoMM and X-Com. The classic "Just one more turn" games, just pick your flavor. Right now, it's AoW3 for me with high fantasy and a dash of steampunk. Can't go wrong with classics.

I have been playing this game for quite a while now but I still keep seeing new things and still havent tried everything out yet. The new class system with the specializations works really well. Every class is has a foundation of spells, units and empire upgrades which make it different and unique, the "Archdruid" for example has many summon spells and empire upgrades so that these summoned units dont cost as much. On top of that there can be any combination of three specs including : Air, Fire, Water,Earth, Destruction...and some extra empire upgrades not included in the classes. I dont miss the spellbooks anymore. That tactical gameplay is clearly the bread and butter of the game and its really top notch. Many many units, environments, abilities and spells make for even more tactical options. And the AI is a very worthy challenger, only rarely do I see it make an obvious blunder. The strategic level isnt quite on par with the tactical level but there is still a lot to do for the player in the form of city building, map exploration, spell research, item making (!), army movement and diplomacy with the AI. The graphics, soundeffects and especially the music far surpasses my requirements and expectations. As far as I can see there isnt any form of DRM, all patches are available on GOG, the signup for the forums is optional. I bought this game at full price, it wasnt cheap but I think its worth every cent!