Age of Wonders: Planetfall

...but with sci-fi assault bikes and mechs! =) Well, I haven't played many hours of the game, or the story, since I keep going back poring over the lore(Imperial Archives). Savouring the game. In short however, Planetfall is a turn-based tactical strategy game. Someone already thought of Xcom as a comparison and that is not wrong to do indeed. The strategy part comes with global(map) decisions to conquer and expand your territory. With that are decisions regarding research, objectives, operations and diplomacy with different factions and races. The tactical bit is when you have your armies(where one group consist of maximum six units) combat enemies. Flanking and cover are the first things you learn in the tutorial. With victory come the spoils, which are resources and territories. So it's a 4X game, which I love, and I'm getting Asimov's Foundation-vibes from the intro to boot! If you have played good old Age of Wonders, you'll feel right at home, whatever planet you're currently on. =)

Thought I'd give it a try as, even though I had zero interest in the sci-fi theme and preferred the fantasy themed earlier games, I tend to love everything Paradox puts out. Well, not this one. The campaign is dull, the tutorial is pretty much useless, and the game is so needlessly complex to understand, which is made worse by an interface that is so overly busy it takes forever to figure out what you should be doing. And sure, the game has depth, but so much of it just seems to have been shoved in there because...why not? This all serves to make the game huge but not interesting huge. Just frustrating huge. You also get the feeling Paradox is going to be pushing out DLC content for years after this thing's release, because God knows they love to make as much money as possible from a game. All in all, it's just a predominantly inaccessible game I have no interest in playing longer than the 10 hours or so I struggled with it.

I've been a fan of the series since the first one came out, but this feels like a capstone (especially once they've finished the DLC, if AOW 3 is to be any guide). If you're unfamiliar with the series, this is a very combat-centric strategy game. This particular entry has more meat to the "world map" layer than the previous versions, but it still all comes down to the tactical combat (or, failing that, the unit design). The factions are varied and interesting, with not a few sci-fi tropes thrown in for fun (and Russian space dwarves, because why not). Your units can be further customized with mods, which can add a lot of depth to the game and gives low-tier units a viable place in your army for the duration of the game. Melee units getting chewed up before hitting the front lines? Give them a jetpack! Engineer needs something to do after installing a turret? Give him a missile launcher. In addition to your faction, you choose a "secret technology" to adopt. This is basically your superweapon (you can even build doomsday devices) and adds a lot of flavor to your army. You can mix and match factions and secret techs to have 36 different empires (42 if you have the first DLC). The system is rife with interesting combos to find and exploit, and the world is colorful and fun to explore, in a sort of sci-fi-cartoony way. There are even minor factions to contend with - ally with them, and get their unique units and mods (like Mad Max-style Spacers with crashing cars, sentient plants with giant worker bees, etc) ... or go to war with them, and get great loot to equip your heroes with! Campaigns are ... fine. Just finished the main one, and you do get choices that set up the final mission. Scenario mode is where the meat is. Music is great, perfectly fitting for the genre and setting, and exciting without being annoying. I bounced off of Civ 5 and 6, even Endless Legend, but I keep coming back to this.

I was initially uncertain about putting the AoW game in a sci-fi setting. Despite the fact, that I consider the change from fantasy setting (really exploited by the TBS genre) as a step in the right direction. Fortunately, the result is more than satisfying. There are things that I liked in the AoW series (like a big variety of sides of conflict or system of relationships between you and neutral factions). There are some changes in accents, like the big involvement of distance weapons, but I feel that they're natural and intuitive. Campaigns have a specific solution - usually, there are two "maps" per side, but it works surprisingly well - I enjoyed those short stories a lot. I'm very impressed with the diplomacy and other "global" tools, like espionage and doctrines - they add a lot of flavour to the standard AoW style and they're genuinely useful. I also consider the tech tree (split on economical and war research) as more understandable than research in AoW III (where spells were mixed with upgrades for economy/army). Diplomacy with AI is working - comparing it to many fantasy TBS games, where you have literally no way to improve relationships with AI-controlled players, is a nice change. I only regret that we don't have any more interesting mechanism from AoW III, where we could release the conquered province as independent and make tasks for it, after some time incorporates it into our side, with the benefit of a good relationship with the race dwelling the area. Battles are as always, interesting and require good use of your troops, terrain and operations. I have some complaints though. Like a very long time of loading the game on the title screen. Or DRM-ed online multiplayer (only the hot-seat is free of DRM, while online multi requires to have a Paradox account). I also feel that some races don't have much flexibility in terms of the type of damage dealt by their units (which can be sometimes a problem). Still - great game, totally recommend it.

I have enjoyed the series since the first installations, and I have to say that space AoW makes a lot more sense that the fantasy one, where the factions felt much too generic for my taste. In Planetfall the game mechanics fit the lore better, the range-focused tactical combat is more fun, and the units feel more varied. The game is not without its shortcommings but none of them prevented me from enjoying the game thoroughly.