Etherlords

This game is tough, but unlike some of the tough games I have commented on, this one is not that good. It copies Heroes of Might and Magic (so what else is new, people can't create their own games, they need to copy other's) in a bad way. Also, once you finish the game, you don't feel like playing it again unlike Heroes of Might and Magic III that you really want to play another and another. Don't buy this, not worth it.

As others have pointed out, this is a HoMM clone. My problems with it: 1. can't skip or fast forward combat 2. can't win combat except with autofight, even on normal difficulty - These mean, that I have to watch every fight for 10 minutes - BORING! 3. enemy heros level up way faster eg. level 9, when I got to 4... 4. even the simplest enemies can kill me, even if my level is higher. 5. enemy calls 4 monsters before I can call one... I guess I could cheat my way through the game, but why bother. I rather play HoMM... The second star is for the innovation of including cards.

Right off the bat when you start the game you are greeted with walls of text that explain the story(passable) and are supposed to explain the mechanics of the game(unforgivable). You wander around confused because the UI is made up from unrecognizable icons. The game's mechanics are a flawed copy of Magic the Gathering. You move around with a hero on the map and fight with monsters and other enemies. You can't choose a hero and all of them have special abilities that are totally random, one hero gets an ability that has a chance of playing a card for free every turn(awesome), other hero gets something completely useless like a CHANCE for your spell to work for a WHOLE turn longer. Changing and recharging cards is confusing. Some enemies have completely unbalanced abilities, like regeneration. Enemy regenerates all his creatures, every turn, as long as he has ether(mana) and after a few turns you can be sure that he will have a lot! Another balance issue is the fact that the defending creature needs to survive the attack to hit back the foe, thats a horrible idea that promotes to have lots of creatures with high attack stats. Graphics look dated and ugly, but the sounds are the worst. Every time you cast a spell your hero starts loudly speaking in gibberish, accompanied with obnoxious sound effects. After some time it's hard not to get irritated. The game in overall is a pitiful sight, I strongly recommend you pass on this one.

I really wanted to keep playing this game and I am a retro gamer but when you get 2nd mission in and barely beat the what I really call the 1st mission of the campaign as the 1st is really a horrific what I can only thin is a non guided tutorial (joke) there is no tutorial so you are left wondering around with no clue on anything let alone even the gui. Great concept of a game and beside all of its flaws I pushed on and got to the 3rd mission really the 2nd mission and was able to beat one of the 2 AI's but the last Ai was so much more experienced I put a decent fight up but gut crushed time over time, the Ai is extremely overbalanced and straight out cheating brutally, even with the best built deck to combat the AI's I still found it impossible and extremely brutal and unfair keeping in mind I play retro games all on hard and am fine with them as they are developed evenly and designed for fun. This games developed in such a way that it will kill your fun, if you don't play for fun then why even play, who wants to play to get angry, confused to how the game is even designed no tutorial even for 2001 is a crime and then extreme unbalanced unfair gameplay is just INSANE again Hard is okay but extreme unbalancing is just unforgiveable. I really really tried with this game and gave it way more hours than it deserved as again loved the concept but after experiencing the above this game game me more displeasure than pleasure so only gets 1 star. If you idea of fun is to play a game and have the best of everything and still get your ass whooped and have you sitting in your chair constantly saying wtf this game is rediculous then go ahead and buy this game your insanity awaits

I just wanted a TBS for my netbook. Combats with cards are meaningless. You don't need much brain to click on cards. After clicking a card you are awarded with some noisy spell animations, which is not for me. I would prefer Age Of Wonders instead of this.