Master of Magic

For decades now, the original Master of Magic has been the first game I install on any new computer. No other games in the 4x genre come close to doing all the things that Master of Magic did. Finally, there's a game that lives up. If you haven't played the original, and you have any sort of interest in 4x games (like Civilization), I think you'll be impressed with this game. There's so much room for replaying this game. You can do a dozen different games with Life magic (which is a good place to start), playing as different races and trying different strategies. Then, when you've the hang of that, you can switch over to Chaos magic and you'll have to come up with entirely new strategies to deal with enemies you thought were simple before. If you've played the original, I think you'll be surprised not only at how faithful they were to the original, but at how well those mechanics hold up so many years later. There are some updates, and some quality of life improvements (like build queues), but overall this game still feels like a prettier version of the original. The biggest improvement, in my opinion, is in all of the different starting options available. You can set the difficulty separately for enemy wizards, neutral towns, and for lairs. You can set the map size larger or smaller, to allow you more space to prepare before running into enemies, or to force yourself to fight over every scrap of land. You have a lot of room to play the game in the way that's most interesting to you, and to play slightly differently every time.

For decades, MoM fans have been saying it's still a top-notch game and only needs a "face lift" to bring it up to modern computer-system standards. So when I heard this new version was coming out, that's what I imagined it'd be. Well, it is, but it isn't. There's some very nice artwork in it, and the music is nice enough. And yeah, it's still MoM; the original game play is recognizable. Unfortunately it's very, very slow and awkward to play. I've played for ten or twelve hours so far, and I may force myself to finish the game I'm into. But it's truly a test of patience. Loading is slow, and there's a delay to everything. It's playable, but just barely. I had skipped buying Caster of Magic for Windows because I thought this game would be the same as that but with improved graphics. Today I bought CoM for Windows, because it looks like that's the MoM game I'll be playing. Slitherine has a lot of work left to do.

I have played the original countless of hours and loved it (especially Warrax - you will always be close to my heart <3). I am really impressed. I was a bit worried about the new environment and the hex-fields, but these fears were unnecessary. From the first few moments on there was the feeling of the old days. You will find your way immediately. Even the hex grids did not make that much impact as you may think. There is only one minor downside: The music is not the same as in the original. Master of Magics soundtrack was outstanding and the new one is good, but it damps the feeling a little bit. Nevertheless everything else is as close to the original as one can wish. Even the artifacts and their generation is the same. You can also create your own wizard like in the old days. Great remake for a good price (in my opinion it is worth the money).

Why, oh why, would you make an "age of wonders" game mod instead of just remastering "master of magic"? Just MoM with bug fixes, a map editor, being able to choose and customize opponents, and multiplayer. Would pay $50 for that. This is a SLOW age of wonders mod. Who asked for this? The developers vanity put ahead of what the fan base has been begging for for decades. I remember each time someone had the IP from I believe Atari and wait years each time for them to just lose it (like with *cringe* ELEMENTAL). It finally happened and it is a knock off of a knock off a spiritual successor. Just, god damned why!? I would play age of wonders or lord's of magic if I wanted to play age of wonders or lord's of magic. I hope someday before I die someone finally bothers to just remake MoM and leave their egos at the door.