So... looking at both Steam and GOG, i'm trying to decide which game to pick up out of the three:

1) Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
2) Spellforce 2
3) Medieval 2: Total War


Suggestions? While were at it, which has good multiplayer (not the sole deciding factor, but I want to hear what the masses think)?

Well I would go with either Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic or Medieval 2: Total War myself...I don't know if you know this but Gamers Gate has Medieval 2 Gold on sale now for really cheap:
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-M2TW/medieval-2-total-war-gold-edition
Note their payment ways though. I use paypal without problem, but, you can't just type in your card there like other places. That game is the steal right now though if you can get it. :) If you don't want to go that route, I can assure you that Shadow Magic won't dissapoint either, and it won't take forever to download besides! lol

Oh, you just missed the 75% of all Total War series on Steam yesterday......

I'll still suggest Medieval 2 though, as it is the only one I've played. And this game has a lot of replay value when you count in all the mods.

PandaLiang: Is that with or without the kingdoms expansion?

KOCollins: Oh my...that is a steal over there...thanks for the link! Still need to consider though (im paying in rupees see...). How is the Shadow magic multiplayer in your opinion?

Well, I will be honest and say I don't know, never played that multiplayer (I really should I guess though). However, it is the best of the Age of Wonder games I think. The reviews say it all really, its a game you can play for a very long time, the campaign is a great challenge, and of course the map generator will keep it going even longer. Of course Medieval 2 has tons of great mods that would help it keep going as well. Tell you what, I'm in the New Years spirit here, you PM me your email and I will email you the gift of Medieval 2 Gold from Gamers Gate. Thus, ending your problem eh? :)

Oh wow, thats very generous of you man! Thanks much.

++ For KOCollins. Good on you sir.

I would say AoW2:SM. Great combination of Civilization and HoMM type of gameplay.

The Gold one (including both the original game and the expansion) should be the one to get. Most of the new mods require the Kingdoms expansion.

Good one KOCollins!

Well as always the answer is: it depends.

I haven't played Medieval 2 and seeing that in the mean time you already got it, I won't say anything about that. But since you still might want to know the difference between the others, here's my short story.

Recently I had the change to choose between AoWSM and Spellforce 2 (I won a game with a GOG contest). I choose AoWSM, and here is why:
I had already played Aow 1 and 2, and also the first Spellforce. I enjoyed all three games. Actually, I liked the RPG-bit in Spellforce more than in AoW. However, I am totally not into RTS-games; but I enjoy turned based. I tried Rise of Nations and one or two other RTS, but couldn't get to like them, I played Civ4, GalCiv2 and HoMM 1-4 and like those. So yeah, I prefer Turn based. Having said that, Spelforce 1 was one of the few RTS which I actually liked - that must count for something.

In short: I guess more than anything Aow vs Spellforce is Turn-Based against RealTime.

Once you already received Medieval 2, buy yourself Shadow Magic. It's the best of AoW games, and has a random map generator = epicness

I've only played Spellforce, as I'm not a bug RTS fan, so Spellforce was a nice mix of RPG and Strategy for me.

How does AoW behave on Win 7 anybody know?

Shadow magic works fine except it reverts to windows 7 basic everytime you start the game. I'm not sure why, but it runs perfectly then.

Good to know, cheers mate :)