With Age of Wonders III and Endless Space to play, my cup of 4X is overflowing! What I like about AOW3 is that they included a fleshed-out singleplayer campaign on top of the excellent mechanics. The developers have done their homework (well, it IS the third instalment, so they ought to have by now) and the game does not shy from Civilisation standards in mechanics or visual aesthetics. Except the Race Avatars. They're just straight-off creepy to look at, deep in the uncanny valley over here, by far the roughest-looking thing in the game - and you're playing as one... Speaking of depth, the game has plenty of it. There is a hearty variety of different upgrades, perks, and bonuses available to customise your heroes with, and all that is complemented by over 10 inventory slots (plus a separate passive inventory, holy moly). This does not get overwhelming, however, as everything is well-paced, rather straightforward, and you have excellent in-game help for EVERYTHING in the Tome of Wonders. Cities and units have a more rudimentary upgrade system, but that just prevents the game from plummeting into endless micromanagement - and makes the lack of Governor AI excusable (you CAN release cities as AI Vassals, but you lose out on production). The tactical combat is the cherry on top of the depth cake, as you can make the most of your units and army compositions instead of just watching your units duke things out. I'm more used to the HOMM mechanic of stacks weakening as they lose units/health, but here I think the 'full power until dead' works just as well - just have to remind myself to Kill, not Stun. So far I have been enthralled by the singleplayer campaign (8-10 hours deep) and haven't played multiplayer, so take this as a glowing review of the singleplayer experience.
Everything about this game is clumsy. I first bought it when it came out, and even then I remember thinking the controls were off and the game ugly. These passing years have not been kind either. Would only buy for nostalgia purposes, i.e. if you want to replay this exact game or miss top-down shooters deesperately. The acting, the plot, the visuals and the mechanics have not stood the test of time - many were shoddy to begin with and have not been improved. When your basic shotgun is still bugged 10 years later and characters catch on corners, you know you did a poor job.
