Despite its age, the original Age of Wonders holds up fantastically, even compared to its successors. The setting is the standard Tolkienesque fantasy, and the gameplay is what you would expect from a TBS of the kind - a complex magic system, diverse races with different bonuses and drawbacks, hero customization with lots of options. It doesn't excel at at any one, but does each one robustly well. (Except the heroes, who are quite unbalanced, sadly.) What makes it truly exceptional, however, is the atmosphere. Each little part of the game world is beautifully and carefully drawn, with subtle tones that stand in stark contrasst to the vividly colored world that HOMM3 popularized. Add to that the beautiful music, and AoW manages to make such a stereotypical fantasy world look and feel truly unique.
This is actually the first adventure game I have ever played. It isn't too long or too difficult, but quite enjoyable nontheless.
This is actually a fun and enjoyable game that sadly falls short of on what the early gameplay promises. Excellent writing by Orson Scott Card, the whole setting has a Halo-ish feel to it, and the gameplay starts off as fun and well-paced with some RPG elements thrown in (weapon and psionic skill advencement). However, the game slowly starts to lose its steam as it progresses, and it eventually becomes a bit monotonous as it fails to use its own elements creatively as it did in the early stages.
Inquisitor is a tribute to times past. First, it is a unique spin on the generic roughly-medieval era setting, and instead of the Renaissance, places the game in the Dark Ages, with all its torturing, devil-worshipping gory goodness. Second, it is a call-back to the hardcore old-school games which did not hold your hand, or handed you any significant assistance to make you feel like you were the greatest hero of all. No, you have to crawl your way to success - seriously ass-kicking enemies, undetailed maps, zero map-markers, mostly unhelpful quest journal. All in all, if you want a game that hates and wants you to die, and uses everything in its power to make it happen, this is your game.
This game was created by the makers of the original Fallout...and it shows. As other reviewers have noted, the game is not necessarily for everyone. The game world is huge, with tons of areas to visit and quests to complete, along with lots of character customization options. Add to that the fact that the main questline is not heavily forced on you, and you get a very open-ended game that can leave you completely lost. Also factor in the tons of bugs that you can expect from a Troika game. However, the game's rather comprehensive steampunk setting, technology-vs-magic conflict, the rich and detailed character customization options and the very well done main plot do more than enough to carry the game on their back in my opinion. So, all in all, the game deserves all five stars, especially since we're talking about one of my long-time favorite games here.
