Age Of Wonders (PC Game)

Age Of Wonders (PC Game)

Reviewed by Brian Schell

The story begins in the early days of Earth when a fragile balance of peace exists between all ancient races.  The introduction of Humans into this utopian world marks the beginning of violent and bloody times. In its quest to expand and destroy, this new race lays waste to the ruling Elfin court. From the rubble, two factions emerge: the vengeful Cult of Storms and the peace-loving Keepers.  You get to play both sides of this good Elf vs. evil Elf turn-based strategy game.

Age of Wonders borrows heavily from the Heroes of Might & Magic (HOMM) series of games, but is very good in its own right. It includes many of the same Hero management features, town upgrades, spells and controls as HOMM, but does it all in a different way, and is generally very well done. The graphics & sound are excellent, and the actual combat stages are much more realistic and complex than those in HOMM.

You actually get to control many races throughout the game, starting with weak Halflings and graduating into Dwarves, Elves, and then more powerful beings. If you can capture enemy towns and keep them from revolting, you can even produce enemy creatures, such as Goblins, Yeti, Giants, and many others.

Enemy cities can be captured, but they may revolt against your rule as soon as your character leaves town. It's often best to migrate a group of friendly characters there to hold the city. Towns can be fortified and upgraded to allow additional construction options- better weapons, stronger characters, etc. Of course, migrating a race to the city, upgrades and production all take time and cost gold.  Once in a while you will find gold or some treasure out in the open, but most often your income is from taxes- each captured city or farm pays a little to you each turn.

When a battle begins, you have a choice between moving and controlling each individual unit yourself and letting the computer resolve the battle automatically. When choosing the automatic option, the stronger party usually wins. If you want more control, or have a weaker party and want to out-think the enemy, try the manual option. The screen shows a map of the battle area either above ground or below ground, maybe a fortress, a dungeon or a plain field, depending on the circumstances. You then move each character around the map, battling the enemy with your soldiers and spells.

The best strategic tip is to take as many cities near your starting position as quickly as possible. The more income you have, the more fighting units you can build. The important thing is to build up faster than the enemy. Upgrade your starting cities and keep them protected. If there are cities that keep getting captured and subsequently lost, just raze the city. If you can't have it, no one will! The real trick is getting the resources out of the hands of the enemy.

A war party or group can hold 8 individual units. It's usually best to include one battering ram or equivalent, because you can't attack buildings without one. One magic-using unit  for quick healing is also nice. The other 6 slots should be evenly divided between ranged units and ground troops. For example, use Halfling slingers and swordsmen in the beginning, but there are many other options later on.  Be very careful with your "Hero" character, as you only get one hero. If he dies, the game ends. This isn't a really big problem, as he gains experience whether he is personally involved with a battle or not. Fill up his war party with a few defensive units, and then keep him in the back, perhaps guarding your home base.

Bottom Line: If you like turn-based strategy games, and the Heroes of Might & Magic games in particular, this is a must-have.

Age of Wonders, by Triumph Studios

Requires Windows 95/98/NT/2K, Pentium 166+, 32MB Ram, 350Meg HD, DirectX compatible sound & graphic cards.

For more Info: http://www.ageofwonders.com