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This game is wonderful. Really.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 74 / 82
Date: November 19, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This game is going to be on my hard drive for a long, long time. The only thing it lacks is a random map generator, which I think will be added in a patch or an add-on later. If you're a turn-based strategy fan, this game is a must have. It blows Heroes of Might and Magic (an already superb series) out of the water with more detail, better combat, and just plain better everything (even better MUSIC, which was very hard to beat!).

If you don't love this game, you're not a gamer. (Either that or you're just a twitch gamer, which is allmost as bad. :-)

In all my years of PC gaming, this is my favorite turn-based game (tops Master of Magic and even X-COM! those two games held the "longest on hard drive" awards up until this one came along, and I know it will unseat them). It might actually be my favorite game of all time, bar-none, but that remains to be seen in the test of time.

Buy this.

A great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 16, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is simply a great game. Easy to learn but lots of play value. Combinations of strategies make it sort of a "rock, paper, scissors" game where no unit (except maybe for heroes) can always beat any other unit. Hero development also has a new twist bringing ability development closer to role-playing games. Simply a great game!

It's fun while it lasts

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: January 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game not too long ago never having played a turn-based strategy game, although I am a longtime veteran of RTSs. At first it was a lot of fun, researching new stuff, taking over towns, etc, but it began to get boring. Three or four levels into the single player game, it was still extraordinarily easy, and I already had access to most of the upgrades, but it was getting annoying. You can't have parties of more than eight, so when taking on a castle garrisonning 20 enemies, things get quite ridiculous. All of the units are pretty even in strength, and the cutscenes were not very good, basically a bunch of still shots blending together.

I do buy games for the single-player, though. I don't have a great internet connection, so my reviews don't apply to multiplayer aspects of games. It may be great online, I don't know. However, offline it is fun and addictive for the first few days, and then it quickly becomes yet another game junked onto the shelf.

Caution -- when you're playing, this game becomes one of those "Just a couple more minutes" games that you never stop playing.

Master of Magic it ain't.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: January 25, 2000
Author: Amazon User

For those of you saying this game is basically a rehash of Master of Magic I don't know what game it is you think you've been playing. While Age of Wonders is a very good game and I do reccomend buying it, if you are expecting a game with the raw amount of possibilities that were present in Master of Magic you will be dissapointed. There aren't even half the spells available, you can't create magic items for your characters, the units for each race are basically the same and the number of varrying units isn't very great, and no random map games. The other thing that really bothered me is that since there are no random map games you have to play all pre-generated scenarios which force you to pick from a select number of races and follow a set goal for the scenario.

But, on the whole, the game is good, just don't go into it expecting a game very close to Master of Magic. Oh yea, and here's to Microprose to make a sequel to Master of Magic. =)

Solid.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: February 09, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Although it may not be the most innovative or the most expansive game on the market, Age of Wonders captivates the hearts of gamers withits solid tried-and-true gameplay. Even if the game borrows details from several others, it just improves so much on the gameplay that it's hard not smile. While the game lacks any randomness, it captures the old-school feeling of true feudalism. The color palette is fantastic and I was surprised at the superior quality of the music - excellent, to say the least. The units are well-balanced, and despite the low number of different unit types the game allows for a fascinating amount of strategy, unlike the other games which mainly specialize in getting as many units, items, and characters on-screen as fast as possible.

Even if a game doesn't fill your screen with glittering effects, or doesn't offer you fifteen billion different customizable units doesn't exactly mean that it cannot be excellent. Age of Wonders is.

Finnaly, Turn-Based Fantasy that Does Everything Well

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: March 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Take it from me, i have been playing games of this type all the way back to the days of Kings Bounty (which still rules and fits on only one disk) I spent hours playing Heroes 2 and 3 as well as with the Warlords series and this takes the best from them all, thrown in some of its own unique charecter and ends up with one of the most well balanced, downright fun games to come down the turn-based pike in quite some time.

A terrific turn-based fantasy strategy game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: May 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is the most recent turn-based fantasy strategy game and is arguably the best of them. The game includes two full campaigns (choose between good guys and baddies) and several single scenarios. You control one main hero with the option to recruit units and secondary heroes. Each race you control has 4 levels of units unique to each race. Heroes improve through experience in the campaign, gaining spells, higher stats and unique abilities. Units can also improve gaining better stats with experience. Heroes, units and magic items are carried forward to the next scenario subject to a points maximum. Unlike Heroes of Might and Magic, your heroes actually fight in battles (finally!). If you liked Master of Magic or the Heroes of Might and Magic series, you'll love this game.

The good parts: Multiple races (all controllable through capture even from opposite alignments). Simple intuitive interface. Deep strategic battles, where each unit has srong and weak points. Improveable heroes with spells, magic artifacts, and a large number of unique skills. Units and Heroes carry forward to the next scenario you get to select which ones. Superb replay value (many races to play, two branching campaigns, scenario editor included). Rock-solid stability (haven't had a crash since I installed it a month ago)

The bad parts: If you didn't have much of a life before, you'll have even less after you buy this game.

The genre's not dead after all......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

After losing what little social life I still had, thanks to this game, I have to say it is hands-down the best strategy game I've ever played. The graphics are not real flashy, but they are pretty and they work well with the game type. Age of Wonders is not the most original game in the universe, but it's a lot more so than much of what's been on the shelf lately. I must also admit I am obsessed with elves, so this game naturally appealed to me. All that aside, however, it has the one thing that makes a game great, and that is that it's FUN. The most beautiful graphics in the world, and the best soundtrack, not make a mediocre game good. Age of Wonders has that great, addictive gameplay. (Which, come to think of it, is probably why I nearly failed math....)

wow... this is FUN

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is plain fun! The atmosphere and graphics are compelling (if you remember it is a game), there is room for story telling in the game, the AI is decent, you have 12 sides to choose from, loads of magical spells (the effects are fun!), ships, the whole nine yards.

I love that you get a game editor with it and can create your own magic items and heroes and story-line. The game is very well balanced and involves actual strategy.

The simplified economy is a BIG PLUS over MOM which was micromanagement hell and why I gave it up eventually.

There are little details of hte game that go pretty deep, such as the weaponry needed to hit a Wraith or a Dragon, how the alignments and races interact and sometimes desert your army, how best to attack a fortified and walled-in town (loads of fun), choice between tactical and strategic combat. And overall, it flows just so much smoother than MOM ever did. I actually get lost in the story and details much more than I did at MOM, and the AI is not as much of a push-over as the MOM AI was if oyu factor out cheating...

I can't believe I overlooked this game and glad I found it!

I waited 10 years for MoM 2 and this is what I get!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: September 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

To compare Age of Wonders to any game other than Masters of Magic is ludicrous. This game is blatantly an MoM clone with deprecated gameplay and better graphics. Granted MoM was a terrific game, but surely Triumph Software could have improved on more than the interface. The few improvements over MoM are:

- better (barely better) graphics - a couple new races - a few new spells (most spells are exactly the same as MoM) - tactical combat inside monster lair locations - simultaneous turns - game doesn't end when someone researches the mastery spell.

Its list of features that are lacking from MoM are:

- brutally simplified town management (is this a shooter?) - can't build new towns - no town growth - an 'upgrade' option to replace individual building - one player per race - confusing diplomacy that changes round to round - no improvement to combat, identical to MoM - no improvement to heroes, identical to MoM - no improvement to magic system, identical to MoM

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on this game. Other reviewers and friends say that the simplified interface is a blessing. That the micromanagement of MoM was tedious. But what is wrong with having an AI do your town management for you if you choose? In all fairness I have, and will, be playing Age of Wonders for hours. Buy it for MoM with a facelift, but it is not MoM2.

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