Elemental: War of Magic First Look

Elemental: War of Magic is one part Master of Magic, one part Civilization, and one part Total War, with a dash of The Lord of the Rings fiction sprinkled in for good measure. And from our brief first look at the game, Elemental is also one of the more promising fantasy strategy entries to surface in a long while.

That said, Elemental has no relation to Master of Magic, though rumors swirled in 2007 that publisher Stardock was attempting to secure the license. That didn't pan out, but the rumors of a new Stardock fantasy strategy game are a reality. Elemental takes place in the world of, um, Elemental. A great war ravaged the land, destroying almost all life. Powerful crystals that harnessed the power of the elements were shattered and scattered across the land. As life has slowly returned, beings known as "channelers" have arisen, able to access the magic of these crystal shards.

As the population of Elemental slowly gains in numbers, the world is being divided into two sides: men and the fallen. Men embrace farming, technology, and are generally good. The fallen embrace dark magic, combat, and adhere to a hierarchy of power. Naturally, men and the fallen don't care for each other.

In Elemental, you take on the role of one of the magical channelers and gather men or the fallen to your cause. You begin with one city and are charged with growing your kingdom. Much like in Civilization, you gather resources and grow your population. Unlike in Civ, you can grow your cities how you like, attaching a new land tile adjacent to any existing city tile. Should you want to grow a city in a long, straight line along a coastline for additional resources, you can. If your city is in a war-torn region, you may be better off surrounding your city hall with new tiles. Cities are only captured when city hall is taken, and these additional tiles add a defense bonus against invading armies.

Your kingdom can also be stylized however you like. In a separate Creator mode, you can edit city buildings to resemble medieval castles, like something out of a fairy tale, or crystalline structures that resemble Superman's Fortress of Solitude. As you gather resources, your population will grow and increase your military might, which can be used to further expand your kingdom.

There are several ways to achieve victory, such as simply defeating all your enemies in the world. You could also achieve a diplomatic victory by gathering all to your cause (sometimes under threat of force). If you are able to collect all the shards of magic hidden throughout the world, you will earn a magical victory. Finally, you can recruit enough heroes to your banner to complete a campaign called the Quest of Mastery.

Heroes, in fact, are everywhere in Elemental and range from classical knights to ultrapowerful dragons. By using skills of diplomacy, you can convince these heroes to fight for your cause, giving you great bonuses in battle. And because you are a channeler, you can imbue these heroes with magical abilities. There's one catch: You are not only a sovereign overlord with a handy top-down view of the world; you're also a character in the game, capable of moving to other areas and joining in every battle. If you die, it's game over. As a channeler, you have a large amount of magic to disperse among your cities and population. You even have to use a bit on the countryside if you want to build a new city there. Your heroes will be able to recover powerful magical artifacts from dangerous spots in the world, but you still have a finite amount of magic.

Much of Elemental is played on a large overworld map. Zoomed all the way out, it resembles the hand-drawn maps of Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings. If you zoom in closer, you'll notice a battle line where the darkness of the fallen's territory encroaches on the sunny and green territory of man. Sooner or later, these opposing forces will collide.

Battles play out similar to those in the Total War series. You'll move armies across the overworld map and then zoom into a 3D battle map. Battles do not play out in real time per se but are continually turn-based. You could pause the game to queue up various attacks or let the battles play out, issuing orders on the fly and playing the battles out as if they were in real time. Stardock is hoping the battles are as large as those in Total War as well. Company president Brad Wardell envisions thousands of units onscreen at once, ranging from infantry to archers, with dragons soaring overhead. If your channeler has sufficient magic and weapons, he will be able to cut through the opposing armies like a knife through butter, knocking dozens of foot soldiers to their doom with a single blow. The inspiration for these battles is none other than the prologue in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when Sauron dons the One Ring then attacks the armies of elves and men. If that's too hectic for you and you prefer to manage your kingdom from afar, you could also choose to auto-resolve your conflicts.

We didn't have much time with Elemental, but we did learn that Stardock is planning at least two multiplayer modes, including a skirmish battle mode in addition to a full competitive campaign mode in which empire building is also a focus. There are a set number of maps in addition to a random map generator, ensuring you never fight the same war of good versus evil twice, if you so choose. Also, Stardock is encouraging user-created content in the vein of Spore, allowing you to use a creator tool to build structures, races, maps, technology, and magical items to insert into the game.

Much could change between now and the estimated release date, but the lofty goals of Elemental should be enough to intrigue any fan of fantasy strategy. Elemental is currently slated for release in February 2010.