GameSpotting


 Andrew Park
Managing Editor
Recent Favorites: Civilization III, Wizardry 8

 Most Wanted Non-Turn-Based-Strategy Games: Neverwinter Nights, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter

 Most Wanted Turn-Based Strategy Games: Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne, Heroes of Might and Magic IV, Master of Orion III

This is the Dawning of the Age of Wonders II

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In this corner, war elephant. And in this corner, war cannon.
As I've said previously, 2002 is shaping up to be a great year for fans of turn-based strategy games. We're looking at no less than five noteworthy turn-based games this year, but there's one that you might overlook: Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne. That's because it's the sequel to the original Age of Wonders, which was another game that a lot of people overlooked. Looking back, you'll see why--it was released in 1999, the same year that New World Computing's outstanding Heroes of Might and Magic III, a fantasy-themed strategy game that had an established fan following and earned lots of well-deserved praise from both critics (including myself) and players.

 
 Are you up to the challenge of playing a deep strategy game like Age of Wonders II?

Yes, I eat those things for breakfast
No, I'm a scared little lily-livered sissy

 
That's not to say that Age of Wonders wasn't worth your time. Far from it. Though the original game "borrowed" several features from previous turn-based strategy classics like the Warlords and Heroes of Might and Magic series, it combined all those elements together into a surprisingly deep strategy game that featured some of the role-playing elements of the Heroes games and some of the city management (and automation) of the Warlords games. As in Warlords, Age of Wonders let you explore a huge map using a war party (or "stack") you'd assemble by building units, like dwarf warriors or elf archers, in your cities. And though you didn't even need a hero unit to lead your armies, you'd always want to have as many heroes as possible in your party, since Age of Wonders' modular design let you custom-build your own hero by choosing its fighting, movement, and spellcasting abilities, as well as choosing from a huge list of special skills. And despite the fact that the original game didn't ship with a random map generator (that would create new maps to play on the fly), most of Age of Wonders' maps were more than large enough--especially the ones with multiple underground levels--to keep you occupied for hours, if not days.

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I could see myself wearing that beret, I think.
The sequel is going to expand and improve on all these features. For starters, it'll have an enhanced map editor, as well as two brand-new playable races, the tigrans and the draconians. What's more, the sequel won't force you to remain with a single race at the beginning of any game--you'll actually be able to recruit different units from different races more or less from the get-go. Though all the races won't work well with each other, it'll be interesting to create more varied armies from the start--and I'm sure that several different races will have interesting unit abilities that'll play off each other well. Age of Wonders II will also have new city upgrades, some of which will actually resemble those of Heroes of Might and Magic's city structures. For instance, rather than simply upgrading a town to level two or three, you'll be able to build miscellaneous structures, like the hall of enchantment, that can grant your armies additional powers. Oh, and I could mention that Age of Wonders II will look considerably better than the first game. It'll make use of particle effects and 3D terrain, as well as larger, more-detailed units, though it'll retain the same sort of distinctive hand-drawn portrait art of the original game, which generally resembled an interesting cross between a fantasy artist's sketchbook and an oil painting.

Should you be looking forward to Age of Wonders II? If you're interested in turn-based strategy games, especially the kind that you can play for hours on end, yes. If you're interested in fantasy-themed role-playing games, yes. If you're interested in playing games that have long-lived fan communities and enjoy continuous developer support, yes. Should you be looking forward to other turn-based strategy games too? Oh, absolutely. But if any of the above interests you, don't overlook Age of Wonders II.
 

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