Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne
Release Date: Q1 2002
Publisher: GodGames/Take 2 Interactive
Developer: Triumph Studios
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In 1999, Triumph Studios released its first game, a colorful fantasy-themed strategy game called Age of Wonders, and on the surface, it seemed similar to other games that had come before it. It seemed to play like other fantasy games, such as Heroes of Might and Magic and Warlords--games that let you create small groups of fighters, wizards, and monsters, called "stacks," and explore large, colorful maps in search of treasure and precious resources to fuel your empire. And as in other such games, you'd generally begin each scenario (playing on a single map) or the game's campaign mode (a structured set of scenarios) with only one town or castle in your possession.

	The original Age of Wonders.

			Which of these Age of Wonders II sides are you looking most forward to playing? The swift, non-magical tigrans The powerful draconians Neither, I want to play one of the original races

But over the course of the game, your war parties would capture and hold farms, resource mines, and other towns. You'd also do battle with enemy factions, or ally with friendly ones. The original Age of Wonders actually had a considerable amount of hidden depth; it had 12 playable sides, such as humans, elves, dwarves, lizardmen, and orcs. You could send out single units as scouts or form a stack by adding units to a group. You could also put a hero at the head of a stack; a hero was an exceptionally powerful character with the ability to learn a huge number of different skills. The original game had lots of single scenarios, as well as a lengthy campaign game that told the story of an ancient realm, known as the Valley of Wonders, divided and at war.

	You'll encounter powerful wizards in the sequel.

Of course, the sequel will improve upon pretty much everything in the previous game and also have lots of new features. For starters, Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne will add two new playable races--the tigrans, a race of swift and cunning fighters, and the draconians, a race of powerful reptilian humanoids that possess some of the abilities of dragons, like flying. The sequel will also have an enhanced magic spell system; in the previous game, you would choose to study different spheres of magic to cast spells that could be used in combat or to affect the world. The sequel will have not only an improved magic system, but also divine intervention; the mighty gods of the Valley of Wonders can and will descend into the realm of mortals depending on the actions of its inhabitants.

Those won't be the only additions that Age of Wonders II will make to the original game. The sequel will feature a much larger campaign game that picks up after the end of Age of Wonders. The fledgling wizard Merlin must capture six powerful artifacts--each tied to a different elemental power--to ascend to the Wizard's Throne, the ruling seat of the Valley of Wonders. And in addition to the lengthier campaign, the sequel will have lots of new stand-alone scenarios. Age of Wonders II will also have an improved map editor, which can create randomly generated maps that you can play long after you've finished all of the game's prebuilt scenarios. Be sure to consult GameSpot PC's previous coverage of Age of Wonders II for even more on this very promising sequel. Given all its new features, new playable sides, and new map generator, Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne will no doubt mean many sleepless nights for would-be wizards when it's released this spring.