You might have missed the original Age of Wonders, which was released in 1999. It was an excellent turn-based strategy game that took place in a colorful fantasy world called the Valley of Wonders. It was also released in the same year as two other great turn-based games, Heroes of Might and Magic III and Disciples: Sacred Lands. And though Age of Wonders had similarities to those other games, it distinguished itself by being something of a jack-of-all-trades. Though the game was mainly about exploring the colorful Valley of Wonders, conquering any hostile monsters or rival armies you'd find, and seizing treasure and artifacts, it let you choose to take control of one of a dozen different fantasy races, including goblins, orcs, elves, and dwarves. You could not only explore the plains, forests, and oceans of the land, but you could also explore caves beneath the world--huge subterranean areas that extended downward in multiple levels. And Age of Wonders had a lot of very smart, very convenient features, including the ability to take turns simultaneously--that is, rather than take your turn, and then wait for your opponents to finish, all players resolved each turn at the same time, which sped up the game considerably. The game also let you choose to fight your battles directly on the battlefield or resolve them automatically, which was another great time-saver that helped you skip through any fights you didn't want to deal with and enjoy the rest of the game.

Return to the Valley of Wonders.

But for a lot of strategy fans, Age of Wonders still seems to live in the shadow of one of the greatest turn-based strategy games ever made: Microprose's Master of Magic. But to be fair, so do Heroes III, Disciples, and basically every other fantasy-themed strategy game since 1995, the year Master of Magic was released. Master of Magic had all the exploration, resource gathering, and conquest of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, but it also had the management, research, and diplomacy of the Civilization series. It was a combination like no other, and to this day, many devoted fans still swear by Master of Magic--to them, it's the quintessential fantasy strategy game, and nothing else comes close. That's going to change with Age of Wonders II. The sequel will build on everything in the original game, but it will also have new features that might just make it the closest thing to a full-blown Master of Magic sequel that we're likely to see this year.

That's not to say Age of Wonders II will be some sort of shameless rip-off of Microprose's classic strategy game. The developer is sticking with what it knows best: lots of diverse playable races, lots of interesting magic spells, and huge, colorful lands to explore. For instance, like the previous game, Age of Wonders II will have a dozen colorful fantasy races you can command, and though some of the previous game's races, such the desert-dwelling azracs and the aquatic lizardmen, have been swapped out, they've been replaced with even more interesting races, such as the ferocious feline tigrans and the fire-breathing draconians. Just as in the previous game, you'll be able to build up an army of each of these powerful races by developing your capital city--once you've built the necessary improvements, you'll be able to recruit truly fearsome troops for your armies, including paladins, dragons, and wraiths, depending on which race you play as.

Create a powerful wizard with special abilities.

In addition to allowing you to choose a race, Age of Wonders II will put you in control of a powerful wizard character. There are 15 wizards in the game, each of which is predisposed to a certain kind of magic, and each of which has different special traits, such as the ability to acquire or cast magic spells quickly or to benefit more directly from winning battles. The sequel will also let you create a custom wizard with whichever traits you like, and then choose from the six elemental domains of magic, water, air, fire, earth, life, and death. Though the original game let you acquire spells over time by researching them, the sequel will actually let you balance the amount the amount of magic energy, or mana, you want to invest in your research against the amount you have on hand to cast spells, just as in Master of Magic. Even more interestingly, you can choose not to research magic spells, but instead to research additional traits. So, over the course of the game's lengthy campaign, you'll have the opportunity to create a truly unique wizard.