Age Of Wonders 2

It was about two years ago that I played the first Age Of Wonders. It was really a good experience for me. It was the first turn based strategy game I played and the only game that followed in the same genre was Disciples. After playing this game for a long time, I realised that this is not a game that should be played with the usual tactics of a strategy game like Age Of Empires or Zeus, but this one was different.

I still think that this game was highly under-rated and that may be why I don't hear the name of this game too often. But I believe that this is one of the best strategy games ever released and Triumph Studios have done a great job. Lots of my friends had told me that this game is crap, but in my opinion, those who love strategy games and the ones who have always loved a realm of magic and fantasy creatures, just like in the fairy tales, should never miss this one. But you need to have a certain amount of patience to play the games like this one.

REQUIREMENTS
OS: Windows(R) 98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: 300MHz
RAM: 64 MB (128 Recommended)
Free Hard Disk Space: 250 MB
Video: DirectX8 Compatible 4MB 3D Video Card
Sound: DirectX8 Compatible Sound Card

The low requirements of the game can provide a relief to those who run in lower configuration systems. In the age of highly resource consuming games, it is a good relief to see the games like this. The game also got a multi player option in addition to the campaign and scenario modes in single player. You can play in the net with different opponents or with your friends. The single player campaign gives you the control of a wizard Merlin whose objective is supposed to be "to restore the Age Of Wonders - to restore balance to the world"! You will come across a number of fantasy creatures like Nymphs, Phoenixes, Unicorns, Vampires etc as well as the machines like Ballista, Catapults etc.

The good, pure races like Elves, Halflings etc and the evil ones like Undeads, Goblins, Orcs etc and lots more races are there to choose from, including the humans. There are some slight changes in the races and units from the first Age Of Wonders, but most of them remains the same. The game is not the easiest to master if you are playing a turn based game for the first time. But you do have the tutorial mission to aid you. The 1.2 is patch of the game is released, which features some major improvements.

In the game there are different spheres of magic, Death, Air, Water, Fire, Earth and the Cosmos Sphere. Each sphere is different and you need to choose one of these spheres for your wizard excluding the cosmos which you will encounter only in the middle of the game. You have to research different spells and cast them at the right time to make sure that you won't get vanquished by your opponents. Each unit has got its own special abilities like Flying, swimming, mountaineering etc. So you need to have a look at them too.

You will also have some heroes in addition to your wizard. It will be a good idea to split your large armies and send them to explore the realm and if they happen to encounter some enemy, it is your option to fight automatically or manually - as long as you are a new comer in this game, it better be automatic, because the computer puts up a pretty good fight even at the easiest difficulty levels and getting vanquished too early can be really painful!

The graphics of the game is a major improvement from the first Age Of Wonders. The realm looks really great and if you look carefully, you will see that each structure has got its own outstanding looks. The magical sounds that we hear occasionally are good too. The voice acting is quite impressive in the game. The sounds of different wizards, especially that of our hero Merlin is quite fantastic. The music of the different levels of the game are worth mentioning too. They do sound matching with the levels.

You will hear various sounds throughout the game related to various happenings in the game or simply due to the environment as expected in a magic realm. It will be better if you download the demo version of the game which is only 107MB from any site and check out if it is your cup of tea. You will have enough reasons to get this game from the demo version itself!

The game can get too much of a repeatation at times and the fact that your enemies and allies are fixed in the campaign mode can be boring. The diplomacy need to be more specific and that interests the gamers, but the game fails to do so! Another thing is that even if there is a certain amount of zoom levels available, don't even think about going beyond a level because it can make the images blurred and the graphics will look ridiculous.

As well as looking at all the factors of the game, don't forget to keep an eye on your basic resources, not the food and wood in Age Of Empires (may be the wizards don't need much food), this time they are gold and manna! While manna is mainly used for researching and casting spells, gold is used for building structures, producing units and their upkeep, even if some magical units require manna for their upkeep.

The worst thing you will encounter is that if you lose the match at level five or six, you will have to start from level one itself as long as you haven't saved the game. So if you want to play a level from the start, yet again, just save the game before you complete a mission. You just can't choose from the menu, any of those missions you have already completed. But the good thing is that I loved the storyline and the intro of the game too was well made.

The game has really improved from the first Age Of Wonders as it has become more serious and intense and gives you a better gaming experience with the well made graphics and powerful AI which keeps you trying in the game! What I will say is that just give it a try, get the demo version or just lend it from someone you know. It will cost you just above 500MB in your hard disc - just be careful not to get addicted in this game - it will waste your millions and millions of seconds - don't have any doubts on this - it is a proved fact!