Description
Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy game set in a fantasy scenario. The campaign can be played on two sides and tells a tale how the humans come to a new land and destabilized the peace between the races, throwing the land into war. The game also features several stand-alone scenarios.
There is an extensive diplomatic matrix which structures the relationships between the 12 races and their respective leaders. There are global-spells which can be cast on the strategic map, outside of tactical combat.
Creatures can move around without being led by a hero, so the map eventually crawls with all sorts of strange beings. Neutral forces are not always static, most of them move around and sometimes attack the 12 races. The automatic tactical-combat mode shows a somewhat detailed overview of the combat simulation: it is a worthwhile substitute for impatient gamers, especially in multiplayer encounters.
As in
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia and
Master of Magic, heroes are very important. They reach new levels of skill and power with experience and can be equipped with artifacts. But they do have limitations that usually do not allow a solitary hero to overrun a city-garrison all by himself.
Pre-game customization allows the following choices: 5 levels of AI skill (with the 1.2 patch), 5 AI personalities (from very violent to defensive), "classic" turn-based moves or simultaneous turns, incarnation of the player as the main hero (if he dies, it's game over for that side), selection of the main hero's name, face, and bonus sword-and-sorcery attributes, etc.
The map editor allows the gamer to create new maps, which can have up to 3 geological levels (one or two can be placed underground, with a cramped and dark tunnel-design).
Alternate Titles
- "奇迹时代" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
- "World of Wonders" -- Working title
- "AoW" -- Common abbreviation
Part of the Following Group
User Reviews
The Press Says
| FileFactory Games / Gameworld Network |
May 04, 2002 |
94 out of 100 |
94 |
| Just Adventure |
1999 |
A- |
91 |
| IGN |
Dec 06, 1999 |
8.8 out of 10 |
88 |
| Game Revolution |
Dec, 1999 |
B+ |
83 |
| Withingames |
May 20, 2001 |
4 out of 5 |
80 |
| Game Over Online |
Dec 14, 1999 |
78 out of 100 |
78 |
| Strategy Gaming Online |
Dec 04, 1999 |
7.5 out of 10 |
75 |
| Jeuxvideo.com |
Feb 04, 2000 |
14 out of 20 |
70 |
| Adrenaline Vault, The (AVault) |
Jan 01, 2000 |
   |
70 |
| PC Zone |
Aug 13, 2001 |
5.5 out of 10 |
55 |
Forums
There are currently no topics for this game.
Trivia
Extras
The UK edition of the game is said to include a novel by
David Eddings 'worth 6.99£'. Either most people didn't like it and threw it away or it never was there; anyway it's definitely pretty hard to find.
Getting off a boat
Most people playing the game for the first time faces the same problem: How do you get units out off a boat? This is not covered in the manual, and the words "How do I get off the boat?" is probably the most posted and joked about in the
AoW-forums.
Highmen Theme
The song "Highmen Theme" seems to be remix of Journey.umx which is played during the Nagomi Passage level ('day' version) in the Unreal mission pack
Return to Na Pali.
Information also contributed by
Grov,
MDMaster and
toothbrushThis entry to the MobyGames database was contributed by
Jean-Paul Cardinal (15) on Dec 29, 1999.
