Description
TURN-BASED, HEROIC-FANTASY STRATEGY-GAME.
It looks and feels like a more polished and sophisticated version of "Warlords 3", with a few touches of "Master of Magic" and "Heroes of Might and Magic 3" (HMM3).
Up to 12 fantasy-races can be put into play in a campaign or stand-alone scenario, from the Elves to the Undead. There is an extensive diplomatic matrix which structures the relationships between those races and their respective leaders (not found in HMM3). There are visually superb global-spells which can be cast on the strategic map, outside of tactical combat, punctuated by weird sound-effects (more extensive than HMM3).
Creatures can move around without being led by a hero, so the map eventually crawls with all sorts of strange beings (not found in HMM3). Neutral forces are not always static, as in HMM3: most of them move around and sometimes attack the 12 races. The last two types of factors make this game much more complex and dynamic than HMM3.
On the other hand, the interior design and appearance of the castles are much more simplistic and ugly than those found in HMM3. And also, the full tactical-combat display is much less beautiful, especially during the siege of a city. As a compensation, 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.
Multiplayer modes available are: Internet (TCP/IP), Internet (via Heat.net), LAN (IPX), play by e-mail, hot-seat (2 to 12 humans on the same machine).
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.
There are much less maps included than in HMM3, but a great map editor allows the gamer to create new maps, which can have up to 3 geological levels (one or two can be placed undergound, with a much more realistically cramped and dark tunnel-design).
As in HMM3 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.
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
| Gameguru Mania |
Nov 14, 1999 |
5 out of 5 |
100 |
| FileFactory Games / Gameworld Network |
May 04, 2002 |
94 out of 100 |
94 |
| Eurogamer.net (UK) |
Nov 30, 1999 |
9 out of 10 |
90 |
| Power Unlimited |
May, 2000 |
8.6 out of 10 |
86 |
| Withingames |
May 20, 2001 |
4 out of 5 |
80 |
| Game Captain |
Apr 04, 2000 |
80 out of 100 |
80 |
| PC Games (Germany) |
Mar 07, 2001 |
80 out of 100 |
80 |
| Strategy Gaming Online |
Dec 04, 1999 |
7.5 out of 10 |
75 |
| Jeuxvideo.com |
Feb 04, 2000 |
14 out of 20 |
70 |
| GameStar (Germany) |
Dec, 1999 |
70 out of 100 |
70 |
Forums
There are currently no topics for this game.
Trivia
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 (quite poor) manual, and the words "How do I get off the boat?" is probably the most posted and joked about in the AoW-forums.
This entry to the MobyGames database was contributed by
Jean-Paul Cardinal (15) on Dec 29, 1999.
