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.

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Alternate Titles

"奇迹时代" -- Chinese title (simplified)
"World of Wonders" -- Working title
"AoW" -- Common abbreviation

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Part of the Following Group

Age of Wonders series

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Age of Wonders
	Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic	Windows	$55.88
	GLOBAL STAR SOFTWARE Age Of Wonders Deluxe ( Windows )	Windows	$23.56
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User Reviews

Heroes of Might & Magic meets Master of Magic - and doesn't quite live up to the names.	Tomer Gabel (4495)
Age of Wonders is a good concept for a game, but aside from some good elements, it is a bad implementation of those ideas.	Droog (471)
Not only does it match HoMM and MoM, it surpasses them.	atrahasis (128)
AoW sets the standard for future fantasy TBS-games.	Grov (637)
Warlords 3.9 meets Master of Magic - what could be better?	Jean-Paul Cardinal (15)
This game reminds me of Master of Magic without the replay value.	Jeff Watts (21)

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The Press Says

GameSpy	Dec 27, 1999	87 out of 100	87
GameSpot	Dec 06, 1999	8.6 out of 10	86
Game Revolution	Dec, 1999	B+	83
PC Games (Germany)	Mar 07, 2001	80 out of 100	80
Game Over Online	Dec 14, 1999	78 out of 100	78
PC Player (Germany)	Jan, 2000	73 out of 100	73
GamePro	Nov 24, 2000	3.5 out of 5	70
Electric Playground	1999	7 out of 10	70
WomenGamers.com	Jan 28, 2000	6.3 out of 10	63
PC Zone	Aug 13, 2001	5.5 out of 10	55