Throwing down in Age of Wonders III means having Elven archers back up Dwarven Pikemen, while heroes and mages cast spells. The biggest difference between the conventional fantasy strategy game and its historical inspiration, beyond the setting, is tactical combat. You start with a single city, explore a map, research new powers/tech, build units, and take over the world. And these, as mentioned, played like a fantasy Civilization. Age of Wonders III plays very much like its predecessors, which themselves were considered direct spiritual successors to Master of Magic. (Happily, the evil demonic dimension used by Shadow Magic is long gone, leaving the more compelling political intrigue behind.) Even better, some of the great music of the original Age of Wonders has been remixed and put to use here. The storyline of rampaging Humanity pushing Elves and other races out, which always tonally reminded me of Tolkein's Silmarillion, remains. (It's the fourth game in the group, but can take the suffix of “III” since the previous title was simply “Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic.”) This installment seems to be entirely aligned with its predecessors, offering a dependable combination of tactics and strategy.Īs someone who'd enjoyed the older Age of Wonders titles, I was pleasantly surprised by how directly this fourth installment is descended from them, despite a full decade passing. A decade later, Age of Wonders III is attempting to resurrect the franchise. Fitting firmly in the latter category of those was the Age of Wonders series, three fantasy strategy games released from 1999-2003 which were solid enough to build a house on but rarely extraordinary. Don’t forget the ambitious failures, like Elemental: War of Magic, and solid, if not quite stunning games like Elemental's sequel, Fallen Enchantress. Several games have made the attempt, starting with 1994's Master of Magic, still considered the high point of the genre. Substitute spell research for technology, Elves for Russians, and the same things that make Civ work should work in another world, right? Well, it hasn't quite been that easy. You'd think it would have been easier to create a classic fantasy variation on Civilization.
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