AGE OF WONDERS

Fantasy-strategy genre strikes back

By PATRICK ANDREWS

This could easily have been called the Age of Wanders. You wander around a fantasy countryside, looting and pillaging - all in a good cause, of course - and gradually clear away the fog of war in a quest for fame, fortune and a happy ending.

Turn-based strategy, stacks of units in a fantasy setting... hmmm, sounds a lot like Heroes of Might and Magic, or the Warlords series. After a few minutes of game time, you stare at the screen in wonder. Surely this is part of the Heroes or Warlords series. Is turn-based strategy heading down the same cloning path as its rowdier real-time cousins. Are we about to be flooded with 100 identical turn-based games in much the same way as the real-time market has been flooded with would-be Command and Conquers?

OK, so Age of Wonders looks like a few earlier releases and at first glance plays like them. But fantasy gamedom is not yet doomed to the pits of eternal peril - or even the discount bins - because under closer inspection AOW does reveal enough depth and innovation to take over as the king of fantasy turn-based strategy games. You don't even have to play in traditional turn-based mode, because there is an option where the computer makes its moves at the same time as you, the need for quick decisions adding greatly to the challenge.

The story goes that Inioch, king of the elves and all-round nice guy, has been assassinated and his court destroyed by a band of rogue humans. Inioch's son Meandor and daughter Julia decide to rebuild the kingdom of the elves, but they have dramatically different views on how his should be achieved. Julia is surprisingly forgiving. Apart from the bloodshed and wanton destruction, those humans aren't bad people, she seems to decide, and elects to rebuild the kingdom with peace and love, albeit with a bit of bloodshed and wanton destruction on the side. Meandor, a dark, brooding type, prefers a more direct response: Humans? Kill them all. Julia's kinder, gentler Elves? Kill them all. Halflings? Unicorns? Admirable, hard-working dwarfs? KILL ... I think you get the idea.

Meandor leads the Dark Elves and forms the ominously named Cult of Storms, aligning himself with orcs, goblins and other bad guys against the sunnier-natured, more marketable types. There is a glow in the sky on the far side of the continent and both sides instinctively seem to know it's not just a failed satellite, but something very important. The race is on as those traditional rivals, the forces of good and evil, try to fight their way to the distant Valley of Wonders.

AOW has 12 different races, loads of hidden surprises and offers good replay value because of the different routes that can be taken on your way to the Valley of Wonders. Deciding to help or attack a particular race can have a dramatic effect on how the story unfolds. The campaigns can be played as Julia's Keepers faction or Meandor's bad guys. Then there are more than 20 single scenarios, a map editor to create your own scenarios, and a variety of multiplayer modes, including a play-by-email option.

Missions can evolve into long, drawn-out campaigns as you try to balance the needs between protecting your existing towns, workshops and mines and expanding into new areas. If you run out of gold you can't keep churning out military units, but if you don't build a strong enough army you can't hold on to your existing facilities let alone take over new ones. Independent units and cities that are sympathetic to your cause may be happy to join you, but if an army of cute-and-fuzzy types tries to waltz into a city of orcs, don't expect the welcome mat.

You can create units from the opposing side by taking over one of their settlements, but will they stay loyal? There are three difficulty settings and it takes a long time to overwhelm your enemies, particularly as the action can take place underground as well as on the surface. You march out of one of your cities to overwhelm a goblin stronghold only to find a rival army taking the chance to attack your lightly defended city. Win some, lose some - your fortunes can ebb and flow over hours or even days in each mission. Even when you take over an enemy city, one halfling swordsman is unlikely to keep a rebellious population of orcs under control. There is likely to be an uprising unless you move in a strong occupying force or bring a friendlier race into the city and kick the orcs out.

Some people may find there's too much to be managed once you've acquired a large range of cities and other facilities, particularly playing under the extra pressure of simultaneous-turn mode. Units can be queued for production, but there's no warning when production finishes so you have to keep a careful watch on each city. Far more than in similar games, the AOW combat system allows budding Napoleons (or even generals who didn't end with a losing streak) to show off their military prowess. And despite her Miss Sunshine and Happiness image, even Julia's forces will find themselves regularly involved in combat so it's not something that can be avoided.

There is an option for automatic combat, where the computer weighs up the opposing forces and decides who wins. This seems ideal as a time-saver for those supposedly one-sided battles, but be warned: the computer seems to punish laziness and the automatic system can produce some unexpected results.

Your main character, or hero, is something of a wimp at the start of the game and even if you have a much bigger army, the enemy can end your whole campaign if they can bring him down with a few well-aimed strikes. Your hero, will be pleased to note, gets much stronger as he progresses, with you getting the option of improving him in all areas or concentrating on one or two areas. Up to eight units can be stacked together, but any friendly stacks alongside will also join in battle. But watch in horror in automatic mode as your hero is beaten up by your pitiful four opponents despite your 20-strong army, or as one opposing unit manages to take out half your attacking stack. No, in important battles, tactical mode is the way to go.

Here, it is even possible to defeat a stronger enemy with some careful manoeuvring on the battlefield. You can decide to retreat and fire from long range to whittle a bigger enemy force down to a more manageable size, for example. Again, expect to be punished if you are sloppy in your preparations, though. Trying to attack a fortified town without siege weapons isn't a great idea, for example, unless you have a concentration of flying units.

Your hero can learn the extremely useful wall-climbing skill, but when he gets over the wall he really doesn't want to take on the whole enemy army by himself. Err, Baldric, anyone remember the battering ram? A catapult, perhaps?

There are more than 100 magical spells to be researched and these can be used by your hero and certain other units with some nice visual effects. There are the standard defensive and offensive spells for combat, but also the ability to summon special units - or global spells such as the ''Holy Woods'' spell that will damage any evil-inclined unit that passes through that area. Graphics are clean and crisp without being dramatically better or worse than rival titles.

The musical score fits in with the fantasy epic theme and the sound effects are OK if a little light on. But after winning a long, bitterly fought mission I want more than a screen that says I was victorious. I want James Earl Jones singing the praises of my glorious victory and setting the scene for the desperate struggle to come. A series of patches for the game have been released, but even out of the box, AOW installed and ran smoothly on my Celeron 466.

ORIGINALITY 60%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 80%
PLAYABILITY 90%
ADDICTION 90%
ENJOYMENT 90%