Age Of Wonders Shadow Magic Multiplayer

[Marquez Feliciano]

Thegame features a world on three different levels, the Surface, the Underground and the Shadow World. Scenarios may take place on one or more of these levels. The game can either be played in a simultaneous mode, wherein players move their units at the same time during a turn, and in a traditional turn based mode. The game is played both in an overworld mode, on which parties are moved and raised, structures are built and heroes are contracted, as well as a battle mode.

The key element of the game are the Wizards. Wizards are very powerful at magic, but rather weak at close combat. Every player has one Wizard, each with a sphere of magic (Life, Death, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Cosmos and finally Chaos/Secret), which decides which spells the Wizard can research. Some Wizards have multiple spheres, but can only learn less advanced spells. Spells range from passive spells (for instance, blessing a unit with additional strengths), to direct spells (i.e. healing spells or attack spells), to summoning spells. Wizards are the only units in the game who can't level up or gain medals. Instead, they improve by researching new spells and skills.

Wizards have a domain, the area in which spells can be cast represented by hexagons. When a wizard is inside a wizard's tower, the radius of his domain is increased by several hexagons, and in addition a small domain is radiated around each hero. Every village, town and city can build a Wizard Tower. The Wizard only has to be inside one Wizard Tower; the other towers will also increase his domain.

Wizards can also attract heroes. Heroes are the men and women who lead troops into battle. Heroes, unlike Wizards, can level up. When they level up, the player can choose between three abilities for the hero to make them stronger. For example, they can fire at range or improve the party morale.

Regular units represent the majority of the units in the game. These units can be divided in four levels, based on the various buildings that are needed for creating them. Units can also be awarded medals, which are given independent of respective levels. The medals represent experience and give bonuses to unit statistics.

There are many kinds of structures on the World Map. The most important ones are the cities and the structures that generate either gold or mana. Cities come in four levels. The lowest level is the Outpost, which can only construct a Wooden Wall and the race's basic unit. The next stage, the Village, can build many more buildings. The other stages are Town and City. The stages differ in how fast they can build, and the income they generate.

There are fifteen races in the game, which fall into three main categories: light, twilight, and darkness. These categories can be further broken down into five groups; pure good, good, evil, pure evil and neutral races.

Like both its predecessors the game was designed for single-player as well as multiplayer, and while the graphic engine is the same as in Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne, gameplay is improved and some important features are added. While every existing race in the game received at least one new recruitable unit and new buildings, 3 races are completely new. Much requested from the fans (and referred to in the forums as the "random map cult"), the game now offers a "Create Random Scenario" option. Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic can be played in multiplayer mode 3 different ways; 1) Joining via I.P (Internet Protocol) address; 2) Joining via LAN (Local Area Network) connection; 3) Play by Email.

The editors of Computer Gaming World presented Shadow Magic with their 2003 "Strategy Game of the Year" award. They wrote: "Of all the strategy games we played this year, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is the only one with the 'just one more turn' addictiveness that distinguishes the best of the best".[11] It was a nominee for PC Gamer US's 2003 "Best Turn-Based Strategy Game" award, although it lost to Combat Mission: Afrika Korps.[12]

The turn-based strategy genre is rooted in classics like Warlords, Master of Magic, and King's Bounty, and it remains alive today thanks to the efforts of developers like Triumph Studios. The company's previous game, Age of Wonders II, featured a huge amount of new content and improved graphics when compared with its predecessor, as well as a sizable single-player campaign and loads of single scenario maps. However, rank beginners found the game to be too difficult in parts, while veterans complained about the game's lack of a random mission generator. Triumph Studios has attempted to address both of these concerns with Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. Though this stand-alone game reuses graphics and sound from Age of Wonders II, it has a far better tutorial, a random map generator, and plenty of other great additions to keep turn-based strategy fans playing till the break of dawn.

Triumph Studios' considerable experience in crafting turn-based strategy games is evident in Shadow Magic, since the game offers polished, well-balanced gameplay and an interesting story. The saga of the wizards Merlin, Julia, and Meandor continues in the new game, and it helps introduce the three new playable factions and the new playable units in the original 12 races. Apparently, a dimensional rift has opened into a mysterious new plane of existence known as the Shadow Realm, which bears a distinct resemblance to the plane of Myrror from the classic strategy game Master of Magic.

And as you play through the many scenarios of the game's single-player campaign, you'll see that Triumph Studios paid a great deal of attention to its fans. Like in other, similar games, in Shadow Magic, you'll begin the game aligned with a single fantasy race (though you may eventually recruit followers from other races, depending on the situation), start from a home base of operations, and explore colorful overland and underground areas with assorted armies of monsters led by powerful hero characters, until you conquer the entire map, either by wiping out your enemies in their castles single-handedly or winning an allied victory.

Yet the series' fans have demanded more balance among the armies and abilities of Age of Wonders II's fantasy races, so many units in the new game have had their individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as their production costs, tweaked so they stack up better against rival races and remain more useful over the course of the game. In addition, the game's new races represent interesting and distinctive new playing styles--especially since two of the three can travel quickly through the Shadow Realm (in which several campaign and scenario maps take place), and the third, the nomads, are an exceptionally mobile race with the ability to pick up entire fortresses and move them to new locations.

Likewise, the developer has also sped up the game's lengthy castle sieges, which could often be tedious, especially since smaller, inferior armies could stall their attackers by hiding within heavily fortified castles that took forever to breach. The new game has an all-new set of magic spells and units that help expedite the business of siege combat, including new siege weapons and new spells that can help attacking armies close the distance with their enemies--though just like the previous games in the series, Shadow Magic also gives you the handy option of choosing to automatically resolve any battle. You can also expect to see plenty of other new spells over the course of the game, especially since Shadow Magic revives the concept of studying multiple schools of magic from the original Age of Wonders (and Master of Magic). Choosing to study varying schools of sorcery adds even more variety to your custom wizard, who can, as usual, also choose to begin the game with advanced skills and ally with a specific race.

In fact, with all these new additions and enhancements, it's a shame that Shadow Magic looks and sounds practically identical to Age of Wonders II. That's not to say that Age of Wonders II's 2D art has aged poorly, because despite the fact that its military units are still extremely small onscreen, they're still highly detailed, well animated, and good looking, as are the game's colorful special effects. Similarly, the game's audio has largely been carried over from Age of Wonders II. Most of the new game's music and unit sounds are the same as before, and the military units sound just as silly as they did in the previous game. The game's interface has also been improved slightly, though it still has a few issues, such as its hard-to-read text messages, which appear in a cramped window at the bottom of the screen.

However, Shadow Magic features an enhanced version of Age of Wonders II's map and campaign editor, including a random map generator that lets you quickly and easily specify concentrations of monsters, resources, and treasures on the map. It's clear that between the enhanced editor, the random map generator, and the game's own dedicated fan community of mapmakers, Shadow Magic offers plenty of replay value right out of the box and will continue to offer even more in the future. You can even find competition online from the game's most dedicated players, and while the multiplayer can be remarkably time-consuming, it works well for what it is, especially with the rebalanced races.

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic does a great job of improving on its predecessor's shortcomings and offering deeper, more-balanced gameplay. Despite its great complexity, its tutorials should help most new players figure out how to play the game, and its considerable depth should be more than enough of an incentive for experienced strategy fans.

Just because Hunter is a beast class does not mean it is only beasts. Lots of classes have dual styles. Priest is known for healing, but can dip into shadow magic. Similar things exist across most classes.

Again, I believe much of the problems people have with these decks would be solved if spells were bound by the same rules as weapons and minions. Outside of specific and limited cards, none of them should ignore taunt.

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