Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $200.00

Features:

• When the ancient Order Of Wizards tapped into magic for their purposes, they unleashed an evil force that killed many people. The wizards became despised, and a politician named Phobius rose to power by exploiting people's fear and hatred of the magic arts. Now Phobius seeks to expand his newborn Empire, by warring with his magical neighbors.
• Choose to play as any of the 12 Age Of Wonders races, or three new ones - the Nomads, the Shadow Demons and the mysterious Syrons
• Engage in a full campaign, with 5 episodes and 16 scenarios creating a complete storyline
• Use dozens of new spells, artifacts, heroes and unit abilities -- there are even new city structures, terrains and a new Shadow World to explore
• Design your own magical items with the Wizard Tower's Forge

Accessories:

PC Gamer (1-year)

Customer Reviews:

Play it for years ! [Posted on 2004-10-11]
AoW-SM is great. Everyone remarks about its balance, beauty, and game-play AI. What I think kicks it far ahead of all the contenders with similar turn-based play is the RANDOM MAP GENERATOR.
Yes, unlike other games you play for a month (if they last a week), is that AoW-SM has the depth of units, terrain, AI, and fresh maps thanks to a wonderful choice of options in single player mode along with a RMG.
AoW-SM Rocks, - AND - it lasts !

PS: there are also fan site mods that further the play. When you see a game whose fan sites are still going years after release, like AoW-II & AoW-SM, you Know its a solid game.
thanks Amazon for the review space,
luv ya, cfx :)

Great Fantasy Civ-like game [Posted on 2004-11-24]
If you like fantasy games and Civ 3, this game is for you. Its like a combination of Civ and D&D! What could be better? There are not very many good turn-based games out there to begin with. Fantasy turn-based is even more rare, but this is probably the best I've seen.

You get to choose from a variety of races to start. Each race has certain advantages over others and unique units each with special abilities. Building and developing cities is important as is exploring and making alliances (very Civ-like). But when a fight begins you can zoom into a battle screen and play it out blow by blow, or go the quick route and just see units dissapear. That flexibility in battles is a great feature. You can also develop individual hero units that gain levels and can use magic items.

There is a long campaign that you can play as well as various single-shot scenarios. No random maps per se, but you can downloads lots of scenarios off the web. I'm really hoping for a sequel. This is easily one of the best games I've ever played.

Shadow Magic is a great game [Posted on 2005-09-01]
The interface is great and easy to use. There's a huge variety of units to play with. The AI is fairly good, but you should always resolve the battles manually.

Master of Magic returns! [Posted on 2005-09-16]
I've been a gamer for a long time, and enjoyed the incredible game Master of Magic way back in the day. I've long since looked for a game that used the same formula: civilization building/economy/armies/and most importantly....SPELLS.

If you like strategy and blasting opponents with mystical creatures and spells, BUY THIS GAME.

Basically it's Civilization for the fantasy minded.

Nice graphics but this game is a step backward [Posted on 2007-01-12]
This game has spectatular graphics, but every other aspect of the game falls short. The gameplay takes FOREVER. It is turn-based but the incremental change in cities and hero levels changes extremely slowly. High level units cost a fortune and take several turns to be created. The economy is horrid. The only way to gain gold is via cities. No gold is given for kills. One of the biggest disappointments is that your main character is confined to your main city. The character's powers are amplified by the character's wizard tower. You cannot cast spells in battle if you are not with your hero or not at your tower.

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