Posted September 18, 2010
Excellent, classic game. Now playable and minus the bugs that riddled the original.
The game is essentially an interpretation of Magic the Gathering (the card game), right down to the 5 schools/colors of magic, diferences between slow-cast sorcery and quick-cast instant spells and summons, in the style of civilization (cities that need to be developed, world-map, etc.)
What the games does is (a) does both quite well (the depth of the magic system is particularly impressive (b) adds a few generic fantasy concepts, such as heroes, magic weapon crafting, and an alternate plane (c) does combat very well. "c" is particularly important, unlike civilization, combat takes you to a turn-based tactical map, where creatures fight it out. Paritcularly nice is the early use of squads (where hit-points take off members) as distinguished from single model monsters.
The game can play a bit slowly (in exactly the way that civilization would), but is unique in it's depth, breadth, and flavor (e.g. the undead that actually make more undead in combat; normally flavor takes second seat to simple mechanics).
A great, classic game. Hopefully one that will be reinvented again in the future. It lacks the elegance of Magic the Gathering, but is still the best video game interpretation I've seen of what the card game abstractly represents.
The game is essentially an interpretation of Magic the Gathering (the card game), right down to the 5 schools/colors of magic, diferences between slow-cast sorcery and quick-cast instant spells and summons, in the style of civilization (cities that need to be developed, world-map, etc.)
What the games does is (a) does both quite well (the depth of the magic system is particularly impressive (b) adds a few generic fantasy concepts, such as heroes, magic weapon crafting, and an alternate plane (c) does combat very well. "c" is particularly important, unlike civilization, combat takes you to a turn-based tactical map, where creatures fight it out. Paritcularly nice is the early use of squads (where hit-points take off members) as distinguished from single model monsters.
The game can play a bit slowly (in exactly the way that civilization would), but is unique in it's depth, breadth, and flavor (e.g. the undead that actually make more undead in combat; normally flavor takes second seat to simple mechanics).
A great, classic game. Hopefully one that will be reinvented again in the future. It lacks the elegance of Magic the Gathering, but is still the best video game interpretation I've seen of what the card game abstractly represents.