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For the past few years, the turn-based strategy genre has been a very dead scene. With the exception of Alpha Centauri, Birth of the Federation and the Heroes of Might and Magic series, there hasn't been anything interesting or notable in this genre. These days, it seems that the only strategy games that get any attention by most gamers or the gaming press are the real-time ones, especially with the recent release of two of the real-time strategy heavyweights, namely Age of Empires II and Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. However there are times when I just feel like playing a slower paced game, sit back and relax while pondering on my next move instead of constantly having to move back and forth all over the game map. For this sole reason, I still have Master of Magic installed on my system after so many years.

In about a month's time, a bright light is set to illuminate the lives of turn-based strategy junkies and breathe new life into the genre. Age of Wonders is all about what a good and addictive turn-based game should be like: loads and loads of units, a long technology (magic) tree, various factions to add variety, detailed management system (both macro and micro) that includes diplomacy, resource, military, technology/magic, etc. Why I am so enamored with Age of Wonders has to do with the fact that I think Master of Magic is the best fantasy themed turn-based strategy game ever created on the face of the universe, period, and Age of Wonders was almost exactly what I had envisioned Master of Magic II would be like. In fact Age of Wonders is very much like Master of Magic, in which you do all exploring on the world map, management in the city screens and all your battles are resolved on a battle map depending on the terrain in which the battle was initiated. I know that many Master of Magic fans were extremely disappointed when Microprose killed off Simtex (the development studio which created Master of Magic and the Master of Orion series), which essentially put Master of Magic II on the shelf indefinitely.

Even in this beta stage, the game looks very impressive and I have to say that this game has one of the best interface I've seen. The guys over at Triumph Studios has got to be big time Master of Magic gamers as none of the interface problems with Master of Magic rear their ugly heads in this game. The designers did their research in designing an interface that gives the gamer the maximum amount of information within a limited amount of space. First of all, the multiple resolution that the game supports allows for a lot more room to place your information windows, and the game runs pretty decent for a beta at 1024x768 resolution on a P2-400 system with a TNT card. The game also allows you to position each information window wherever you want so you can have an interface that suits your liking. For those without the hardware to run the game in high resolution, you will be unable to have all the information windows open all at once. However, there is still adequate room for the most essential windows and there are quick access buttons that lets you open an information window quickly.

Everything else is essentially point and click and there are very few layers of menu that one needs to go through to get something done (something which many turn-based strategy games have a bad habit of doing). I have had to go through 2 layers of menus at the most to get everything I need done in a turn, which is great because in a game like this even an extra layer of menu to go through can get very tedious in a long game. You can spend most of your time in a turn just to go through the menus to get things done for your cities and units. Another one of the design decisions made on this game was the simplification of the micro management system, which is meant to take the gamer away from having to tell each and every one of your cities exactly what to build and when to build. If you have ever played a long game of Civilization, you will know how tedious that can get especially when you have about 20 cities and you are trying to make sure all of them are doing the right thing.

Master of Magic brought on the concept of heroes, which games like Heroes of Might and Magic got their inspiration from. Age of Wonders brings this to another level. There are so many different types of skills available to heroes that it took me quite a while just to decide what skills to go with. It seems that the skills are quite well balanced. Master of Magic had the flaw in which you could create an invincible hero who flies, is immune to magic and kills almost anything in one hit. I doubt Age of Wonders would allow you to do that but maybe some enterprising player will come out with the ultimate hero combination some day. However from my initial look, it seems that Age of Wonders won't let you do that easily. Heroes will also be gaining levels and power as they gain experience, adding new skills to their repertoire or improving on the current skills. There are also magic items to be gained that will increase the power of your heroes when equipped. It wouldn't be a fantasy themed game without any magic in it and Age of Wonders doesn't skim on it. With over 100 spells divided into different spheres of concentration, the spell system will allow for some creative use of magic. However in my experience playing these types of games, most gamers will probably stick with one or two spells they are familiar with that work well with their style of play, it would be interesting to see if the spell system in Age of Wonders will change this paradigm.

The game will include a total of 12 different races, each with their own unique units. Hopefully different units will actually mean a different style of play rather than having units with different graphics and names that are essentially the same thing. One of the most interesting aspects of the different races is the faction system in which different races will react differently depending on your relationship with them. Obviously the goblins will hate the elves and so on and so forth. One of the interesting aspects of the game is that you can essentially change the entire population of a city once you conquer it so that you do not have to try to run a city of orcs if you happen to be an elven lord.