Art of Magic

Rating:
Summary: A Good Quick Thrill
Review: Art of Magic sits in a very precarious position--there is a lot to like about this game, but it has some definite flaws to overcome.

Art of Magic is basically a real-time strategy game with a fantasy role-playing game feel. You play as a wizard with an array of summoning, damaging, and supporting spells to aid your army of summoned creatures against one or more opposing wizards' armies of the same.

It hardly sounds like a novel premise, but the gameplay is far from traditional. Spells are divided into three categories: chaos, neutral, and law, and before every combat, all players are given an assortment of reagents to allot. Every type of reagent will yield a different type of spell based upon what sphere it is allocated to, but no reagents are doubled. You'll have to decide if your quicksilver is better spent in law giving you some nice elven archers or in neutral for the elusive haste spell.

This ability to alter one's spellbook before every fight applies both to the campaign and the single-match bouts for single and multi-player, and breathes a heafty breath of fresh air into this game. No two fights will prove to be exactly the same if you don't let them.

Unfortunately, though, while this novel approach to war in a fantasy world will prove interesting to many people, there are a few problems with the game that make it seem akin to unrealized potential.

Players will quickly find that the AI very repetitive--despite a maximum of 18 spells being available per fight, a computer opponent will select either three or four of them to cast and there will be little or more likely no variation on that point. The AI's tactics will get tired very quickly.

The game is furthermore exceedingly difficult in the campaign--the difficulty thrown at players as they are attempting to learn the slightly confusing controls will turn off many people from wanting to see it through. You'll quicly find that the computer's ability to think on its feet and command so many creatures independently will dwarf human skill, and this advantage is pressed mercilessly as you struggle to learn the game.

The controls, while only a little confusing, will fail to help the situation, as their explanation in the manual is very confusing and unforgivably lackluster. The manual also fails to provide descriptions of the spells' effects--which are sometimes obvious, in the case of the heal spell, but often times ambiguous without knowing for certain.

All things considered, though, Art of Magic should entertain most fans of both fantasy games and strategy games for at least a good romp or two. It's most likley worth your time, so long as you don't expect great things. Just some nice things.

Rating:
Summary: The Art of Cheating
Review: I experienced this game for the first time and I must warn all of you: Watch out for Bugs!! There are also no official patches for this game (and it was released last October) so don't expect any to come to your rescue. Finally, I have to say that my experiences are limited to the first few campaign scenarios and several multiplayer matches, so I did not complete the game before reviewing (as I think people should) just so you know.

The graphics of the game are pretty bad, and moments that should be deep or story-like are often ruined because you'r character looks like a voo-doo doll or emaciated puppet rather than a real person and talks in an annoying scottish accent. Overall the Voice Acting is mediocre, OK at best.

Gameplay is a neat idea, though the interface is flawed. Picture it sort of like the game Summoner, although you can't move and cast spells at the same time. The AI can, however, so expect them to do it at you all the time. You have to pause the game to make this happen, while he runs around you throwing fireballs. The first time you experience this, by the way, he has probably 500-700 hitpoints and you have 200 and some change. Real fun!

The first few missions are easy enough, but then you quickly run into a near impossible battle against an opponent worlds above you, and you are armed with only two low level spells. It's possible to beat him, but it's one of those battles where you suck so much but he can't heal (well he can, but not that well) so you have to nickel and dime him to death with puny spells. But, the AI will agressively take over the power circles (the only way you can get back your spells) with their more powerful units, and it seems that they can see where the circles are and head for them while you are still stubmling through the fog of war. So they are usually guarded when you find them, and in the case of the match I mentioned above, by something way better than what you can summon. It's grossly unfair.

Bugs -- beware of multiplayer! It was fun when it worked, but the sound was choppy and most of the time didn't even operate. I also experienced so much lag I had to shut down my computer to escape it at least twice -- and I'm running it on a brand new Gateway (1.7 mhz) on a LAN for pete's sake. Shortly into our 4th multiplayer skirmish, the AI cheated again -- a bug occurred where they had an invincible elf, at whom my two dragons (!) were hurling fireballs and my wizard lightning for what seemed like hours and he just stood there, with zero hp, shooting and slowly killing us. It was maddening!

The AI also seems to be able to summon more units than you can and stronger versions of the same. Don't ask me why my wolf dies by the first spell he throws at me, but his wolfs take three lightning spells to take down. Or how he manages to summon over 35 harpies at me in 5 minutes with only one cricle of power, when I could probably summon 5 or 6 under the same conditions (he'd just started over, too!).

If there's anything good to say about, it's that it's a neat idea. It's almost like Magic the Gathering come to life, summoning living walls to take damage for your wizard and fierce beasts to fight for you. Except that the AI usually only casts 2-3 spells, fills the map with hordes, and takes over all the mana nodes if you don't employ the same rush strategy right away. It just sucks all the fun out for me.

If anyone has played this game and had a good experience with it, please post a review. I believe my experience was really ruined by the bugs and cheating of the AI, but if you can look past it maybe there are some real things to praise. But not for me... I'm going to try and return it today.

Rating:
Summary: The Art of Cheating
Review: I experienced this game for the first time and I must warn all of you: Watch out for Bugs!! There are also no official patches for this game (and it was released last October) so don't expect any to come to your rescue. Finally, I have to say that my experiences are limited to the first few campaign scenarios and several multiplayer matches, so I did not complete the game before reviewing (as I think people should) just so you know.

The graphics of the game are pretty bad, and moments that should be deep or story-like are often ruined because you'r character looks like a voo-doo doll or emaciated puppet rather than a real person and talks in an annoying scottish accent. Overall the Voice Acting is mediocre, OK at best.

Gameplay is a neat idea, though the interface is flawed. Picture it sort of like the game Summoner, although you can't move and cast spells at the same time. The AI can, however, so expect them to do it at you all the time. You have to pause the game to make this happen, while he runs around you throwing fireballs. The first time you experience this, by the way, he has probably 500-700 hitpoints and you have 200 and some change. Real fun!

The first few missions are easy enough, but then you quickly run into a near impossible battle against an opponent worlds above you, and you are armed with only two low level spells. It's possible to beat him, but it's one of those battles where you suck so much but he can't heal (well he can, but not that well) so you have to nickel and dime him to death with puny spells. But, the AI will agressively take over the power circles (the only way you can get back your spells) with their more powerful units, and it seems that they can see where the circles are and head for them while you are still stubmling through the fog of war. So they are usually guarded when you find them, and in the case of the match I mentioned above, by something way better than what you can summon. It's grossly unfair.

Bugs -- beware of multiplayer! It was fun when it worked, but the sound was choppy and most of the time didn't even operate. I also experienced so much lag I had to shut down my computer to escape it at least twice -- and I'm running it on a brand new Gateway (1.7 mhz) on a LAN for pete's sake. Shortly into our 4th multiplayer skirmish, the AI cheated again -- a bug occurred where they had an invincible elf, at whom my two dragons (!) were hurling fireballs and my wizard lightning for what seemed like hours and he just stood there, with zero hp, shooting and slowly killing us. It was maddening!

The AI also seems to be able to summon more units than you can and stronger versions of the same. Don't ask me why my wolf dies by the first spell he throws at me, but his wolfs take three lightning spells to take down. Or how he manages to summon over 35 harpies at me in 5 minutes with only one cricle of power, when I could probably summon 5 or 6 under the same conditions (he'd just started over, too!).

If there's anything good to say about, it's that it's a neat idea. It's almost like Magic the Gathering come to life, summoning living walls to take damage for your wizard and fierce beasts to fight for you. Except that the AI usually only casts 2-3 spells, fills the map with hordes, and takes over all the mana nodes if you don't employ the same rush strategy right away. It just sucks all the fun out for me.

If anyone has played this game and had a good experience with it, please post a review. I believe my experience was really ruined by the bugs and cheating of the AI, but if you can look past it maybe there are some real things to praise. But not for me... I'm going to try and return it today.

Rating:
Summary: Art of Magic:good or bad?
Review: This is a o.k. game, besides the lag on multiplayer and O.k. graphics and [disappointing] voice. It has a good story line. Many of the level are too complicated to figure out how to kill the guy, find the spell, go somewhere else then come back for revenge. Also, levels also give you way too many choices, so it is hard. There are many levels that take a while to beat and require a lot of luck or skill. I conclude this by saying if they make another one they BETTER SPEND MORE TIME ON THE GRAPHICS AND SOUND, THEN IT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER.