Empire of Magic

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not good either
Review: All right, so I have a weakness for games priced at $1.99. That's one of the reasons why I picked this game up. After reading some of the reviews here and other places, I was determined to see if the game was as bad as people claimed.

They are right in some respects, and they aren't in others.

In order not to reinvent the wheel, I will dispense with describing the background of the game, it has been documented well enough. I will, however, go into how the game plays and will give my gripes on the matter.

I read at another review site(Gamespot), that this game plays like a poorly designed board game. I have to disagree. If this is game plays like that, then what about Warhammer 40k: Rites of War? That game was given good reviews and plays almost the same way. Example: You send out a unit to scout, only you don't have enough points to move it back to the main body of your troops. Scout gets wiped out by swarming enemy units. Which game am I talking about? Both of them. In both games, you have to essentially map out how you are going to plan your movements and how you are going to react to sighting of enemy units. You find out early on that any skill or spell that extends your visual range is your best friend in the whole world. That, and the earthquake/fireball spells. Speed of the game was also disparaged and I also dismiss it. In order speed things up, you can increase the speed in which each unit moves. A turn normally taking a minute or two because of the number of units moving was dropped down to thirty seconds or less. I don't find that slow, do you?

One of my gripes, and they are few, are as follows: I am already halfway through the game (12 levels) and already you are woefully outnumbered by the undead on certain levels. To further add to the misery, you have to keep Artemian and certain members of his company alive. That would be fine if mana and hit points would be replenished at a somewhat normal rate. But, it doesn't work that way. You have to camp, which takes time and action points, and sit on your duff while the game stingily metes out recuperation rates, which is dictated by level of your characters.

Magic is incredibly powerful in the game, the equivalent of having a machine gun at a sword fight. However, you're not the only one to have said machine gun. Your enemies have it, too. And, you will end up reloading saved games several times before you get it right in how to deal with their mages. Once again, it comes to sighting the enemy first and taking his mages out first. If unable to do so, you'd best hunker your frontline units down with defensive spells to withstand the enemy's magic attack.

My last two gripes are about replayability and the manual itself. The manual is only nominally useful, because the majority of the information you can already find in the game itself. With regards to replay: once the game is finished, why would I play it again? Sure, I'd play it if there was a challenge, and some sort of reward to go along with it, but to be constantly under stress to wipe out 3:1 odds nearly every mission and get nearly nothing in return tends to get old. Furthermore, the section for multiplayer is nearly nonexistent. Which brings me to my next point, Multiplayer.

I bought the game because I thought I could be able to play this "hot seat style" (one PC; one person takes his turn and then the next person does). Not so. You have to play either online or through a LAN. Next, with the recent patch, there are FOUR boards to play. That's it. You can't pick or choose what units you want to play for your side on any of the boards, either. It's already pre-set.

In closing, I would have to say that I tried liking the game, but in certain areas the game left me flat.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not good either
Review: All right, so I have a weakness for games priced at $1.99. That's one of the reasons why I picked this game up. After reading some of the reviews here and other places, I was determined to see if the game was as bad as people claimed.

They are right in some respects, and they aren't in others.

In order not to reinvent the wheel, I will dispense with describing the background of the game, it has been documented well enough. I will, however, go into how the game plays and will give my gripes on the matter.

I read at another review site(Gamespot), that this game plays like a poorly designed board game. I have to disagree. If this is game plays like that, then what about Warhammer 40k: Rites of War? That game was given good reviews and plays almost the same way. Example: You send out a unit to scout, only you don't have enough points to move it back to the main body of your troops. Scout gets wiped out by swarming enemy units. Which game am I talking about? Both of them. In both games, you have to essentially map out how you are going to plan your movements and how you are going to react to sighting of enemy units. You find out early on that any skill or spell that extends your visual range is your best friend in the whole world. That, and the earthquake/fireball spells. Speed of the game was also disparaged and I also dismiss it. In order speed things up, you can increase the speed in which each unit moves. A turn normally taking a minute or two because of the number of units moving was dropped down to thirty seconds or less. I don't find that slow, do you?

One of my gripes, and they are few, are as follows: I am already halfway through the game (12 levels) and already you are woefully outnumbered by the undead on certain levels. To further add to the misery, you have to keep Artemian and certain members of his company alive. That would be fine if mana and hit points would be replenished at a somewhat normal rate. But, it doesn't work that way. You have to camp, which takes time and action points, and sit on your duff while the game stingily metes out recuperation rates, which is dictated by level of your characters.

Magic is incredibly powerful in the game, the equivalent of having a machine gun at a sword fight. However, you're not the only one to have said machine gun. Your enemies have it, too. And, you will end up reloading saved games several times before you get it right in how to deal with their mages. Once again, it comes to sighting the enemy first and taking his mages out first. If unable to do so, you'd best hunker your frontline units down with defensive spells to withstand the enemy's magic attack.

My last two gripes are about replayability and the manual itself. The manual is only nominally useful, because the majority of the information you can already find in the game itself. With regards to replay: once the game is finished, why would I play it again? Sure, I'd play it if there was a challenge, and some sort of reward to go along with it, but to be constantly under stress to wipe out 3:1 odds nearly every mission and get nearly nothing in return tends to get old. Furthermore, the section for multiplayer is nearly nonexistent. Which brings me to my next point, Multiplayer.

I bought the game because I thought I could be able to play this "hot seat style" (one PC; one person takes his turn and then the next person does). Not so. You have to play either online or through a LAN. Next, with the recent patch, there are FOUR boards to play. That's it. You can't pick or choose what units you want to play for your side on any of the boards, either. It's already pre-set.

In closing, I would have to say that I tried liking the game, but in certain areas the game left me flat.

Rating:
Summary: Lord! this game sucks
Review: First it is unfairly hard and you can't change the difficulty
2. it crashes all the time
don't spend you money on this garbage
I did, and regret it soooooo much.
The disk made a good archery target though

Rating:
Summary: I give it a C, but it is a fun diversion
Review: Positives: Good storyline, rounded characters, and some thought is required to overcome the enemy. The unit upgrades one can purchase at towns are a nice feature and cause one to get attached to their units.

Negatives: This game is has many bugs so be prepared for numerous crashes. The patches help, but they don't fix everything. You cannot name your saves, which is limiting. Also, the way the game works, the one who attacks first pretty much always wins - so the strategy becomes how one can arrange things to stay far enough away from the enemy to always attack first. And if you are ever in range of their spells, prepare to lose a lot of your army.

Rating:
Summary: I give it a C, but it is a fun diversion
Review: Positives: Good storyline, rounded characters, and some thought is required to overcome the enemy. The unit upgrades one can purchase at towns are a nice feature and cause one to get attached to their units.

Negatives: This game is has many bugs so be prepared for numerous crashes. The patches help, but they don't fix everything. You cannot name your saves, which is limiting. Also, the way the game works, the one who attacks first pretty much always wins - so the strategy becomes how one can arrange things to stay far enough away from the enemy to always attack first. And if you are ever in range of their spells, prepare to lose a lot of your army.