Etherlords

Rating:
Summary: Good Game Bad Support
Review: Bought the game a few weeks ago and allthough it has been fun I have had much headache from the makers of the game. I cannot play it on my own machine due to a defect in the game, and technical support from fishtank was a joke, it seemed as if they did not even read the email I sent them when they sent back a very vague and nondescript reply. After three attempts with the same result I gave the game to my nieghbor, who got it to work only after 4 tries of installing it.

Rating:
Summary: Etherlords is MOM, HOMM, AOW, amd MTG all in one!
Review: Etherlords is Master of Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic, Age of Wonders and Magic: The Gathering all in one!

This is a near-perfect game.

You start out the campaign as a member of either the Chaot/Sythet alliance or the Vital/Kinet alliance.

The game begins with 1 or 2 heroes under your control, whose "decks" of spells are cantrips (Free, low-level spells) that will remain available throughout the game. The hero's job is to explore the game map, meet objectives, fight enemy and random creatures, level up, find more powerful card shops, aquire artifacts, and destroy enemy castles. All this is accomplished in a turn-based movement environment familiar to most AOE and HOMM fans.

The hero will have certain inherent (aparrently random) "specializations" that often are creature or spell-specific. Also, when leveling up, the hero can aquire other attributes to boost abilities. The hero's deck remains at 15 cards thoughout the game. The deck is enhanced and improved by purchasing common, uncommon, rare, and unique cards from various locations on the game map.

A new twist on the card collecting game aspect is the use of components to cast any spell above cantrip level of power. This means that the hero must keep purchasing components to power most spells or they will revert to the cantrip they replaced, until more components are purchased (Don't be dismayed, the cost of components is not very high, and it simply adds a bit of resource management to the game...ie: if you want to stack your deck with super-powerful spells, you will need to conserve your components well). This is often the reason for going out of the way to aquire resource producing buildings.

Even the moderate-level heroes are very fun to play, as the combinations of spells, hero abilities, and opponents' strategies are very innovative. A high-level hero is a blast!

The only flaw in the game is the pre-set distribution of cantrips, the basic "deck" for each race is unchangable, meaning if you want more cantrip creatures, enchantments, etc... you cannot get them. You have complete freedom with all other spell levels though, subject to the 15-card limit.

Game graphics are much more than I expected, and add a lot to early enjoyment. I had to de-select some animations though, to speed up gameplay and avoid repetition.

All in all, this is one of the best, most fun games I have played since Age of Wonders, and that is high praise indeed!

Rating:
Summary: loads of fun
Review: For an older game it is better then my Sony Everquest subscription.

Rating:
Summary: Fun concept, but average game overall
Review: I am an avid CCG player (ie Magic) and love RPGs and Strategy games. This game attempts to combine both in a Heroes of Might and Magic meets Magic the Gathering game. Its a good concept, but the game seems lack some originality as far as its "card game" portion goes. The game graphics are okay, but I was mainly interested in the turn-based gameplay. It got very repetitive quickly though. For me, its an average game that could not keep my attention -- however I like the game concept... hopefully Fishtank will try again and put more time into gameplay itself and will have a better product.

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Rating:
Summary: Fun concept, but average game overall
Review: I am an avid CCG player (ie Magic) and love RPGs and Strategy games. This game attempts to combine both in a Heroes of Might and Magic meets Magic the Gathering game. Its a good concept, but the game seems lack some originality as far as its "card game" portion goes. The game graphics are okay, but I was mainly interested in the turn-based gameplay. It got very repetitive quickly though. For me, its an average game that could not keep my attention -- however I like the game concept... hopefully Fishtank will try again and put more time into gameplay itself and will have a better product.

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Rating:
Summary: Etherlords: Great game but!!!.......greatly misunderstood!!!
Review: I like this game because it requires high level of intelligence to play and I think that I'm the right type of a person to play this game!!!

People don't understand it much because it is difficult and it is intended to be played by intelligent people only!!!

The game is perfect,the fault is with the gamers!!!
If you got the brains then you're definitely gonna like what this game has to offer for sure. I recommend that you(gamers) practice it well against the computer cause he's relatively tough to beat at first, then play it online or multiplayer.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Graphics, so-so gameplay.
Review: If you're a fan of Magic-The Gathering, you'll like the dual mode of this game. It is straight out of the M:TG universe, to the point that you have to wonder that this wasn't copyrighted. The graphics are beautiful, and the character animations are fascinating.

But, that doesn't save this game! I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to play it despite reading the manual several times. Extremely clunky interface, and not enough directions, IMO. Also, when you are on dual mode, the computer will pick the same opponent over and over again, even when you select random. You pretty much have to choose who you will play, or the computer will pick the same one over and over again, and you'll find yourself gritting your teeth.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Graphics, so-so gameplay.
Review: If you're a fan of Magic-The Gathering, you'll like the dual mode of this game. It is straight out of the M:TG universe, to the point that you have to wonder that this wasn't copyrighted. The graphics are beautiful, and the character animations are fascinating.

But, that doesn't save this game! I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to play it despite reading the manual several times. Extremely clunky interface, and not enough directions, IMO. Also, when you are on dual mode, the computer will pick the same opponent over and over again, even when you select random. You pretty much have to choose who you will play, or the computer will pick the same one over and over again, and you'll find yourself gritting your teeth.

Rating:
Summary: Magic the Gathering meets Heroes of MM and AOW
Review: This is one of the few games this year that have kept me up until 3 AM just to play another turn. It is a near perfect union of heavyly Magic The Gathering inspired card play with fantastic 3D animated turn-based battles and Heroes 0f Might and Magic-inspired strategic campaign play. There are lots of creatures, spells, resources, and hero advancement with improving stats and skills. After you play a few scenarios or have fought about a dozen battles you will discover the subtle strategies involves in deck balance, exploiting your hero's strengths, and resource management (some of the high level spells are very expensive to cast). If you like MTG-type card games and love HOMM or AOW you will be in fantasy heaven!

Rating:
Summary: Thumbs up! (way up)
Review: This is the best turn-based game I've played in a long time. I originally bought it to play until Heroes of Might and Magic 4 came out. Now I'm starting to fear I won't enjoy HOMM4 after having played this. The battle tatics are much better than any other game I've ever played.