Age of Wonders: Planetfall Review

 

At long last I managed to lay hands on this game. I didn't had much expectations but just wanted to see how the Age of Wonders genre continues. I'm grateful for every strategy game out there, so this will be just a little constructive critics :) And so we start every mission on different planet like Pandora or SMAC, but on many planets. There are 6 types of terrain(arcadian, fungal, lava, arid, snow, ocean), but you can not change them like in the old AW, there is a forstation spell but it's puny. Spells are Operations here but it is similar. Unit cap is level 5 - puny. Some units have metamorph, which means on level 5 they become next tier unit, like Psi-Fishes, silicoids, and some more which are not on main races - great. Hero level cap is 20, 25 on last DLC - puny. There are 8 races so far: Kir'ko(like klackon), Vanguards (humans), Dvar (dwarves), Amazon, Sindicate, some lizards, Oathbound (interesting race of paladins) and finally the Assembly (similar to Borgs from Startreck). Actually the Assembly is may be the best race. They have super flier with area attack plus super cool modifications like a lot of damage, stunning targest and reviving after combat. Also they modificates on the same turn, as they like to adapt :) So the races are cool. Now the campaign is puny, two missions per race, puny puny. But after that we may play sort of conquaring many planets with favorite heroes. And finally the 3D graphics. I suppose it is OK, buautiful to watch while drinking the coffee, but when the strategy and combat starts... I have made so many missclicks on this 3D combat map that I can not count them. So in general it is worth it. It's not worth the Shadow Magic or old AW, but yet cool to have a memory of it :)

Name: Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Type: Turn Based Strategy (TBS),

Genre: Futuristic. (Galaxy Planets)

Year of Release: 2019

Platform: PC/Windows 7/8/10/

All screenshots and videos for Age of Wonders: Planetfall

12 Similar Games. Games like Age of Wonders: Planetfall:

1. Age of Wonders. (1999)
2. Age of Wonders 2. (2003)
3. Age of Wonders 3. (2014)
4. Pandora: First Contact. (2014) 
5. Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014)
6. Endless Legend. (2014)
7. Endless Space. (2012)
8. Endless Space 2. (2017)
9. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. (2014)  
10. Eador: Genesis. (2014) 
11. Elemental: War of Magic. (2010)
12. Master of Magic. (1994)  

2019: Best PC Games

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Fantasy General 2

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Open XCom X-Files: Apocalypse

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Fantasy General 2 Review

Being a great fan of the original Fantasy General game, I had quite the expectations about the next sequence, though at some point in the 10's I stopped to expect any sequence for this game at all. And strange enough I liked it! for a game released after 2015 it is really a progress for me. What is most amazing is that they have kept most of the base concept from the original FG game. The only thing I dislike is the heavy graphic. I have always thought that this types of games need a clear 2D graphic with some beautiful sprites, where we can plan our strategy in a most focused way. For example, I did not take the dragon mount from the Dragon Island, because it was too annoying, weaving those mighty wing over my screen. Some times I had to bend my head aside to look for the unit under the dragon :). Other from that, there are some minor things that are bearable or fixable, compared with the original game.

Story. The story of FG2 take place on one continent. Again, some missions will lock others so we can take different paths. We lead a noble barbarian tribe against the corrupted empire to save the world. Also the mission turn limit now only affects the spoils we get from the mission and is not a loose mission timer.

Experience. In the original FG, the unit with the final blow takes all the all experience. In FG2 all units 3 hex away from the target gets the experience. Except if a unit 4-5 hex away makes the final blow - it also get the XP. 

Units. There are 4 main types of units, though they have very different race varieties, like human archers or centaur archers. The upgrade tree is more like Heroes style and we use 3 main resources to upgrade our unis in the path we choose. I just miss the concept about not knowing what is next unit upgrade from FG. One motivation was to reach all units max upgrade and see what is it :)

Items. Items are endless, not like in FG1. There are also rare(purple) items that make which of which more wonderous things. Heroes can carry 3 items and most single entity units can carrry 2 items.

Ruins. There are 5 types of ruins. The real ruins, caves, camps and settlements. The ruins and settlements may drop rare items. The caves I farm for boots (Water walking boots are so so  so needed). The camps may drop some mana or health potion. But what is most not good is that there is no some type of shop to sell the unnecessary items at least. I believe this should be considered.

Terrain. Like the loading screens says, the terrain is a major part of the game. There are deep water, where only lizards can go, water, plains, roads, rough, woods and mountains.

Resources. Beside the 3 main resources to upgrade our units, there is an interesting concept with mana nodes on some maps where we get mana to cast spells and summon creatures. 

Game Data:
Name: Fantasy General 2
Type: Turn Based Tactic (TBS), Turn Based Strategy (TBS),
Genre: Fantasy. (1 continent)
Year of Release: 2019
Platform: PC/Windows 7/8/10/ - More Info

Recorded adventure archive 25.10.2019 - 07.11.2019.

All descriptive screenshots for Fantasy General 2.

15 Similar Games. Games like Fantasy General 2:

1. Fantasy General (1996)
2. Elven Legacy. (2009)
3. Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War. (1999)
4. The Battle for Wesnoth. (2003 Free)
5. Panzer Corps. (2011)
6. Panzer General 2. (1997)
7. Panzer General 3: Scorched Earth. (2000)
8. Pacific General. (1997)
9. Allied General. (1995)
10. Panzer Tactics DS. (2008)
11. Open General. (2012 Free)
12. Star General. (1996)
13. People's General (1998)
14. Fantasy Wars. (2007)
15. Battle Worlds: Kronos. (2013)