Age of Wonders 3 - Review

Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy battle game with an emphasis on the warfare aspect of your Race. Set in a medieval fantasy world of dragons, elves and orcs. The game will probably remember you of Civilization 5, since it does have a similar management structure, though the game's combat system is better elaborated and important.
 

Storyline and Gameplay

  Campaign mode is a minor moment in Age of Wonders 3, its story is not particularly interesting, it just gives you little justifications and missions to learn the main mechanics of the game.

  In a way, the campaign seems like a huge tutorial for those unfamiliar with Age of Wonders, and the narratives are so similar and bland that it is not worth repeating with another race.
  
  Thus the focus of Age of Wonders is on online games and random maps that you can generate to face up to eight opponents, players or computer controlled, and can also split between different teams.

How to Battle

  The great highlight of Age of Wonders 3 is the way battles work, each army can consist of six units (usually led by a leveling and evolving hero), when two enemy groups meet, you control all allied armies in the adjacent hexagons beyond the attacking or attacked forces. This means you can fight huge battles with up to 42 units participating in them. 

  Combat can be manual or automatic, although this second mode should only be relegated to minor combat. In manual mode it is vital that you are aware of tactics, understand the advantages and disadvantages of the units employed and have a reasonable command of the movement.

  One of the biggest problems with Age of Wonders is that the races don't have very significant differences: a human archer has a slightly higher attack level than an orc archer, but this second has a chance to make his opponent bleed and take damage continuously. The problem is that both races have unit tables with slight variations, making choosing a race a more aesthetic than strategic issue.

Graphics and Interface

  Age of Wonder 3 graphics are quite outdated, that's not impressive since it was released in 2014, however the game is still extremely aesthetically beautiful. despite its hexagonal resemblance to Civilization 5, its focus on a medieval fantasy world makes the scenes of this game far more beautiful. From verdant forests to snow-capped peaks, it is easy to see the aesthetic influence of classics such as Lord of the Rings in the design of this title. The heroes are very diverse and quite interesting, they manage to get away from the classic archetype elf archer and orc warrior, to bring to life different things like the dark draconic wizard and other even more amazing beings.

  
  Age of Wonders 3's music is also extremely well done, with epic themes that help you get into the highly warfare mood of the game. Character voices and other sounds work just as well, though they don't draw any particular attention.


 
 Age of Wonders 3 is one of the best strategy games I've played and, If this review caught your atention to the game, it is surely worth buying it. It is available in the gamehag website so if you have enough gems, go check it out.