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Age Of Wonders: Shadow Magic Review - PC

Turn-based strategy fans can now relieve themselves as the latest installment of Age of Wonders makes an appearance on store shelves. Being developed by Triumph studios Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic intends to offer what the previous series shone upon and more! Offering over fifty new units and a new random scenario generator, which is hoped to provide that bit extra to give Shadow Magic the edge over it's ancestor's. These features along with new spells and new realms to explorer make Age Of Wonders: Shadow Magic an exciting item to get my hands on.

Gameplay

Shadow Magic takes on from the previous series? Storyline with wizards Merlin, Julia and Meandor but also comes with three new races along with the 12 original races. The new races consist of the mystifying Syrons, the Nomads and the Shadow Demons. The Syrons and Shadow Demons are local to the Shadow Realm, the Nomads have the ability to move there cities which can be seen as a big advantage tactically in Shadow Magic. The shadow Demons as you could pick up from there name are an evil bunch who use there strong arsenal to overcome worlds, the shadow demons are the rulers of the Syron race who are potent in magical skills but unable to break the barrier or the shadow demons to be an independent race. The Nomad's race has been gifted with a strong combination of fast and powerful units. The original twelve weren't to be underdone; each original race has been given a new city upgrade along with a new unit available.

Shadow Magic shares what most strategic games offer with the GUI situated at the bottom of your playing screen, the interface is a well-designed easy to use system where new players should find it particularly easy to pick up the general gist of how things work and what things do. If new players of the series are having trouble the tutorial that is available to use is an excellent guide to lead you down the right path, there's a lot of reading but overall it's a good learning curve to take. It takes players through a full crash course of all the features that you will need to use in Shadow Magic to be successful.

The AI in Shadow Magic is pretty high; I mean this is no easy game. For new players of the series with less experience I highly recommend that you start with a lower level of difficulty at the beginning or be ready to be owned at the higher spectrum difficulty modes. The campaign's can be tough, gathering a strong enough army to challenge the impressive computer controlled units. Using your units to full effect can be a problem if you don't plan out your moves correctly. Archers can sometimes be blocked in there line of attack by other units you have moved which takes them out of the battle, so plan your moves wisely.

Shadow Magic has new spells and units that can be of great use (continued next page)