Elemental: War of Magic is a fantasy-themed strategy game for PCs that doesn't feel quite done. This buggy, hard-to-understand game is made all-the-more frustrating by the fact that there's nothing else out there quite like it.
The Pros
- Deep, fantasy-themed strategy.
- Handsome, cell-shaded kingdom
- Stardock seems serious about evolving their game
The Cons
- Obtuse, undocumented rules.
- Bug-ridden code.
- Feels like a work in progress.
Now that developers can patch games on the fly reviewing videogames can be like hitting a moving target. By the time you read this review there's a good chance that Stardock will have made substantial changes to their new strategy game Elemental: War of Magic. But you can't review potential.
At press time Elemental: War of Magic feels undercooked – like cake made of the all the most delicious ingredients, but still sloshing around raw in the bottom of a greased pan. The patient and tenacious can fish a chocolate chip or two out of the batter. But those expecting a finished, polished product will go away hungry.
Lord Help Us
Elemental: War of Magic plays like a fantasy version of Civilization. Turn-by-turn players build cities, develop new technologies and try to spread their influence across a randomly-generated, cel-shaded fantasy kingdom.
Players micromanage the lives, gear, abilities and adventures of a sovereign, their heroic allies and armies of generic followers. As players extend their reach they encounter quests to tackle, enemies to best, dungeons to crawl and treasure to horde.
Depending on play style the ultimate goal is to win the game by conquering all comers, getting into their good graces and uniting the world with diplomacy or re-building the all-powerful Forge of the Overlord.
Instructions Not Included
All these game-winning goals are easier said then done. And not for the right reasons. Elemental: War of Magic isn't just a hard game to beat. It's a hard game to grasp. Its not uncommon for the player to find themselves pondering unanswered questions? Why can't my character cast that spell he just learned? Why won't my army get any bigger than that? Why can't I talk to that dude? There are, of course, good reasons for all these simple problems. But Elemental: War of Magic doesn't always have them for you. That's a weakness of design and documentation – and a sure and unfortunate sign that a game is a work in progress.
The cult freeware game Dwarf Fortress is notoriously difficult to grok, but fans have written detailed Wikipedia tutorials to help newbies find their feet. Elemental: War of Magic desperately needs similar outside aids, which is unfortunate state of affairs for a full-priced game. Good strategy games give you the tools to build and excel. Its your job to use those tools to succeed. The first, unfortunate task of Elemental: War of Magic is sussing out how the dang tools work.
Bombed Ambition
Elemental: War of Magic is a victim of its own aspirations. The goal was to make a turn-based fantasy game in the style of the PC classic Master of Magic. But the lofty goals of melding Civilization-style empire building with fantasy adventure in a contemporary, feature-rich PC package wound up being too ambitious an aim.
Nobody knows what Elemental: War of Magic will look like when all is said and done. By all accounts it'll be dramatically different from the buggy, pre-release version and various updates we've already seen. Stardock seem committed to making things right. But you can't put a promise in a box and call it a finished game.
What's most frustrating is that in the rare moments when the game fires on all cylinders its as engrossing, addictive and engaging as the other great empire-building strategy games it seeks to emulate – the a game ending crash or inexplicable road block rears its head and frustration returns.
We truly want to play and love the perfect version of Elemental: War of Magic that Stardock has in mind. Unfortunately, we don't have it installed on our hard drive just yet.
Comments
Displaying 1–12 of 12
ran88dom99
The comedy is coming back yay!
Apparatus
"Elemental: War of Magic plays like a fantasy version of Civilization."
Reviewer is ridiculously lazy or young ))) The real E:WoM ancestor is "Master of Magic" (by Microprose), and it was (and still) a shining pearl of turn-based tactics.
But, sadly, the most points of criticism are real. StarDock, dear StarDock... what happened? I barely recognize you.
And I am especially disappointed as the old fan of MoM E:WoM has not even a quarter of it's progenitor's charisma and possibilities.
Awful. Just awful.
BoydofZINJ
You will see terms like labor of love and not yet finished yet. Well I am sorely disappointed with this game. VERY disappointed. Do they accept refunds disappointed. While this is a smaller company than Bioware or Blizzard. However, is it smaller than relic? WHO KNOWS. However, in this current state, buyer BEWARE. I do expect quality.
I am a huge computer gamer. I barely have any PlayStation 3 games and I dont own a WII or a XBOX. For the longest time, I thought the PS3 was a Blu-Ray player only. I like all sorts of games, Dawn of War (1 and 2), Mass Effect (1 and 2), currently playing Dragon Age Origins (for the first time), StarCraft (1 and 2), and a few others. My prized gems are the Strategy type games. I failed a college course playing the original Civilization on a DOS machine back in the early 90s. (I graduated in 1991 and started college that year and CIV {the first one} came out that year). Whoops.
I loved MOO (Masters of Orion), MOM (Masters of Magic, which this game was supposedly to be like), and CIV. Then came the newer games... Civ II thru IV (and V in a few weeks). Sins of a Solar Empire (technically its a hybrid RTS and 4X), GalCiv2, and now Elemental. This game says its a 4X game.
However, the AI is so dumb, its too easy. The graphics (which is not a big point anyhow) is below average, way below. There are broken abilities and broken powers. The tech trees are a laugh, too linear and not original or special, No Wonders (ala Civ). All the races are almost the same. Very few of the units or buildings look different (or react). All the races have all the same looking buildings and units.
When I first heard of this game, I remembered one of my old favorite and classics: MOM (Masters of Magic) and I remembered how I loved that game! I remember Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations II and thought: THIS COMPANY WILL DO IT RIGHT AND UPGRADE IT! This will be the NEXT GENERATION OF 4X GAMES or the hype led me that way.
BEWARE. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT.
When and IF it ever gets completed. It will be good... maybe. For right now, it is not worth the risk. I want to return the product and wait until a year or so... and then MAYBE it might be worth it. Assuming it gets fixed.
My biggest gripe is this:
The fan boys say that Stardock say they were forced to get the game out early to beat the crowds for civilization v and the busy retail months. However, that is HOGWASH. I expect quality. We are consumers. Most of us are not rich. Some of us have to live from paycheck to paycheck. Why invest money in a game that we can not play or that is not finished and it may take WEEKS OR MONTHS (or years) to fix? Why not play another game that is fixed and playable?
It is not Stardock either. I have seen a host of good potential games that could have been much better, but failed at the starting line. The opening of a game is very important, IMHO. If a game is not ready, I would recommend waiting and fixing it. A company only has one chance to get it right. If Modern Warfare 2 was full of bugs and the multiplayer did not work on the PC, XBOX, and PS3 on opening night, do you think people would have been angry? If Mass Effect 2 would have crashed after every mission or every paragon choice, would people have been angry? What about Madden? If the game came out and you could only play three teams and we were told the rest of the teams would be patched in within a month... would we be angry?
Before you respond, let us think of this as a non game. If I went to a restraunt and ate a chefs special that was incredible and delicious and I saw a sign that said that the chef was making a new dish next week (and the price was right). Would I go back? Probably. Now, let us assume that I did go back and the chef explained that for my meal I would only get bread and 1 veggie... the main meal was not ready for another month. Would I be happy? Would I want my money back? Then the restaurant told me, they will keep my money and hopefully within a month or two I can have the rest of my meal... how should I feel?
Restaurant and meals are not the same? How about cars. I am a consumer and I can buy a car as well. I purchase my first ever (insert brand and model here) 2011 vehicle (remember kiddies its only 2010). I am assured its the best vehicle ever. I buy it and discover it is missing brakes, a bumper, and 1 wheel. Should I be upset? I hope it gets patched soon?
Now welcome to Elemental: War of Magic. Or as I call it.. Elemental: The war to finish making a game and making you pay for a beta.
Lastly, you hear about 4X games. For those that dont know it means:
4X games are a genre of strategy video game in which players control an empire and "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate". The term was first coined by Alan Emrich in his September 1993 preview of Master of Orion for Computer Gaming World. Since then, others have adopted the term.
ran88dom99
So far this is a bad game. First the pros:
Diplomacy is detailed and flexible. City building is good because most buildings shouldn't be built in most cities so there isn't too much microing around this. Construction orders can be given from the zoomed out 'cloth' view. That also saves lots of time. This game has good moding tools so you can fix some of its major flaws.
Biggest con is the very limited strategic depth variety and options. This is partly because of balance atm really leans against such things as melee heroes, magic damage mages rather than support or summon, and any variety in the tech tree order. But really the problem is that the math is very very simple. A unit has 4 stats that define everything. In tactical combat there's nothing to think about at all. This problem wont be fixed by the extensive in game modding tools.
Each civ has the same tech tree and no special units.
The simplest definition of a good strategy game is one that gives the player many viable options at every decision in the game. This gives replay-ability, makes the tedious entertaining and creates challenge. The only place this game fulfills is in diplomacy, somewhat in city-building and a tiny amount in choosing techs.
The ai is horrible but that will be fixed for sure.
The game is very buggy and will crash once every 1:30 but that will be fixed and doesn't matter because the game is simple, tedious and boring.
The documentation is very poor/brief. Use the strategy wikis.
For all the effort that must have gone into the 3d animation and art the information it conveys is paltry compared to the 2d drawn overmap. The user will spend 80% of their time looking at that. Basically, its really hard to tell what is what in the 3d map. This is very funny. Its almost a proof that the game would have been better 2d. Unfortunately tactical combat doesn't have this option but thankfully needs it less.
The auto-resolve ai is stupid and when squishy wizards need to level you will have to babysit.
There's still alot of tedious micromanaging even after limits on building types, smaller numbers of units, over-map build and auto-resolve. This is partly because the interface is unfinished and units need to auto-move at the beginning of the turn not the end and the spell casting requires specific unit positioning.
Go play masters of magic. Or age of wonders or civilization...
kozzy420
This game has issues, yes.
But I have had more fun with this game then any other game this gen.
I own a ps3, a xbox and a gamign pc and there has been some great games this gen but to me ive had most fun with this game right here.
Yes there are some terribel lategame slowdowns and some ai issues, but I have only crashed 2 times in 40 hours with this game and have enjoyed every second of my time with it.
You will not learn this game in 10mins or one hour, it takes some time. But if you have patience you will find a very good.
Yes I can see why people dont like it or give it bad scores, but to me this is the best game of 2010.
I expected a horrible game but when I got to play it I was blown away by the fun factor.
I have only liked one of Stardocks games in the past , but I love this game.
Its not for everyone thats forsure, but if you watn a fun strategy game with tons of depth, great mod tools and a high fun factor then check it out.
For me its a 8.5/10 so far and woudl be higher score if the AI and late game slowdowns where fixed.
We all have our own opinions, none are right or wrong, some will LOVE this game and some will hate it, its just the way it is.
darkcrystals
If anything deserves a 2 out of 5, it's this game.
Noctys
I tried to play this game... Was only able to play for about 10 minutes and I gave up on the buggy UI. I was excited for this game & was going to give Stardock another chance. This is the last time I will spend money on one of their products.
DM818
This sucks I have been reading many places that this game was very similar to Masters of Magic (which I loved) only newer but if it is glitchy and hard to understand then I don't really want to spend money on it
Apsalus07
This is a joke not a game. Good one Stardick.
JoshH1
I am a BIG fan of Turn-Based Strategies like this, I love the Civilization style games, its the type of game I LOVE to play... When I saw the 2/5 at the top I was about to get mad, and write a superlong message of hate and puppy-kicking, but still for the sake of arguement, I sat and read through the review and I agree with just about everything said... I am one of those who have been jonesing for this game since I first heard about it quite some time ago, I think I where Stardock makes their games excellent is in their Sandboxing gameplay. A good example of this is their Galactic Civilization series, by itself it is OK, at best, but where it really pushes for me is the abiltiy to create, design and deploy your personally design units, it gives a great sense of satisfaction for me... So, Mr. Mastrapa, I will accept your 2/5 for now, but like many of Stardock games, they have only planted a seed to a greater game, designed by those who play... give it some time and it will more than likely grow into a tree of greatness.
JoshH1
I am a BIG fan of Turn-Based Strategies like this, I love the Civilization style games, its the type of game I LOVE to play... When I saw the 2/5 at the top I was about to get mad, and write a superlong message of hate and puppy-kicking, but still for the sake of arguement, I sat and read through the review and I agree with just about everything said... I am one of those who have been jonesing for this game since I first heard about it quite some time ago, I think I where Stardock makes their games excellent is in their Sandboxing gameplay. A good example of this is their Galactic Civilization series, by itself it is OK, at best, but where it really pushes for me is the abiltiy to create, design and deploy your personally design units, it gives a great sense of satisfaction for me... So, Mr. Mastrapa, I will accept your 2/5 for now, but like many of Stardock games, they have only planted a seed to a greater game, designed by those who play... give it some time and it will more than likely grow into a tree of greatness.
TeroLost
I'll wait until Stardock smooths things out--but this seems to be their MO...they have great ideas, but can't get them fully formed before running out of Dev time. Just like with Demigod--which they have fixed over time and made into a really fun game (IMO). I personally detest RTS games, but Demigod is a great deal of fun to me because of the angle Stardock put on the game--I'm sure they'll get this fixed and I'll be playing it religiously.
Displaying 1–12 of 12
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