Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne explained

Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne
Developer:Triumph Studios
Publisher:Gathering of Developers
Producer:Chris Lacey
Designer:Lennart Sas
Programmer:Arno van Wingerden
Artist:Mao-lin Liao
Lennart Sas
Martijn Holtkamp
Composer:Mason B. Fisher
Series:Age of Wonders
Genre:Turn-based strategy
Modes:Single-player, multiplayer
Platforms:Microsoft Windows

Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne is a turn-based strategy video game in a fantasy setting. The sequel to Age of Wonders, it was developed by Dutch video game developer Triumph Studios.

Gameplay

Unlike in Age of Wonders, where the player has the option of removing their leader from the map, players in Age of Wonders II take the role of an immortal spell-casting Wizard, who cannot be upgraded, but in certain circumstances can survive being killed.

In contrast to Age of Wonders, the maps for tactical battles are now much smaller. This led to faster combat and less maneuvering of units. Also in contrast to its predecessor, when gaining new levels Heroes can no longer choose new skills from a list of all available skills; instead, the player is forced to choose one of three offered skills, depending on the Hero's class.

In Age of Wonders, magic is used via the spell casting abilities of leaders and heroes, and global spells can be cast some distance away from the hero; use of spells in combat is restricted to battles where a hero with spell casting is present.

Magic use in Age of Wonders II uses a "domain" system; spells can only be cast within the domain of the casting wizard, or the domain of an allied wizard. Magic domains can overlap with each other, and in the simple case, are centered on the Wizard. When a Wizard is present in a Wizard's Tower, the radius of the domain increases significantly, and in addition is radiated by other Wizard's Towers, Magic Relays and Heroes under the control of the player. Global spells can only be cast by the Wizard, via a spell book located in the main user interface; spells can be cast in combat by either Heroes involved in the battle, or (provided the battle takes place inside their domain) the Wizard who controls any party which entered the battle.

Development

The game was announced in January 2001.[1]

AoW II kept the same 2D artistic style as the original, but uses a then newly developed Direct3D enhanced engine with 32 Bit color, 1280x1024 max resolution and a 3D special effects system.[2]

AoW II was developed using the Delphi programming language (Delphi 5).[3]

Reception

Improved audio quality and graphics, sub-quests from various gods, more races and build options as well as two large single-player campaigns made most of the large fanbase of Age of Wonders migrating to Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne; this was aided by the involvement of members of the HeavenGames community in suggestions, testing and development of the game.

GameSpot named Age of Wonders II a runner-up for its June 2002 "PC Game of the Month" award.[4]

Age of Wonders II was a nominee for PC Gamer USs "2002 Best Turn-Based Strategy Game" award, which ultimately went to .[5] It was also a finalist for The Electric Playgrounds 2002 "Best Strategy Game for PC" prize, but lost to .[6] It was a runner-up for GameSpots annual "Most Improved Sequel on PC" and "Best Game No One Played on PC" awards.[7]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gathering of Developers and Triumph Studios Announce Age of Wonders II: The Wizard’s Throne. https://web.archive.org/web/20010417035210/http://www.godgames.com:80/main.php?section=news&page=press&pr=AOW2_Announced. Gathering of Developers. April 17, 2001. January 26, 2001. May 19, 2024.
  2. Web site: Second Age of Wonders . Eurogamer . January 29, 2001 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220707081143/https://www.eurogamer.net/article-30043 . July 7, 2022.
  3. Web site: Age of Wonders II Still using Delphi? . aow.heavengames.com . June 19, 2002.
  4. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20021204003624/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/pc/gotm/070502/index.html . PC Game of the Month, June 2002 . ((The Editors of GameSpot PC)) . July 5, 2002 . . December 4, 2002 . dead . April 2, 2021 .
  5. March 2003 . The Ninth Annual PC Gamer Awards . 10 . 3 . 48–50, 54, 58, 60, 66, 68, 70 . . Staff .
  6. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20030308163735/http://elecplay.com/feature.html?article=10626#mr_toppy . Blister Awards 2002 . 2003-03-08 . Staff . . dead . 2018-10-04 .
  7. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20030207155400/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/bestof2002/ . GameSpots Best and Worst of 2002 . GameSpot Staff . December 30, 2002 . . February 7, 2003 . dead .