Age of Wonders 4 Review (Juão)
Don't get me wrong, Age of Wonders 4 isn't a bad game. It have a decent Tactical Map gameplay and a pretty good Combat gameplay.
Technically wise, it is a decent game (Good in game concept, but lack in optimization)
What make me give AoW4 a negative review is the lack of soul. It doesn't have the franchise identity.
-Races are just skins. No unique characteristics, and most importantly, NO UNIQUE UNITS!!! (the worst aspect by far)
-There are no hand made maps (and neither the possibility of making one)
-No fun locations.
-Most of units are pretty forgettable
-Spells do not have a big impact and neither are fun
-Graphics are pretty meh.
-Campaign is just.....there....
-AI is as boring as it can be.
-Mythical creatures are not as unique or strong as they should be.
The game is too sanitized. Where is the magic? I feel like I am playing a war game with fantasy skin
There are some excellent elements.
-Deep customization of the factions
-Tomes! The best part of AoW4 (You will be able adapt your army and spells as the game goes).
-Very cool leader customization, specially with the expansions.
-The game pace is painfully slow.
-Too many combat healing spells (at least they are temporary health)
But pretty much it.
They sanitized the game in order of balancing (I assume) but it isn't balanced at all
They sacrificed the magic and uniqueness of the fantasy in exchange of customization (absolutely no reason to not mix both), but you will end up doing the same combinations most of the time.
They wanted replayability, but it is the first age of wonders I don't want to replay again and again.
AoW2 - Gods know how many hours I lost in there
AoW3 - 850 hours and actually want to play it again
AoW4 - 80 hours and had to force myself to play the last 2 maps.
This game suffers with the thing I most dislike about today game design.
No authenticity, no risks, want to attract the masses, not the people.
I won't say this game have no passion, I saw the devs working in it, and they indeed had a passion for the game. I just think they focused too much on the system rather than focusing in the fun and atmosphere.
I don't remember having that felling of "just one more round" while playing AoW4.
Hope that AoW5 (if it ever happen) be more similar to AoW2 or 1