WARLOCK : MASTER OF THE ARCANE - REVIEW
Warlock : Master of the Arcane is a turn based strategy game much like Civilization. In fact, it's so much like Civilization V it could almost be seen as a mod, much like the 'Fantastic Worlds' expansion for Civ II. Though being a Civ fan and disliking the series by each addition and the boredom that comes as soon as your borders are met with each other civilizations, W:MotA tackles this by creating multiple worlds within a game and increases the most fun part - exploration. You begin by selecting a hero with unique perks and units, then other options such as the number of opponents and how many other worlds there are. Then, much like Civ still, you begin with just one city and have to expand and grow your kingdom across multiple cities throughout the world(s) using settlers and units to defend / secure them..
Unlike Civ, resources play a big part in this game, especially money. Depending on the buildings you have in your cities you'll earn an income and units have to be bought as well as maintained through your income. Having a huge army will cost you a lot each turn and therefore become difficult to recruit more units - depending on your budget.
Unfortunately I found the AI players and minor diplomacy features almost unnecessary, as I spent the whole game tackling the monsters that are a constant plague on the lands within the world you begin and more so in the other worlds you discover by travelling through portals located on the map. To enter another world is a real challenge and you have to ensure you have a decent amount of units to enter to take on these new foes, though the rewards can be worth it.
This brings me on to another great feature of W:MotA, be securing certain resources on the map you can be granted entirely new units. Pass through a gate to another world and secure some settlers on a Dragon's nest (once you've secured it), and you'll then be able to train Dragon's to fight for you. This is also similar in other places such as Dwarven, Rat or other species' camps or even have an undead city which can recruit skeleton warriors and other completely unique units. Unlike Civ V for example that once a certain technology is discovered and then oil appears everywhere on the map, in W:MotA, exploring and securing / defending these becomes a much more important and enjoyable part of the game.
Another similar but different aspect to Civ is research. Instead of researching technology you research spells. These can be cast once a turn though some stronger spells require two turns or more to cast. You cast these spells by using mana which is generated through the buildings you construct in your cities and some resources throughout the map can generate more. It can be quite easy to forget about these spells but they can be useful especially for finishing off enemies or helping to transport your units across the map. Once you've discovered one spell you're immediately given a choice of the next spell to research though soon you have so many spells it's hard to keep track of them and you're given a tiny windows in which you have to scroll through to find the one you want. It's quite a clunky feature to manage and it's strange that you can cast magic anywhere that you can see and therefore feels almost as if you're cheating when you transport your units from one corner of a world the a corner of another world. I would have liked to have seen a limit to your area of effect, perhaps a range depending on the strength of your magic, but it's still a nice feature to play with when your units aren't doing enough.
A certain resource of the map will allow you to create a shrine to a god in the closest city within the hex's border. This costly building allows you to build (also costly) units that are extremely powerful. Favouring a god will give you a stronger reputation towards them but a worse one towards their opponent god. Favouring a god long enough will allow you to control their avatar on the map and therefore be more of a force to be reckoned with. The gods give you quests throughout your game and you have the choice of accepting or refusing them, though refusing or failing to complete them can have consequences!
To win a game of W:MotA is ... a mystery!? You can't select the conditions at the start of a game nor could I find them online except among discussion on forums. From what I have seen and researched you can either research an ultimate spell which once you cast makes you, well I don't know but you problem become some kind of combination of Gandalf and Dumbledore and therefore just win by default. As well as this there is conquest, god favour and ... well, I'll add them once I find them out!
W:MotA is a great revival of the series as I feel Civ, despite its polish and fantastic visuals, has become dull and unoriginal. This game however brings a whole new enjoyment and great aesthetic that'll keep fantasy fans happy. There are few minor bugs and gripes such as the magic and some movement commands that can become fiddly and at times frustrating though I expect the developers to be waving their wands to makes these 'vanish'.
If you're a fan of turn based strategy and love Civ games then this is a must, especially at its small price that will still give you hours and hours of enjoyment
7.5/10
Comments