Rage of Mages |
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Sunday November 08, 1998 |
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Rage of Mages |
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Sunday November 08, 1998 |
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A potent Realtime-Role-playing adventure that will keep even the long time gamers busy for hours and hours. |
| Rage of
Mages, a Monolith Productions game, looks to be one of
the greater games of this genre. Even in a gaming market
full of real time and role-playing games, Monlith really
did it's homework and created a game that included the
best of both. What really sets this game apart is not
just the rich mix of missions, plentiful and diverse
items, and beautiful graphics (which it has in plenty),
but the game has an excellent AI. This is not a game
where the enemy is stupid, instead almost too
smart...which just makes it that much better. The real time component is simple and straight forward. Point to attack, point to cast a spell, and point to pick something up. One nice addition to the normal attack function is a "swarm command where your units will then attack all available antagonists, instead of waiting for direction to the next enemy. The perspective is top down, with a good use of the fog of war. I was pleased that in the first mission alone, not only was there a main goal, but also two other quests that I had to search for in order to find. Battle is fast and furious, and strategic thinking before entering some battles is neccesary in order to win. The AI shines here as your mages and the enemies will heal their own allies automatically if out of range for direct attack. A feature I took full advantage of...and so did the enemy.
A Rage of Mage town |
 Top Down Perspective Enemy units do not split up, but stick together and go back to areas that they were defending if you retreat. There are also NPC's that you can hire (for a price), and some that will join you on missions...this later I found really nice, as an Ogre that joined me in one mission came in handy. As in all role playing games, this one gives you the choice as how to spend your hard-earned gold. Do you gird your fighter with better armor and weapons, or do you buy spell books, magical staves and potions for your mage? After the first mission, you enter a town to get further missions, visit the Inn or the Armory. The Inn is a place for gossip and the hiring of NPC's, while the Armory/Shop handles all the equipment, magical and otherwise. All in all I found the game fun and challenging. It was immediately addictive, and I found it hard to stop playing. The graphics are good quality as well as the sound, though I did find that the mages character kept saying "What?" in a snide voice. This game will provide challenges for even the most jaded of Role playing gamers, and a good change of pace for the realtime crowd. I highly recommend the game, and hope it sparks more of the same in the future! |
Company: Category: NOTES: Interest: 95% TOTAL : 89% Requirements: Operating System: Memory: Hard Drive: Sound Card: Video:
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