Customer Reviews

Fantasy Wars

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Back in the 90's, there was a game called 'Fantasy General'. I loved that game. Fantasy Wars IS Fantasy General (gameplay) with current graphics.

This game is tough. This game requires thought and strategy. I love it. This is the best game I've bought in 10 years.

In Fantasy General, you fought through 5 continents as one campaign. Here, you fight as a human leader, Orc leader (HHHHOOOORRRRRRDDDDDEEEEE!) or Elf leader. The campaigns are interrelated - as the Orc leader, you are pursued by the great human leader 'Darrig' as you plunge into human lands. As the Human leader 'Derrick', you pursue the Orc horde that leaves traps and devestation in his wake.

The Elf campaign in locked to be open after the human/orc campaigns.

If you like a difficult challenge with much strategy (and one of the extremely rare turn-based strategy games out there), this game is it. HIghly, highly recommended.

This is an obvious knockoff of Fantasy General. The graphical "improvements" are not very impressive, but the increased relevance of terrain and the emphasis on realistic unit strengths and upgrade tracks are very pleasing. I have been waiting for an easy-to-play turn-based game of this caliber since Panzer General, so I was happy to buy this.
Pros:
Easy point and click gameplay
Adjustable graphics speed eliminates wasted time.
Satisfying struggle against numerically superior enemies.
Interesting unit upgrade choices.
Cons:
3D graphics look very cheesy. (Not a con for me-gameplay is all-important in strategy titles.)
Story is not particularly interesting-many goblins must die.
My main complaint is that for the price, I would have liked longer campaigns. I was just whetting my appetite when the game ended.

Overall, this is a buy for fans of fantasy general (which I was inspired to replay.) Not a buy for those who need glitzy entertainment.

My review is based on playing the Human campaign. Fantasy Wars is a game that is not going to get a lot of fanfare because of the turn based genre does not appeal to the masses. If you are a fan of turn based games then you will find that Fantasy Wars is a fun strategic game. A grid based game that follows a campaign story line which allows you to advance your units during the game. At the start of the scenario you are given a certain amount of units to place around a specific area range on the map. You are given a range of one to several quests during the scenario inlcuding secondary quests. You move and attack with your units based on their abilities. Heroes are the superior units that can range from Leaders to Mages or Clerics. The key in gameplay is using your units most effectively against your opponent. Combining units techniques with attacks and also using the best terrain can yield the best effect.

Not only is Fantasy Wars a good Strategy turn based game it also is a good looking game with a clean interface. You can rotate the camera all around the map and even look at a nice overhead view of the strategic map. The units are well done and spell casting is excellent. It would be nice to see if they even come up with an expansion or sequel to the game that will build upon what is already a great product. I would also like to see a PBEM option for the game as that is a feature I like for a TBS game.

If you are a turn based gamer and wonder if you would like this game I would suggest that you most likely would. If you have played Fantasy General then you know the basic idea of the game. I enjoy the game and have recomended it to other fans of the genre. I would love to see more games of this type on the market and commend 1C and Atari for releasing this type of game.

Considering the fact that there are no advertisements for Fantasy Wars, if you're looking at these reviews you must be interested in turn based strategy (TBS) games. Congratulations! Fantasy Wars is an excellent TBS game. It has just the right amount of detail to keep it interesting, without bogging down gameplay. The graphics and sound are pretty decent, but it excels when it comes to fun. As everybody has said, it is largely an updated remake of Fantasy General, a TBS game of the DOS era. Some of the good points of the gameplay include:

- Terrain benefits or penalties, depending on the type of troops attacking and defending
- Artifacts to boost stats, but limited to one per troop and three per hero to prevent overpowering combinations
- Bonuses and special abilities gained as you level up, making veteran troops more valuable
- Open ended purchasing of troops to allow you to tailor your army as you see fit

The primary complaint you'll hear in these reviews or on other review sites is the difficulty. I have played and beaten all three campaigns and eagerly await an expansion. In doing so I had to replay a level occasionally. I played the game at normal difficulty with silver finishes in most levels, with a gold finish every third or fourth level. One level in the final Elven campaign actually required me to drop difficulty to easy temporarily. I am by no means a hardcore gamer and was simply playing a level a day after work in the evening. People who feel the game is too difficult are either too used to button mashing games that require no strategy, or are trying too hard to get the gold finish instead of conserving their troops and taking a little longer to finish.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a fun, moderately challenging game that requires a little bit of brain power to complete, look no further. Fantasy Wars is an excellent choice!

I loved Fantasy General, so I looked forward to playing Fantasy Wars. I read the reviews from the online game sites, but figured I would try it out for myself.

The Good- the game is in many ways an updated Fantasy General (which I liked a lot), the interface is easy to understand and pick up quickly

The Bad- It gives you the ability to zoom in for the mini-battles, but they are so boring to watch, there isn't really a reason to once you have seen a unit fight. Now Fantasy General didn't have the close ups of the battles, but effectively neither does Fantasy General since they are so pro forma.

The Ugly- Impossible to play without resorting to cheat codes or endless hours of frustration. The game throws tons of units at you. So many that you will end up losing experienced veteran units that can't be replaced, except by green units who will get whipped easily by the hordes facing them. Once you lose a veteran unit, you are better off re-loading a saved game and trying to avoid losing it again. The loss of an experienced unit or two will likely doom your chances down the road, so no point in playing on, in a losing effort.

The game is frustrating because it could have been so much better. One online game reviewer noted, and I agree, that even on "easy" this game is very difficult, just from the shear numbers of units you will face. They either needed to drop the number of units you face, or up the abilities of your units to be more than they are. As it is, your units are only marginally better and outnumbered by a several factors.

First the basics:

Video - 4.5; Positives include generally crisp resolution in higher settings, excellent terrain. Negatives are include character models, which are less convincing as well as some cinematics.

Sound - 5; excellent sound and musical score. Music was appealing and seemed broadly "period correct" - whatever that is for a fantasy game!

Gameplay - 4.5; Positives include ease of play and user interface, which is very intutive, as well as in-game battle sequences and sounds (though you have to get close to the action to really hear the sounds, which is realistic, I suppose). Spells effects are decent, overall, though most of the actual impact on troops is marginal. With a couple of noted exceptions, the magic takes definite second stage to the battle elements.

Atmosphere - 4; I found the maps and story line to be engaging and immersive, within the limits of a turn-based wargame (v. a first person game). Lanscapes and buildings were overall well done and evoked the right reactions.

Replayability - 3 (5); Not much, unless you want to play it again at a differnt difficulty level or try some different units or tactics since the overall storyline is the same. There is a map editor and if you can master that (I'm still playing with it trying to figure out how to get a scenario to work) so you can make your own scenarios, maps, etc... If I can get it to work, I would raise my score to a 5, but so far, I complete the scenario build and everything looks OK, but then won't load in the game when launched. In fairness, this could just be me - I have to believe it works, but figuring it out is not intuitive and there is no real manual.

Commentary: Overall, I found the game one of the more enjoyable and engaging fantasy wargames I have played in some time. I admit I strongly prefer turn-based wargames that are NOT RTS (Real Time Strategy - but actually have little strategy and are mostly just "gather resources/build structures/produce troops" efforts with little or no real military tactics or strategy). Fantasy Wars is - refreshingly - NOT an RTS, but a thoughtful turn-based strategy/tactics game with NO resource gathering, NO structure building, and troops are purchased/recruited rather than produced in structures. The only resource is gold (money), which you get for accomplishing missions or taking ground in cities.

So if you like turn-based wargames, and a fantasy theme is up your alley, this is a great game (as is Eleven Legacy, the sequel to this game and using the same game engine). On the other hand, if you really like the RTS "gather/build/produce" games, Fantasy Wars probably won't be what you are looking for.

In the end, with a few tweaks, this would have made a GREAT engine for nearly any historical wargame (ancients to medieval or early renaissance) or, with the right licensing and graphics changes, for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I especially think of the Hobbit, and the Battle of Fice Armies, and how well this game would model that with the right changes (goblins riding wolves instead of hyenas, etc...). Great game.

If you like to use your brain and not your reflexes, this is the game for you. It is a turn based strategy game, with it's roots in the old SSI Fantasy General.
The graphics are good, and the campaign is lengthy. You will lose some battles until you develop a personal battle system. Leveling your hero and the individual units is key to success. Losing a unit that you have developed over several battles really HURTS. It's a strategy that strategy WORKS!

Great game if you really like war games with a fantasy setting. It is very similar to play WHFB, but over a PC... Not bad and you come to enjoy it. A bit dated now, but still quite fun.

This is a good game, lots of mouse input and thought required. Nice graphics and animation.

The controls could have been made a little easier. as I find it difficult to select an individual unit to perform a function. I think I have a unit selected and then find that it is a different unit that does the action.

I would recommend that new users play the single scenario a few times to get a feel for the controls. The single scenarios are much more difficult than the campaigns.

All in all I would recommend this game to anyone who wants more than a Hack and Slash game.

I also absolutely loved Fantasy General, like others who have reviewed this game, and indeed, it very much feels like Fantasy General, 2010, in many ways. (I must admit though, I liked the music in Fantasy General more)

This game is really tough. In fact it's so tough, you could easily spend hundreds of hours playing it and trying to find just the right blend of attack troops that work to your best advantage in a heated battle. You really have to use artillery attacks, archers, hand-to-hand troops, flying attacks and the occasional spell, just to succeed in a battle. Because it's turn-based, you have much time to try to make the right decisions. I did finally finish the game, playing all three factions, but it was at the expense of playing about 50-70 hours a week, for probably over a month. (and, I admit, I had to resort to using cheats for some battles as it was so difficult, I could not see a way to win without them, and as I said, I played "easy")

There isn't much the developer could do to make this a better game though. The only suggestions I could make would be to provide a random map generator, as this would definitely add to re-playability. Part of the fun of such a game is exploring the unknown, and once you've played all the maps, why would you want to play them again?