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. It was followed by a stand-alone expansion pack, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, which introduced random map generation to the series.

Gameplay

In contrast to Age of Wonders, players in Age of Wonders II take the role of an immortal spell-casting Wizard, who cannot be upgraded, but can revive after being killed if they have a Wizard Tower.

The maps for tactical battles are smaller than in Age of Wonders, with faster combat and less maneuvering of units. Hero levels are simplified from other iterations of the series, offering one of three skills per level, depending on the Hero's class.

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

Magic use in Age of Wonders II uses a "domain" system with only a small range around heroes, but projected farther by Wizard Towers and relays when a Wizard is present in a tower. Global spells can only be cast by the Wizard, via a spell book located in the main user interface, within the domain of the casting or allied wizard. Spells in combat can be cast either by Heroes in the battle, or the Wizard if it is within their domain (which includes heroes if the wizard in a tower).

Development

The game was announced in January 2001.

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.

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

Reception

GameSpot named Age of Wonders II a runner-up for its June 2002 "PC Game of the Month" award. It was a nominee for PC Gamer USs "2002 Best Turn-Based Strategy Game" award, which ultimately went to Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin. It was also a finalist for The Electric Playgrounds 2002 "Best Strategy Game for PC" prize, but lost to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. It was a runner-up for GameSpots annual "Most Improved Sequel on PC" and "Best Game No One Played on PC" awards.

References

External links Official website via Internet Archive Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne at Triumph Studios

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