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Age of Castles |
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Developer: Anarchy Enterprises Publisher: Anarchy Enterprises Genre: Strategy > General Released: Dec 10, 2003 Players: 0 |
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In an age where goblins, trolls, and demons rampage the free world, it's up to you to save the land from the hordes of the underworld. In Age of Castles, players
are tasked with taking back a land that has been over-run with evil. Venturing across wastelands, ice frontiers, mountains, and much more, players face off against the underworld hordes while trying to establish a legacy as a prominent king.
Players start the game by picking one of five characters (a Knight, a Prince, a Warrior, a Dwarf and a Necromancer) to represent their basic skills as a King. Each has different stats that will affect the way the kingdom grows. Knights focus more on defense and guarding against attackers, the Prince is good for rallying the people, Necromancers have magic bonuses, where-as the Warrior receives attacking bonuses, and Dwarfs can acquire money much faster than the others. Each character impacts how the player's kingdom will grow, and will determine the player's pace progress.
The game is played day by day, as players manage money, rotate builders, soldiers, merchants, and clerics around as well as managing other resources. Deciding what the villagers become (builder / soldier / cleric / merchant) determines how the player's castle will grow. Builders allow for housing more gold, while soldiers increase the castle's defense and armory; clerics are able to persuade more people to join the village, and merchants work to make the player more money. Each class serves a different purpose throughout the course of the game, and they each add necessary resources to the players cache. Soldiers, though, require money to increase the castles defenses and raise the player's offensive strength. Because of the amount of money soldiers need to operate, players must fluctuate their management tactics. Players can increase the percentage of villagers assigned to each class increments of 5%. This adds an extra element of strategy, as players will constantly have to keep a watchful eye on the progress of their kingdom, rotating each class as necessary.
Age of Castles also allows players to view their stats, such as how many battles they've had, won and retreated from, or what types of foes they've encountered. Enemies in this game range from giant bats, trolls, horse legions, dwarves, thieves, and too many more to list here. Bonuses can be viewed and players can also purchase bonuses that will aid them in battle, or simply in the progress of establishing a well-rounded kingdom. Magic and items differ, but both increase some aspect of the kingdom. For instance, purchasing something takes down magic points from the player's resource but increases some other aspect of the kingdom. Magic can also perform such tasks as turning animals into people and adding them to your kingdom. Other magic effects include turning lead into gold, or pouring a potion on the castle walls that gives it an extra boost in the player's building progress. Items that players can purchase range from swords, axes, helmets, armor, or potions that increase certain aspects of the player's resources. There's even items that allow players to increase the amount of offense/defense they have when going into battle.
Encountering enemies in this game is a frequent experience as players take the entire kingdom to the battlefront, with spoils to be gained upon achieving victory. However, if a player's ranks aren't strong enough to combat the forces of evil, they will lose resources upon defeat, or from retreating. The process of battling enemies is quite simple, possibly too simple, as players will only need to click on the "attack" button to initiate their army into combat. Whoever has the most men, highest offense and highest defense ranking, will more than likely be the victor. Like most AD&D games, battles are determined by invisible "Hit/Miss" roll dice, allowing whichever side with the higher stats to roll dice in their favor, resulting in a "Hit". There are times, though, where the underdog may come out victorious in an uneven encounter.
Surprisingly, progressing through Age of Castles has little to do with battles. Players increase their level via venturing up the chain of 18 available areas on the map. Each area looks strikingly different from the next, with amazing visuals supporting the player's ever-changing castle, and its growing size and quality.
The game has a simple mechanic, with a lot of addictive elements that some strategy gamers might find appealing, but it may need a bit more depth in the battle system to capture the attention of the average gamer.
Graphics:
Age of Castles has a major plus by its graphics for a reason: This game looks really good. Fans of castle strategy games like Lords of the Realm will easily find this game to be visually appealing. The fog effects are exceptionally well done and the backgrounds are rendered with first-rate quality.
Sound:
The sound effects are good in this game, and they convey the ambiance and weapon effects nicely during battles. However, the music in this game is not quite on par with the graphics and sound effects, which sort of takes away from the experience.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is unbelievably addictive. Tearing oneself away from this game is like trying to peel a teething baby off a candy apple. The full-throttle addictiveness, fused with the seamless gameplay and control mechanics easily made this game fun for the time it was played. The problem came in with the battle sequences...players coming off fun titles like
Tradewinds Legends will be highly disappointed with the lackluster, cheesy battles in this game.
Clicking the mouse button repeatedly while two pictures have "hit" or "miss" underneath them just doesn't carry the same effect as guiding troops across a battlefield, even if it's in 2D. There are recoverable aspects of the gameplay, though, namely with the balance players must keep with building up their castle or managing their villagers. The economic feature is what keeps Age of Castles a fun, addictive experience.
Concept:
Games that take place in medieval times are more likely to be strategy games than they are action games. Whenever a medieval game comes along that brings something intriguing or challenging to the strategy genre, it does spark an interest to see how the game fares among the competition. And I have to say, this game does pretty good with executing a concept in a genre that is almost known for this kind of concept. Apart from the battle sequences, I admit that this game executed the strategy medieval concept with sparkling originality. It's one of the most addictive strategy games I've played.
Value:
While a game may be addictive, it doesn't mean it's always worth its price. In this case, the game boasts some good features, and has a lot of replayability. However, this game is in the same category as Tradewinds Legend, and side-by-side gamers will probably find that this game might be sub-par in comparison. Still, the high replay factors cannot be ignored, and that's why this game settles for a par when it comes to value.
Recommendation:
I love games like Conquer or Lords of the Realm, but these kinds of games just don't hit store shelves often enough. When a good, strategic medieval game comes along, it's always worth checking out. This game is no exception to the aforementioned titles. Players who enjoy medieval strategy games will be hard-pressed to say this game isn't addictive, and that's why I'm suggesting gamers at least go and try it.
Players start the game by picking one of five characters (a Knight, a Prince, a Warrior, a Dwarf and a Necromancer) to represent their basic skills as a King. Each has different stats that will affect the way the kingdom grows. Knights focus more on defense and guarding against attackers, the Prince is good for rallying the people, Necromancers have magic bonuses, where-as the Warrior receives attacking bonuses, and Dwarfs can acquire money much faster than the others. Each character impacts how the player's kingdom will grow, and will determine the player's pace progress.
The game is played day by day, as players manage money, rotate builders, soldiers, merchants, and clerics around as well as managing other resources. Deciding what the villagers become (builder / soldier / cleric / merchant) determines how the player's castle will grow. Builders allow for housing more gold, while soldiers increase the castle's defense and armory; clerics are able to persuade more people to join the village, and merchants work to make the player more money. Each class serves a different purpose throughout the course of the game, and they each add necessary resources to the players cache. Soldiers, though, require money to increase the castles defenses and raise the player's offensive strength. Because of the amount of money soldiers need to operate, players must fluctuate their management tactics. Players can increase the percentage of villagers assigned to each class increments of 5%. This adds an extra element of strategy, as players will constantly have to keep a watchful eye on the progress of their kingdom, rotating each class as necessary.
Age of Castles also allows players to view their stats, such as how many battles they've had, won and retreated from, or what types of foes they've encountered. Enemies in this game range from giant bats, trolls, horse legions, dwarves, thieves, and too many more to list here. Bonuses can be viewed and players can also purchase bonuses that will aid them in battle, or simply in the progress of establishing a well-rounded kingdom. Magic and items differ, but both increase some aspect of the kingdom. For instance, purchasing something takes down magic points from the player's resource but increases some other aspect of the kingdom. Magic can also perform such tasks as turning animals into people and adding them to your kingdom. Other magic effects include turning lead into gold, or pouring a potion on the castle walls that gives it an extra boost in the player's building progress. Items that players can purchase range from swords, axes, helmets, armor, or potions that increase certain aspects of the player's resources. There's even items that allow players to increase the amount of offense/defense they have when going into battle.
Encountering enemies in this game is a frequent experience as players take the entire kingdom to the battlefront, with spoils to be gained upon achieving victory. However, if a player's ranks aren't strong enough to combat the forces of evil, they will lose resources upon defeat, or from retreating. The process of battling enemies is quite simple, possibly too simple, as players will only need to click on the "attack" button to initiate their army into combat. Whoever has the most men, highest offense and highest defense ranking, will more than likely be the victor. Like most AD&D games, battles are determined by invisible "Hit/Miss" roll dice, allowing whichever side with the higher stats to roll dice in their favor, resulting in a "Hit". There are times, though, where the underdog may come out victorious in an uneven encounter.
Surprisingly, progressing through Age of Castles has little to do with battles. Players increase their level via venturing up the chain of 18 available areas on the map. Each area looks strikingly different from the next, with amazing visuals supporting the player's ever-changing castle, and its growing size and quality.
The game has a simple mechanic, with a lot of addictive elements that some strategy gamers might find appealing, but it may need a bit more depth in the battle system to capture the attention of the average gamer.
Graphics:
Age of Castles has a major plus by its graphics for a reason: This game looks really good. Fans of castle strategy games like Lords of the Realm will easily find this game to be visually appealing. The fog effects are exceptionally well done and the backgrounds are rendered with first-rate quality.
Sound:
The sound effects are good in this game, and they convey the ambiance and weapon effects nicely during battles. However, the music in this game is not quite on par with the graphics and sound effects, which sort of takes away from the experience.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is unbelievably addictive. Tearing oneself away from this game is like trying to peel a teething baby off a candy apple. The full-throttle addictiveness, fused with the seamless gameplay and control mechanics easily made this game fun for the time it was played. The problem came in with the battle sequences...players coming off fun titles like
Tradewinds Legends will be highly disappointed with the lackluster, cheesy battles in this game.
Clicking the mouse button repeatedly while two pictures have "hit" or "miss" underneath them just doesn't carry the same effect as guiding troops across a battlefield, even if it's in 2D. There are recoverable aspects of the gameplay, though, namely with the balance players must keep with building up their castle or managing their villagers. The economic feature is what keeps Age of Castles a fun, addictive experience.
Concept:
Games that take place in medieval times are more likely to be strategy games than they are action games. Whenever a medieval game comes along that brings something intriguing or challenging to the strategy genre, it does spark an interest to see how the game fares among the competition. And I have to say, this game does pretty good with executing a concept in a genre that is almost known for this kind of concept. Apart from the battle sequences, I admit that this game executed the strategy medieval concept with sparkling originality. It's one of the most addictive strategy games I've played.
Value:
While a game may be addictive, it doesn't mean it's always worth its price. In this case, the game boasts some good features, and has a lot of replayability. However, this game is in the same category as Tradewinds Legend, and side-by-side gamers will probably find that this game might be sub-par in comparison. Still, the high replay factors cannot be ignored, and that's why this game settles for a par when it comes to value.
Recommendation:
I love games like Conquer or Lords of the Realm, but these kinds of games just don't hit store shelves often enough. When a good, strategic medieval game comes along, it's always worth checking out. This game is no exception to the aforementioned titles. Players who enjoy medieval strategy games will be hard-pressed to say this game isn't addictive, and that's why I'm suggesting gamers at least go and try it.
By: William Usher
Posted: Friday August 11, 2006
Posted: Friday August 11, 2006
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