Haven't seen it mentioned yet so Age of Wonders 3 is now out at Steam and GoG.
Much closer to AOW 1 then Shadow Magic (so much so that I've just bought the original at GoG to compare). Your Wizard is in the thick of it now rather than staying in his tower (in fact no Wizards Towers). Being able to cast spells everywhere feels a bit strange after that Shadow Magic.
Reviews have been generally positive although I'm bit more hesitant. Its stable out the box and playable which is a nice change but still a few things that I hope they patch. The first patch added some new resolutions and some a couple of minor bug fixes but the developers seem to be promising more.
For me a couple of issues.
The User Interface is poor. Apart from being the opposite (generally) from Shadow Magic/AOW2 its not consistent so sometimes right click selects and sometimes left click. A lot of people seem unhappy with this but I guess you do get use to it.
Play balance is off. Tier 4 units are hugely overpowered and there's no reason to not build anything else. The first patch increased the cost of them but still needs more work. Part of the problem is that they can one shot kill most Tier 1 and 2 units and its too easy to spam cities and so income and resources. I'd like to see T1/2 units buffed a bit more with experience and T4 weakened. XP are based on shots fired so you can drag out combat and get everyone elite.
The 3D graphics don't add much. Previous games had clear 2D sprites - this game the units are less clear and harder to ID. The tactical combat area is reduced - in Shadow Magic a siege saw you attacking on all sides so up to 6 attack positions. In the new game its one position where you line up and there's only one wall in sieges. The camera is annoying and only in the patch did the game remember settings (unless you created a Triumph account but the whole DRM or not argument could rage for ages...)
Less units and variety, this wouldn't matter so much except the races share units so you get Goblin Hunters, Elven Hunters and so on. Also less races so no Frostlings amongst others.
Cities are less distinct - fewer reason to not just build everything as ultimately position doesn't matter and you spam cities.
Performance is poor. I'm playing this on an I5 running at 4.5Ghz and a GTX760 and it pushes my PC more than a heavily modified Skyrim. Its normally silent but here all the fans kick in and overheating actually becomes a problem. For a turn based strategy game.
If that all sounds rather negative then I'm still hopeful about the game. The developers have acknowledged the balance issues and the first patch was a rough and ready attempt to delay the problems (fix doesn't seem to quite apply). Most of the issues about aren't fatal and can be addressed by patches or even DLC.
I've decided to replay AOW1 while I wait but definitely worth revisiting in a patch or two is you like the previous games.
Much closer to AOW 1 then Shadow Magic (so much so that I've just bought the original at GoG to compare). Your Wizard is in the thick of it now rather than staying in his tower (in fact no Wizards Towers). Being able to cast spells everywhere feels a bit strange after that Shadow Magic.
Reviews have been generally positive although I'm bit more hesitant. Its stable out the box and playable which is a nice change but still a few things that I hope they patch. The first patch added some new resolutions and some a couple of minor bug fixes but the developers seem to be promising more.
For me a couple of issues.
The User Interface is poor. Apart from being the opposite (generally) from Shadow Magic/AOW2 its not consistent so sometimes right click selects and sometimes left click. A lot of people seem unhappy with this but I guess you do get use to it.
Play balance is off. Tier 4 units are hugely overpowered and there's no reason to not build anything else. The first patch increased the cost of them but still needs more work. Part of the problem is that they can one shot kill most Tier 1 and 2 units and its too easy to spam cities and so income and resources. I'd like to see T1/2 units buffed a bit more with experience and T4 weakened. XP are based on shots fired so you can drag out combat and get everyone elite.
The 3D graphics don't add much. Previous games had clear 2D sprites - this game the units are less clear and harder to ID. The tactical combat area is reduced - in Shadow Magic a siege saw you attacking on all sides so up to 6 attack positions. In the new game its one position where you line up and there's only one wall in sieges. The camera is annoying and only in the patch did the game remember settings (unless you created a Triumph account but the whole DRM or not argument could rage for ages...)
Less units and variety, this wouldn't matter so much except the races share units so you get Goblin Hunters, Elven Hunters and so on. Also less races so no Frostlings amongst others.
Cities are less distinct - fewer reason to not just build everything as ultimately position doesn't matter and you spam cities.
Performance is poor. I'm playing this on an I5 running at 4.5Ghz and a GTX760 and it pushes my PC more than a heavily modified Skyrim. Its normally silent but here all the fans kick in and overheating actually becomes a problem. For a turn based strategy game.
If that all sounds rather negative then I'm still hopeful about the game. The developers have acknowledged the balance issues and the first patch was a rough and ready attempt to delay the problems (fix doesn't seem to quite apply). Most of the issues about aren't fatal and can be addressed by patches or even DLC.
I've decided to replay AOW1 while I wait but definitely worth revisiting in a patch or two is you like the previous games.