Review for Age of Wonders: Planetfall. PC game, the video game came out on 06/08/2019
For lovers of strategy and management of entire nations, the name Age of Wonders it is certainly not new. The lucky series of 4X fantasy titles has been with us now for almost twenty years and the arrival of a new game from the brand cannot therefore be anything other than a highly anticipated event for many players.
Triumph Studio e Paradox Interactive they therefore put an end to the wait by giving us theirs Age of Wonders: Planetfall, a title that re-proposes and improves everything that is already good from the original series, but this time leaves elves, dwarfs and assorted fantasy creatures on the bench to catapult us into a futuristic sci-fi universe, full of planets to conquer and alien races to discover.
The setting of Age of Wonders: Planetfall will certainly not shine with originality, but it is still very articulated and interesting. The events that we will then develop during the story campaigns come to life in a remote galactic sector, once dominated by the Star Union, a sort of human-led Federation, which guaranteed prosperity and security to the worlds that were part of it. The Union was also used to sending exploratory and military fleets beyond its own stellar borders, either to explore or to acquire resources. These fleets, immense and with all the equipment necessary to be practically self-sufficient and possibly start a new colonization project, traveled so enormous distances that the crews that made them had to face most of the interstellar journey in a state of cryosleep. And from the return home of one of these exploration fleets, the story of Age of Wonders: Planetfall begins.
We players, in the role of the commander in chief of this Vanguard fleet, as our first playable faction is called, upon our return to unionist space after an absence of almost two centuries, we will find a very different scenario awaiting us. we would have expected!
During our absence, in that portion of space a mysterious as well as catastrophic event took place, simply called "the Cataclysm", so disastrous as to undermine the very foundations of the Star Union, thus causing its ruinous fall. The planets and the races that made up the Union suddenly found themselves in a state of total anarchy, with the sole objective of surviving, even at the cost of having to declare war on their now former allies. After two hundred years of total anarchy, in the sector devastated by the clashes, different nations have arisen formed by the peoples who were part of the Union, each with its own cultural and technological characteristics and, of course, expansionist aims at an interplanetary level.
The campaign mode of Age of Wonders: Planetfall therefore places us in the shoes of the commander of the newly returned Vanguard fleet, who tries to find a place for his people in a universe that he hardly recognizes anymore. In addition to the Vanguards, we will immediately be able to undertake the story modes related to two other races: the Dvar, a sort of space dwarves with a highly industrialized civilization and a very Soviet flavor or the Kir'ko, a species of highly adaptable humanoid insects, with a tragic past and one goal: to survive and thrive.
In addition to these initial campaigns, later in the game we will unlock missions related to the other races in the game, for a final total of six different factions, human and otherwise, each with its own technological development and approach to various situations. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is presented, like the other titles in the series, as a strategic turn-based management, with combat on a tactical scale also turn-based, where we will be able to control in detail every unit and every single hero or commander, unique soldiers in the their kind, endowed with exceptional abilities and which can also be leveled by spending "experience points" earned on the field.
But we won't just have to fight in Age of Wonders: Planetfall, as our ultimate goal will be the management and improvement of our colony. We will therefore have to look after supplies, research (divided into civil and military sectors which, taken to the maximum degree, will allow us to produce real weapons of mass destruction) and, absolutely not negligible, diplomacy.
The game will allow us to come into contact even in a peaceful way with different races and settlements. In this way we will be able to establish commercial partnerships, non-aggression pacts or real alliances, complete with the creation of joint armies and exchanges of technology to be retro-engineered. Of course, nothing prevents us, if we deem it necessary, from backstabbing our allies to seize their colonies or resources. Obviously, however, they too have the same power to act, so we will always have to stay alert! In addition to the campaign mode, Age of Wonders: Planetfall also offers free scenarios, to be faced with any race you want right away, and with a simple and complete commanders editor, where you can customize our leader in the way that suits us best, to then use it in free scenarios or online, playing together with other users.
Technically, Age of Wonders: Planetfall is presented in a more than dignified way, with very detailed units and scenarios, rather varied and extremely well animated, even if not exactly with "jaw-breaking" graphics. Mind you, the graphics do their duty damn well, as well as the sound sector, but they never manage to abandon a certain “past generation” style. Not bad, given that in any case units and factions are still characterized properly. Very good on the side of playability and controls. Both the military and exploratory part, as well as the management and development or diplomatic ones, are carried out in a perfect way in our opinion, managing to reach an excellent level of detail and completeness while remaining intuitive and rather immediate. Even playing with the pad (we tried the game on PlayStation 4) each action is easily performed without too much forcing, not making you regret the immortal coupled keyboard + mouse at all.
In conclusion, Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a really great 4X, varied, detailed and really fun to play. The various campaigns already offer a satisfying gaming experience, made even longer by the simple scenarios, of which you can vary each parameter as you wish. Too bad for the graphic aspect which, while doing its duty at its best, we cannot define memorable. An excellent game, recommended for both veterans of the genre and for those who are entering this type of games for the first time!
► Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a Turn-Based-Strategy-Tactical Game developed and published by Paradox Interactive for PC, the video game was released on 06/08/2019
