You can completely destroy cities but you may not build new towns. There are no random maps and city placement is fixed.

There are two campaigns and 22 scenarios (23 if you include the tutorial) included in the game. A very nice aspect of the games is that you really need to play the campaign game to find out how the story evolves - and there are quite a few interest twists along the way to keep you playing to see how the story unfolds, mostly through stylish cut scenes. You often need to traverse these dark caves to surface at an otherwise inaccessible location on the surface map. Some of the game's more interesting features include a huge variety of spells, and vast subterranean levels complete with cities and unique maps.

You build and upgrade towns, recruit heroes and units, and send them to invade enemy cities or side quests similar to Warlords 3. Gameplay in AoW will be familiar to HoMM players, although it does have some innovative features. A difference between Age of Wonders and other games is that there are quite a variety of human race types in the game in addition to your usual undead, goblin, orc, etc. You are Leader of one of the game's twelve races, each one different from others based on philosophical alignment and combat/magical abilities - similar to AD&D rules. Instead of the usual humans, Elves are the peace-loving heroes in Age of Wonders, although a faction, the rebellious Dark Elves, seek vengeance on humans for taking their kingdom. It is set in the 'Valley of Wonders', populated all the requisite fantasy races. The game is reminiscent of Heroes of Might & Magic in many ways. Unfortunately despite slick graphics, intuitive interface, and a nice variety of missions and campaigns, Age of Wonders lacks long-term playability due to poor AI and some repetitiveness that creeps in after you explore all the options. Age of Wonders is one of the most ambitious fantasy strategy games ever created, and also one of the most expensive: it was sold in most retail outlets for $54 or more - a good $20 pricier than other PC games.

Age of wonders 3 collection review