The Basics: A mix of roleplaying game and turn based strategy
Previous Time Spent: 2 hours
Expectation of learning Curve: High
Why I bought this: I adored the first Age of Wonders when I was a teenager, and saw generally positive reviews for this.
My 3 Hours with the Game: I began by selecting a simple 2 player skirmish map against a computer opponent, and did nothing to customize the experience, hoping to get into the action fairly quickly. This led to the traditional slow expansion of a turn-based strategy game, of conquering little things, building more units, gaining xp, etc. I found myself being drawn in a bit, but generally feeling more in the way of nostalgia for the original Age of Wonders, with it's beautiful sprites and bloody brutality.
I fought a long, push pull war against a rival dwarf-king, and found that I had trouble making significant gains or losses. Eventually, I restarted as a human in a much larger, randomly generated map.
This time, things went swimmingly, and I found myself gathering a fun group of allies and slowly expanding. It would take more than my 3 hour test to bring the game to a satisfying conclusion, but I can say with certainty that I've begun to see the draw, and a bit of the advantages it has over it's predecessor.
Age of Wonders 3 benefits from a decade or more of advancements in game design, and includes more flexible character design, and fewer things that seem unbalanced. Overall, I would recommend the game, but I can't say I'll have the time to ever master it.
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