Age of Wonders III

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 627 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 444 out of 627
  2. Mixed: 116 out of 627
  3. Negative: 67 out of 627

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  1. Tomle1202
    Dec 19, 2022
    7
    Age of Wonders III never really took off, instead just awkwardly hung around being serviceable at best.
  2. Lenzie
    Sep 30, 2014
    7
    A well polished, good looking and enjoyable tactical strategy game. I enjoyed the challenging AI which always seemed to keep me on my toes and forced me to think through every move, battle and turn.

    What did frustrate me about the game however was the length of the campaign. I easily put 80 hours into the game and by the end I was getting bored and felt very relieved to have it finished.
  3. Thazari
    Dec 27, 2016
    7
    Clear and intuitive gameplay and UI, nice pacing and loving the concept of monster lairs allover the land to give your heroes and armies something to do in the early game. Turn based battles play smoothly and are fun. I like how heroes can lead your armies and have various classes with a huge amount of skills to unlock. Graphics are appealing and the game has a nice atmosphere.

    The    Clear and intuitive gameplay and UI, nice pacing and loving the concept of monster lairs allover the land to give your heroes and armies something to do in the early game. Turn based battles play smoothly and are fun. I like how heroes can lead your armies and have various classes with a huge amount of skills to unlock. Graphics are appealing and the game has a nice atmosphere.

    The downsides are that there isn't that much to build in cities so your cities max out relatively soon and don't have any variety (although the tiles around the city make your city better in certain aspects over others). And there aren't that many different races to play, unlike Age of Wonders 2.    … Expand
  4. Babutto
    Jun 21, 2023
    7
    It's a cool game. But the time when I enjoyed it had passed.

    Pros.: - They finally let you play orcs, goblins, etc. during campaign without drawing them as forces of evil (as before). - Cool graphics. - Good old mechanics. - Many units and development. - Choices. - The story is decent. Cons.: - Even though the game tries to be as old I didn't feel the vibe. It was hard for me    It's a cool game. But the time when I enjoyed it had passed.

    Pros.:
    - They finally let you play orcs, goblins, etc. during campaign without drawing them as forces of evil (as before).
    - Cool graphics.
    - Good old mechanics.
    - Many units and development.
    - Choices.
    - The story is decent.

    Cons.:
    - Even though the game tries to be as old I didn't feel the vibe. It was hard for me to feel the vibe of the game before with all its complexity. But now its even harder because the game is more variable.

    I recommend it of course. Maybe, when I grow old, I will play again. But not now for sure.    … Expand
  5. themediocritic
    Feb 25, 2020
    7
    A 2020 Review for Age of Wonders III

    Score: 7/10 Mediocrity Score - Not Mediocre. It's hard to get me to like most strategy games, and I really enjoyed this one. Had to knock it down a whole point due to the lack of available servers & players online. Quick take: Six years after its original release, Age of Wonders III still stands as a remarkably competent and fun 4x turn-based    A 2020 Review for Age of Wonders III

    Score: 7/10
    Mediocrity Score - Not Mediocre.

    It's hard to get me to like most strategy games, and I really enjoyed this one. Had to knock it down a whole point due to the lack of available servers & players online.

    Quick take: Six years after its original release, Age of Wonders III still stands as a remarkably competent and fun 4x turn-based strategy and tactical combat game. Triumph Studios two-games-in-one approach sets Age of Wonders III in a rare cross-genre we only see come out of the Total War franchise. It's immensely exciting and fun at the onset, but it does begin to drag on and show it's repetitiveness after 20-40 hours. If you're already a fan of this style game, you could very easily double or triple that number. Unfortunately, multiplayer is almost entirely dead. Single player or LAN games would be your only viable options. If you've not played this wonder of a game - I'd recommend you give this one a shot. It has a lot to offer, particularly in it's tactical combat battles. Plus - I've seen this title go on sale for as low as $7.50. That's a bargain for a game that you will easily put 30+ hours into playing.

    Pros:
    - Sprawling tactical battles spice up the long game by providing a variety challenges one must strategize on in order to succeed.
    - Beautiful, lush graphics that keep up with 2020 standards for strategy games.T
    - Heroes provide an RPG-esque feel by finding loot which can be equipped along with leveling-up which provides ability points - both of which are used to further buff your hero.
    - High level of replayability.
    - "Just one more turn!"

    Cons:
    - Multiplayer is dead. Local LAN or private games are your only hope for such competition.
    - Campaign story is tired and uninspired.
    - Simultaneous turns results in some confusing and frustrating delays. Some clicks take upwards of 20 seconds to register, worrying the player that their game may have crashed.

    Concept:
    It's rare we get the genres of a tactical combat game blended with a 4x strategy game. They've really pulled it off on this one and that alone makes it worth checking out. The challenge keeps the game fun and interesting, while also feeling very achievable.

    Graphics:
    Beautiful game. Still looks very fresh and lush having been 6 years since it was released. Combat scenes are impressively detailed and varied for something most developers would have done less with. That sort of attention to detail is not common enough.

    Sound:
    Music is fine, but for a game that spans such a long amount of time - I found myself muting it within the first 8 hours of game play. Voice acting, however, is great - even if only included in the two campaigns.

    Playability:
    Tutorial does a poor job, mostly relying on an in-game encyclopedia appropriately called the Tome of Wonders. Game itself is easy enough to get the hang of, but learning effective strategies for the many different scenarios is a challenge but one that brings you back for more. Some campaign goals could be better communicated.

    Entertainment:
    I wish the city-building component was more fulfilling, but as a whole the game really does an awesome job of creating an atmosphere that sucks you in wanting "just one more turn". Combat is where the game shines the most providing a large array of options to destroy your enemies and competition.

    Replay:
    High. You can create your own heroes, your own scenarios, partake in online play (which is very limited in 2020), and make good use of the modding community. This all breathes more life into a game that already is very replayable.

    Cheats?: Yes! An adequate amount of cheats are available using the in-game console. No trainers or file modifications needed. To enable, withing game launcher's check the checkbox for "Run in Debug Mode" before starting the game. Once in a campaign or match - use CTRL+ALT+C to bring up the console. Recommended cheats are as follows:

    - +100,000 gold | BOSCH
    - Explore map (does not disable Fog Of War) | TASMAN
    - Free movement | CRUIJFF
    - Instant production of current queue in every city | PHILIPS
    - Kill the selected target (in battle) | GETOUT
    - Auto-win a battle (in battle) | WINNOW    … Expand
  6. TEG_17
    Jan 31, 2022
    7
    Довольно хорошо. Интересный геймплей. Не хватило желания пройти
  7. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 23, 2023
    7
    Exceptional as a 4x fantasy strategy game, but not as good as others 4x strategy games
  8. Zeks
    Apr 1, 2014
    6
    It has a core of a great game but is atm plagued by a lot of bad design decisions. Namely:
    1) Killing members of a unit does not in any way weaken its strength
    2) Very little unit variety at later tiers
    3) horrible pre battle placement
    4) combat map sizes are a joke
  9. Vayra
    Jul 13, 2014
    6
    A fun and good-looking 4X game, that unfortunately does not last very long in the hands of those familiar with 4X titles. Even though there is a wide variation in spells, races and classes and the seemingly 'infinite' amount of combinations and games this should offer, every game essentially plays the same.

    Age of Wonders has a few major flaws that make the game boring very fast: -    A fun and good-looking 4X game, that unfortunately does not last very long in the hands of those familiar with 4X titles. Even though there is a wide variation in spells, races and classes and the seemingly 'infinite' amount of combinations and games this should offer, every game essentially plays the same.

    Age of Wonders has a few major flaws that make the game boring very fast:
    - Class balance is off. Certain classes are capable of destroying most others, while other classes, in particular those that rely heavily on spellcasting, are virtually powerless against a gold-based class with a good army such as the Rogue or Warlord. With a smart mix of racial and class-specific units, these two become even more overpowered. The simple fact is, players can only cast a single spell each turn of combat, while they can move and attack with every separate unit on the field - this makes physical combat by definition far more influential than spells could ever be.

    - Lack of depth in development. While building your empire, with a few lucky early resources, you can rush straight to 'endgame'. If you'd really want to, 'endgame' units are easily achieved and there is a glaring lack of depth to the tech trees and units that become available. There are four tiers of everything, which means that a research-oriented player can whip out maximum tier units within 30 minutes of play, or possibly even faster depending on your luck with resources. After those first 30 minutes, there is no longer any kind of stronger unit available. Not a single 4X game presents such a flat tech tree, because of the simple fact that are those 30 minutes are over, the game stops being interesting and surprising.

    These two key points will, eventually, and for me already after about 4 games, destroy the entire experience and lead to a dull, boring game that revolves around simple rush tactics to win. Sure you could make your life difficult, but then you notice that the AI utilizes said rush tactics as well - end of story.    … Expand
  10. Anthropos
    Apr 14, 2014
    6
    Without a reasonable opponent, the depth of the character class/race combinations falls flat. The limited AI drains enjoyment from a game that has a lot of potential.
  11. Noitatohtori
    Apr 3, 2014
    6
    AoW3 is almost entirely the same game as AoW2. Narratively, the single player campaign is at the same level with its predecessor - the story is boring, uninspired, and the gameplay and story do little to interact. However, if you liked AoW2, you'll like this one as well - it's the same title with some make-up and a fancy new clothes.
  12. ArjaaAine
    Apr 8, 2014
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am a big fan of the series, but I was disappointed here.
    The UI is very clunky compared to the older versions. It now takes too many clicks to get a lot of basic tasks done.

    One big pet peeve of mine is that you can't cycle between cities (or i couldn't find how to). You have to manually click a city and then find the next city to click too. Which would be fine, if the map was not so cluttered.

    Another problem is that the building description is a tooltip rather than a fixed menu on the right.. like the old games. So, more often it is too much of a pain to figure out what exactly does the building do.

    The unit screen is a total mess, with again no unit description menu.. So, i have to hover my mouse over the unit name and wait a few seconds to see what the unit's powers actually are. Plus there is no differentiation in the UI over tier1 -tier2 - tier3 units.. so I have to right click a unit and check its wiki before I know what tier the unit is off. In the old game, the units were organized so that the cheapest 3 were always tier1, and so on.

    There is no mini-map in the battle... Yes, let that sink in for a while.. no mini map in the battle screen. So, battling in any zoom level but the lowest is too slow and annoying.

    They have removed the strategic aspect of attacking the city from 4 sides. Now you only attack from one side.. the front.

    The hero upgrade screen is just chock full of upgrades, most of them are useless.. and there is no upgrade tree.. So, you have no idea how to unlock the better upgrades.

    I though do like the new buildings as they do offer a lot of different strategies in what buildings to build first.. but the UI is just so horrible, all the joy of city management goes out of the window.

    Too many things in the game are a mix and match between right and left clicks. Your attacks in battle would only hit if you right click.. even though you select the unit using left click. Heroes can be equipped using right click, even though you left clicked on the inventory.

    It gets tedious to constantly have the wrong click.

    It is a playable game, but not unlike AoW2 where tasks were fun and not a chore. I have played AoW2 nonstop for 10 years.. but AoW3.. i am just going to play because i paid for it.    … Expand
  13. tranxhdr
    Jun 10, 2014
    6
    As for turned-based strategy games go, this one is by far the best one currently available. The game gets quite repetitive quickly which gets a little boring after a while.
  14. Sethland
    Jun 7, 2014
    6
    AOW3 is an OK game, but not much more than that; For me I think the main attraction was it being a turn based strategy game, which there are not many off, and I had much fun with AOW2. However, AOW3 does not in any way live up to either AOW2 or the HOMM series.
    Maps are extremely boring, with few resources, points of interest or other goodies. The "dungeons" you can explore are quite fun    AOW3 is an OK game, but not much more than that; For me I think the main attraction was it being a turn based strategy game, which there are not many off, and I had much fun with AOW2. However, AOW3 does not in any way live up to either AOW2 or the HOMM series.
    Maps are extremely boring, with few resources, points of interest or other goodies. The "dungeons" you can explore are quite fun however. The graphics in general are lackluster, and it's very hard to see on the world map where resources, POI's etc are located.
    Hero building is pretty good and diverse, and the fact that your hero is a unit is something HOMM could learn from. The larger scale combat maps and siege type combats work well too.
    However there're just too many cities to conquer, be they from another faction or from independent parties, and large and huge maps are just not very enjoyable. It's the same stuff - fight 3-4 mobs manually (because the auto combat function is **** 5 times or so every turn and then build a few things.
    The only break in monotony is boss battles where you fight e.g. 18 vs 18; those are fun and requires just a minimum of strategic planning - all other battles don't as the AI is horrible.

    In conclusion, I'd say that I'm fairly disappointed by this game and that it doesn't reach HOMM 4-6's level at all. Your money would be much better spent getting any of those games.    … Expand
  15. Wrathzo
    Mar 24, 2022
    6
    Age of Wonders III is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Dutch developer Triumph Studios. It is the fourth game in the Age of Wonders series. The game is set in a high fantasy fictional setting, where players take the role of a leader to explore the world, interacting with other races and kingdoms, both diplomatically and through warfare while progressivelyAge of Wonders III is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Dutch developer Triumph Studios. It is the fourth game in the Age of Wonders series. The game is set in a high fantasy fictional setting, where players take the role of a leader to explore the world, interacting with other races and kingdoms, both diplomatically and through warfare while progressively expanding and managing their empire. It features a new graphics engine for the series, in addition to an updated soundtrack. The gameplay has also been updated, featuring a new role-playing style leader class based system and interchangeable choices of strategy and appearances for each playable race. It also supports online and local multiple player modes and a level editor along with a new story driven single player campaign mode.… Expand
  16. WL11
    Apr 19, 2015
    5
    AOW3 is an otherwise decent game with one fatal flaw:

    If you lose a campaign battle in which one of your leaders dies, you lose the whole campaign. And if you are the defender, you can't retreat to save the leader. So you basically can't use leaders in any risky situations. If you really want to use leaders, you have to lower the difficulty or use exploits so that no situation is    AOW3 is an otherwise decent game with one fatal flaw:

    If you lose a campaign battle in which one of your leaders dies, you lose the whole campaign. And if you are the defender, you can't retreat to save the leader.

    So you basically can't use leaders in any risky situations. If you really want to use leaders, you have to lower the difficulty or use exploits so that no situation is ever risky. But without risk, what's the point of playing?

    You should not have to win every battle to win the campaign.    … Expand
  17. Socram
    Apr 13, 2014
    5
    After reading some reviews where the game was praised as a perfect mixture of HoMM and Civ (which I both love), I bought this title... only to be bored quite quickly.
    The UI has some shortcomings like missing "effective" range indicators and the "all-knowing" Tome of Wonders does not contain any info on some searches that I did.
    While the graphics esepcially in the overview map are very    After reading some reviews where the game was praised as a perfect mixture of HoMM and Civ (which I both love), I bought this title... only to be bored quite quickly.
    The UI has some shortcomings like missing "effective" range indicators and the "all-knowing" Tome of Wonders does not contain any info on some searches that I did.
    While the graphics esepcially in the overview map are very aesthetic and the soundtrack is well composed, the proclaimed tactical combat lacks eye- and earcandy... the animations and spell effects are lackluster, the sound doesn't feel very impactful... things that imho were better even in older HoMM titles.
    My biggest contra is the empire management where the best procedure seems to be to stomp out as many cities and units as possible while not bothering all that much about your resources. Meaningful decisions about which buildings to get in your cities? Hardly. There are also few incentives to recruit weaker units as you can quickly progress to the highest tiers... if you know what to research. And while I normally love random elements in such games, it doesn't feel right in the research section of AoW3.
    Some of these things (like gettings many cities asap) might be changable in the random map games, but first I'd like to finish the singleplayer campaigns to get a feel for the game. And while the story with it's good english speakers can induce some atmosphere, the levels just cannot motivate me to play through them.
    On the plus side: The AI of the game seems to be well programmed, both in the strategic and tactical section.    … Expand
  18. Ixoziel
    Oct 23, 2014
    5
    I think it's very important to note that this is a combat heavy TBS. The empire building is pretty bad... each different faction has the same buildings, with only one difference, and there are very few buildings. Your cities will build everything very quickly, and then you have no choice but to expand. On harder difficulties, expanding is the ONLY real choice. You can't build tall, becauseI think it's very important to note that this is a combat heavy TBS. The empire building is pretty bad... each different faction has the same buildings, with only one difference, and there are very few buildings. Your cities will build everything very quickly, and then you have no choice but to expand. On harder difficulties, expanding is the ONLY real choice. You can't build tall, because cities have such few buildings and reach their maximum population level very quickly. There's also very little downside to settler spam, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

    The empire building also moves at a very, very fast pace. On normal mode, for example, you typically complete a building in 2-3 turns, and most military units in 1 turn. However, the maps are very big. This creates a problem... by the time you're done exploring the map (especially on larger map settings), endgame will be here. And endgame is very, very stale. It usually consists of spamming your hero class's tier 4 units, and supplementing them with stun units. Virtually every race and hero class does this, because there's no downside to having t4 units other than upkeep, and they're very easy to get. You can get t3 units by the 20th turn, if not earlier, and if you take the time to try and expand you're going to get swarmed on harder difficulties or in multiplayer.

    Ultimately, the game boils down to battle after battle. When it's late in the game, if you're fighting a player that's equally as strong as you are, it often comes down to a deadlock. Both of you might have 5-6 cities pumping out strong units every 1-2 turns. Sometimes these fights can take hours, especially if they involve multiple armies. You can autobattle, but it's not recommended, as your units seem to behave like morons.

    Thus, the game has a flow problem; the empire building and research happen very quickly, but because military units are produced so quickly, you just end up with hours of t4 units fighting other t4 units.    … Expand
  19. golgor
    Apr 9, 2014
    5
    Well, I must confess the game looked better watching the gameplay than the fun I had playing it since its release... There are some good tactical stuffs, like flanking units in battle,...but your heroes are so involved in the storyline, that loosing one will result in loosing the game :-/...boring! The battles start with all your units on a straight line, which is really not what to expectWell, I must confess the game looked better watching the gameplay than the fun I had playing it since its release... There are some good tactical stuffs, like flanking units in battle,...but your heroes are so involved in the storyline, that loosing one will result in loosing the game :-/...boring! The battles start with all your units on a straight line, which is really not what to expect from this kind of strategy game!!! The cloth map is pretty but not really functional (at least not as much as in Fallen Enchantress...a shame!)...and AI sends units which are just running away when you chase them with stronger units...resulting in a stupid hide and seek game which really kills the fun imo. At least there is the multiplayer part, which is definitely the best part of this game!… Expand
  20. Jellyjam
    Apr 21, 2014
    5
    Great graphics, lore and even a nice combat twist. None the less nothing above the grade or truly fresh.
    Lay out also lacks several key lay out features that either make the game inconvenient, or annoying.
  21. AeonForm
    Apr 22, 2014
    5
    This is a mix between Heroes of might and magic and Civilization, but definitely a failed one, you have so much options and things to care that it's a commplete mess, i feel like playing a different game everytime i go from a screen to another... The world map is also a mess, i feel stupid to say that but...it's too colorful.
  22. TsukasaHiiragi
    Feb 15, 2015
    5
    Same old story with the Age of Wonders series, don't get me wrong - its not a bad franchise but with unfair AI bonuses, and even a little cheating it makes for an rather distasteful game. We all know that the AI loves to stack units just outside your vision range, meaning it knows where your cities are at all times, knows your weaknesses and will exploit them - seems to ignore commonSame old story with the Age of Wonders series, don't get me wrong - its not a bad franchise but with unfair AI bonuses, and even a little cheating it makes for an rather distasteful game. We all know that the AI loves to stack units just outside your vision range, meaning it knows where your cities are at all times, knows your weaknesses and will exploit them - seems to ignore common player problems like upkeep and even occasionally spawns 'extra' units outside of skills/summons. Overall, AoWIII isn't really that much of an upgrade to Shadow Magic, minus the fact the AI in AoW:SM was dumber and cheated less.… Expand
  23. kajt
    Sep 4, 2020
    5
    Well, it is trying to be Heroes but you know best heroes is heroes 3. So i would rather play old clasics. I played AOW3 for a day but its not for me i guess.
  24. balvan64
    May 30, 2014
    4
    At first I thought this is a good game, but after a few hours in I realized I was just fooling myself, it's a bad game.

    * After killing 11 out of 12 soldiers in a squad it still does the same damage as if nothing changed, * Not enough ruins and such to explore, you barely get 2 items per game. * Strategic battle starting positions are insane. * Heroes customization has too many    At first I thought this is a good game, but after a few hours in I realized I was just fooling myself, it's a bad game.

    * After killing 11 out of 12 soldiers in a squad it still does the same damage as if nothing changed,
    * Not enough ruins and such to explore, you barely get 2 items per game.
    * Strategic battle starting positions are insane.
    * Heroes customization has too many useless traits, and even level 10 heroes aren't that powerful.
    * You can only cast 1 spell per combat round, but what if you have 2 casters? or 3?
    * Casting global enchantments is pointless, whatever you cast is immediately dispelled the following round.
    * Heroes only give their bonuses if they are leaders, so you can't stack two heroes in an army. why?!
    * All races have the same buildings.
    * There is almost no different between the units of each race (priest shots fire, priest shots poison etc...)
    * It takes ages to clear a map, and it's mostly waiting on your cities to produce enough units to take down the 3 army stacks the computer has holed up in his castle. really really boring.

    I can go on for ages, this is a bad game, they did not think this through, this is a big disappointment!    … Expand
  25. guillaume321
    Apr 15, 2014
    4
    Weak game for me, both visual and gameplay. If you really want to play turn based fantastic strategy then go for Might and Magic Heroes VI. It excels everywhere and is 100 times better than this.
  26. godking
    Aug 31, 2014
    4
    have you ever heard about "city management"?. if you had you hadn't heard it from AGE OF WONDERS III.

    how about different playstiles? nope, just rush em all and we'll be fine. becouse if you dont rush then the AI will send some OP armies to crush your forces and they are "nasty" becouse i can handle some of those tier V monsters but i cant when they are like 18 and you cant deal proper    have you ever heard about "city management"?. if you had you hadn't heard it from AGE OF WONDERS III.

    how about different playstiles? nope, just rush em all and we'll be fine. becouse if you dont rush then the AI will send some OP armies to crush your forces and they are "nasty" becouse i can handle some of those tier V monsters but i cant when they are like 18 and you cant deal proper damage to them.

    ok so maybe its a little bit boring to clean all the map of those bandits. and i dont want to play every single battle becouse its a waste of time. so i use the autoresolve button and voila, i lost 2 or 3 units to kill 3 bandits. so you have to fight every single battle or you are going to lose units or maybe a hero.

    graphics are no good or bad. sound its no good or bad too. magic is a little bit useless, like 85% of the spells you are going to use em like 1 or 2 times at most.

    my veredict: only play it if you are a fan or a bored gamer. excuse me if my english is bad.    … Expand
  27. Indyninja
    Aug 10, 2019
    4
    Everything that made AoWII: Shadow Magic so exemplary for it's time seems cast off here. Races have almost no unique units like they used to - what matters more is the type of wizard you choose to be. I found it bizarre, and the single player campaign ended up being a slog-fest, with enemies throwing full armies of top-tier troops at you over and over that you need to swim upstreamEverything that made AoWII: Shadow Magic so exemplary for it's time seems cast off here. Races have almost no unique units like they used to - what matters more is the type of wizard you choose to be. I found it bizarre, and the single player campaign ended up being a slog-fest, with enemies throwing full armies of top-tier troops at you over and over that you need to swim upstream against, with no possible alternative strategy than to just hack through them over and over and over and over...

    I really do wonder why there's so much love for this game. It's nowhere near what the earlier entries were. I had high hopes, but this whole mix-and-match system makes for dull, repetitive experiences with little to offer from trying new races.    … Expand
  28. Dethstar
    Sep 25, 2016
    3
    Another Heroes type game. More of the same but for me as a mature player it lacks depth and feels very juvenile in terms of the script and the general design. I just couldn't take it seriously and found it impossible to immerse myself in it.

    It seems like a fairly straight forward rip off of the games it is trying to copy.
  29. Zalzany
    Apr 2, 2014
    3
    Imagine AoW from days of old. You had the large detailed filled UI that took up about 1/4 the screen at times over 1/3. It has detailed info, and descriptions when your magnet things in the city, or looking at unit stats. Now imagine a free Ipad app with generic bubble themed buttons, and pop ups that are transparent and disappear out of sight like one big mouse over tooltip. Now smashImagine AoW from days of old. You had the large detailed filled UI that took up about 1/4 the screen at times over 1/3. It has detailed info, and descriptions when your magnet things in the city, or looking at unit stats. Now imagine a free Ipad app with generic bubble themed buttons, and pop ups that are transparent and disappear out of sight like one big mouse over tooltip. Now smash them together with some old 3d graphics, a few new features that sound awesome.

    What you get is an ugly thing that looks like it should be on an Asian website as F2P and be for your tablet or facebook profile. Granted it is a bit big for that. It has lots of stuff to it, nice new features like researching unit tech suppose to just needing to hit X city size and have y production to make the building needed to train. I love all the the stuff on paper, but visually it looks like a knockoff of the franchise, and like it as little work and thought as possible was put into the UI.

    Every thing is designed so you can look at the pretty most the time still back ground like you paid 39.99 to preorder a back drop that moves from time to time. No detailed info at easy access, no feel that the old ones had that every decision mean something. It went from a game of chess, to a kids travel edition checkers, easy to use, and folds away out of sight when not in use. Went from detailed chess pieces stored off to the side of the bored when not in play to generic magnets with pieces of plastic glued to them that just get stuck to the board, then easily vanishes under the the table that doubles as a box as far as unit and city details went    … Expand
  30. Khyrid
    Apr 5, 2014
    3
    I played the first two Age of Wonders games a lot for years and I love them. I hate to have to say it, but this third game is a disappointment. It forces the player's strategy too much, limiting you to one option. You are put in positions where you need to rush and that's all you can do if you hope to win vs the poorly programmed cheating supplemented AI.

    You have to send out small fast    I played the first two Age of Wonders games a lot for years and I love them. I hate to have to say it, but this third game is a disappointment. It forces the player's strategy too much, limiting you to one option. You are put in positions where you need to rush and that's all you can do if you hope to win vs the poorly programmed cheating supplemented AI.

    You have to send out small fast units to grab undefended AI cities which feels more like an exploit than normal game mechanics.

    In combat I was fighting to siege an enemy fort and our armies were evenly matched, so obviously I wanted to use some strategy and position my forces for the best approach. Not in AoW3. In this game you're penalized for using strategy. A message popped up after only a few turns saying that no unit had been damaged fast enough and the battle was ended. The only option I have is to rush at the gates so my forces can get cut down by their defenses.

    I don't have time for games like this. It's unbalanced. The AI gets bonus money to spam OP units on normal or higher. Any difficulty easier than that is too easy and no challenge.

    Here's some advice for the devs, actually try to program AI routines. Not just a few basic ones, stop think about why the AI is losing strategically and make routines for dealing with those scenarios. It's obvious you didn't even try. You should probably try to hire me to fix your terrible AI.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

71
#71 Best PC Game of 2014
44
#44 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
57
#57 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. Ragequit.gr
    Jul 30, 2014
    84
    Age of Wonders III offers a very good option for turn-base strategy fans, continuing successfully the legacy of the series. It offers many hours of play, especially if you want to taste every bit of detail. Some further improvements which would force the player to ponder of his strategy before acting are needed. Nonetheless, Age of Wonders III is an amazing game that will always keep you thinking "one more turn".
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  2. CD-Action
    Jun 28, 2014
    95
    There was nothing in the way of Age of Wonders III maintaining the quality level of its predecessors. But that did not happen and instead of another solid title we got a game that will make every armchair strategist cry... tears of joy. [05/2014, p.52]
  3. DarkStation
    May 21, 2014
    80
    If you enjoyed the previous Age of Wonders games and you had any reservations about this game, then rest easy – it is a very good one.
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