Progressively boring.
Written: Apr 24 '00
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Pros: Very nice setup. Lots of options to choose from.
Cons: No user interaction!
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| Reaver1019's Full Review: Archmage |
Archmage is a good game. At first. But after awhile, it winds its way down to just one thing...boredom.
We'll get to my own experience in a second, but first let's discuss what this game is. You take on the aspect of a mage reincarnated from the depths of the underworld with one purpose: to conquer.
First you are asked to choose a server to play on. There a number of different servers available, including an Apprentice server for new players. Each server has it's respective rules, and the number of turns you get per cycle depends on which server you choose. A cycle, by the way, is 20 minutes long...which means every 20 minutes you get more turns.
Next you pick a name for yourself (referred to as Thy Aliad). Then you choose your specialty. That is, what type of magic you specialize in.
There are five different types of magic, each with a respective color. What magic you choose determines what types of creatures you can recruit and what kinds of spells come easier to you. This does not mean that you can't learn spells of other magics, it basically only means you're better at the type of magic you choose.
Now you go to your kingdom, and get started. Now, there are many options here, divided between war, building, and magic. You can use turns to build, you can use turns to research magic, you can use turns to recruit troops, you can use turns to explore for more land if you run out. There's lots of things to use turns on.
As for building, there is a number of types of things you can build, which take up land. Fortresses are the most important. They are your health. If you run out of fortresses, you die. Everything else serves it's own individual purpose, and a helpful "encyclopedia" is available if you want to know what something does.
Now for my experience. I built and built, and fortified, and built, and fortified, and fortified, and built for about 2 weeks straight. I moved up in rank fairly quickly, had many spells learned and many defensive items ready for my defense should I need it. I was doing pretty well, but I hadn't spoken to a soul in all that time.
There was no user interaction, except in battles, and boy was I surprised when my hard work did absolutely no good when I was attacked. I lost about 20,000 of my best troops, a huge amount of land, and the other guy lost about 2 of his guys. I was shocked. Even then, I never heard from that guy again. He just attacked and went on his merry way. No user interaction.
So I rebuilt for another 2 weeks, and got beaten again. I couldn't believe it. I was pretty high in rank...I had my best defensive spells up...how could these people be doing so well against me? I never found out, because I had nobody to ask. No user interaction. The encyclopedia I mentioned is very good at explaining what each unit is and does, but doesn't say which ones are best.
I finally gave up, unable to figure out any strategy for this game at all. It mainly consists of building and building until somebody decides to attack you and shows you that you're no good at this game at all. And then nobody tells you what you have to do to keep from getting beaten again.
Most games like Monarchy require you to declare war before attacking, and won't let you undeclare for a set amount of time. Not in Archmage. In Archmage you gain a false sense of security until somebody attacks and disappears, just like that. Never to be heard from again.
Archmage lets you build, get smacked around, rebuild, get smacked around, until you get so frustrated you just can't do it anymore. You begin to wish somebody would tell you which units are better, but nobody does because you have nobody to ask. Not only does it get boring building and building, but it gets lonely too.
If Archmage is a multiplayer game, where are the other players?
Recommended:
No
Best Played With/Intended For: Multiplayer
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Epinions.com ID:
Reaver1019
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Member: Tim Olmstead
Location: Geneseo, New York
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 48 members
About Me:
You think I'm playing games? You're right.
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