Age of Wonders: Planetfall

1. OrkishSteel

   Aug 12, 2020

   10

   Emerge from the cosmic dark age of a fallen galactic empire to build a new future for your people. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is the newEmerge from the cosmic dark age of a fallen galactic empire to build a new future for your people. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is the new strategy game from Triumph Studios, creators of the critically acclaimed Age of Wonders series, bringing all the exciting tactical turn-based combat and in-depth empire building of its predecessors to space in an all-new, sci-fi setting.
   
   Build your empire with one of six unique factions, ranging from the militant Vanguard to the dinosaur-riding Amazons and the cyborg-zombies of the Assembly. Progress through each faction’s missions using your wits, military strength and diplomacy, exploring planetary ruins and encountering other survivors as you unravel the history of a shattered civilization. Fight, build, negotiate and technologically advance your way to utopia in a deep single player campaign, on random skirmish maps, and against friends in multiplayer.… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
2. CaptainChaos

   Oct 9, 2019

   10

   This game goes to "11"
   
   Ok, I now have way over 100 hours in this game and I can do a better review, than the one I did 60 gaming hours ago.This game goes to "11"
   
   Ok, I now have way over 100 hours in this game and I can do a better review, than the one I did 60 gaming hours ago. It doesn't just go to "11." It may be one of my favorite Top 10 ten games of all time.
   
   Pros: Gorgeous Graphics, Extremely Varied Tactical Gameplay, Hilarious and Rich Lore. Strategic Layer looks simple but turns out after 230 hours of gameplay I finally conclude it is anything but.
   
   Anyone who says this doesn't play in a complex manner or plays like everything else, or does what everyone else has done, just hasn't played it very long. I'm playing the campaign, and every time, EVERY TIME, it's different. Around the 50 hour mark I too thought, hey, maybe there isn't more to this after all - but no, I realize now, I just didn't understand how subtle and complex the mechanics are.
   
   The Faction, Secret Tech and modding mix is nearly infinite it seems. I have had games where I played straight up napalming starship troopers, and others where I began to do so well, b/c my Amazons befriended intelligent plants and between the two I had crazy regenerative powers that were off the charts. Not only that, but you often have to adjust your unit mix and tactics against whom you are fighting. Plus of course spells (i.e. Operations) affect everything, and terrain can play a part.
   
   I couldn't figure out why this game got such lukewarm reviews from many. I admit the Critic and Player metascores are very similar and they are good but not great. My 30 years of gaming experience tells me this is USUALLY a valid marker of how good the game is.
   
   However, I also realize part of the issue from people here is that they played Civ or Gal Civ or something and think it's supposed to be a clone. It isn't. AOW is a time honored franchise going back 20-30 years. They do it their own way. For those AOW players who wanted EXACTLY the same thing as AOWIII but SciFi, you are going to be disappointed if you are too rigid. However, this game *IS* very familiar in mechanics to any AOWIII player, BUT, there are many differences. Once you get used to them, I find it just fine. It is a diff game.
   
   I will say the game just came out, there have been many bugs, most of which are fixed very quickly by the Devs who read all the posts on steam as far as I can tell. They are very responsive to questions, and feedback, and move to correct bugs immediately. Also, there will be several rounds of balancing, and eventually more DLC content I'm sure. If you prefer to wait a year for the value pack I can't blame you, but you're missing out now, and also the ability to contribute. The Devs read all the suggestions and crazy ideas and yes even constructive criticisms.
   
   I honestly cannot recommend this game enough, but hey maybe it's just me. Some of these choices are just that personal. I doubt you really will get a true flavor of the potential and beauty of this game before the 50 hour mark though :)
   
   Happy Gaming!… Expand

   • 3 of 6 users found this helpful
4. Motherball

   Aug 6, 2019

   10

   Deep systems, great sound and graphics, interesting factions and units, lots of customization options, and engaging combat. If you enjoy theDeep systems, great sound and graphics, interesting factions and units, lots of customization options, and engaging combat. If you enjoy the setting, Age of Wonders series, or 4X in general, it’d be hard not to recommend this game.… Expand

   • 9 of 14 users found this helpful
5. goldie119

   Oct 31, 2020

   8

   Love it - love the series. This and AOW3 are two games I always have on my harddrive. It's different from AOW3, but there is a lot to like.

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
6. Goby

   Jan 1, 2023

   7

   Definitely addictive, putting ticks in a lot of boxes for what it set out to be. Procedurally generated worlds; an interstellar empire toDefinitely addictive, putting ticks in a lot of boxes for what it set out to be. Procedurally generated worlds; an interstellar empire to build via multiple playthroughs; campaign modes that introduce you to the story and characteristics of the many factions in the game. Everything I don't complain about below is likely OK, or even great.
   
   TLDR: If you've been looking for a marriage of Hex Map 4X + XCOM, then Planetfall will be an entertaining and addictive experience for you. Its good, not excellent. You may feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of enemy variety. The learning curve can feel pretty bad and you will never truly 'learn' this game, but it gets better as you invest the time to familiarize yourself with all the factions and tech trees in the game.
   
   I was surprised to find that the combat in the game felt balanced, given how much variety there is in tactical combat and unit modding. I was initially attracted by the blend of two of my favorite worlds: Civ V-like 4X and XCOM-like tactical combat. Planetfall does a good job at both, but not as good as either of those two games individually. The 4X manages to feel too fast and too slow at the same time. It always became a chore after midgame. However your mileage may vary if you don't set your mind on world domination / conquest, which I expected to keep me invested in the process, but I may have been shooting myself in the foot going after this particular victory condition.
   
   While I was initially intrigued by all the unit modding options and branching empire research paths, I started to borderline hate it all after I purchased the DLCs, which introduce even more factions and units (and variables). The learning curve was already steep, but it exploded after including more factions. It literally got exhausting when there is an entirely new challenge around almost every corner - how does one properly prepare for... everything? The simplicity of Civilization V and our familiarity with real world history really helped in getting through the chore of learning the game and getting to the fun part, but in Planetfall I always found I had to read and learn more than I like, because no two fights are ever the same and if you're going to play at your best (which is usually the mindset in any strategy game), then unfortunately you may feel obliged to thoroughly inspect every single unit in every single fight before making your first move. I felt I have a certain capacity for going through this process over and over again, or perhaps domination mode simply doesn't work well for this game. Its likely more enjoyable if you got one of those big math brains. Or you've played this game for hundreds of hours and you already know what this or that mod, unit or effect does. What to expect, which enemies to focus, how to approach them etc. The fun only starts when you've properly familiarized yourself with the situation. Impossible to enjoy chess if you don't know the rules, right? Well expect to go through the learning process many many times here.
   
   The AI is fairly easy to dominate if you prepare well. Diplomacy in this game is unfinished garbage and the AI is often too forgiving. They show no mercy when the odds are already against you, but in evenly-matched fights I found it easily achievable to come out of it with all your units alive and ready for the next battle. Very often the AI doesn't seem to have good priorities when confronting you - they tend to move to unfavorable positions and seemingly make a point out not forcing you to lose some important unit you misplaced yourself.
   Auto-resolve could really use a deep learning engine (make it happen for the next Planetfall!) - While the outcome was impressively fair for the most part, I still had to manually take over in fights where you absolutely do not need to lose a single unit if you use one brain cell.
   
   And screw the vocal narration in the tech tree! I wish there was a way to turn that off. It is essentially a bunch of made up nonsense narrated by accents and quirky voices from every corner of Earth, there to distract when you're trying to read. They even vocalized the made up name of the made up dude who is supposed to be the author of the made up aphorism or quote being narrated... AAAGH!! At least in Civilization I learned some wisdom from actual wise men who lived.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
7. Vasot

   Oct 19, 2019

   5

   1) A boring and complicated map gameplay with a cheating AI that knows your base positions from the start 2) 90% of upgrades in the game are1) A boring and complicated map gameplay with a cheating AI that knows your base positions from the start 2) 90% of upgrades in the game are useless and the modding system is not fun 3) Very slow gameplay even during combat it makes you want to go to sleep 4) Boring objectives everything feels very generic with a forgetable plot and stupid weird cartoon characters (space dinosaurs riding by amazons with ecology sensivities what a stupid idea)... Age of Wonders 3 was a much more mature and interesting game from this anyway i got bored during the final campaign missions and just uninstalled the game.… Expand

   • 0 of 5 users found this helpful
8. TsukasaHiiragi

   Mar 10, 2023

   0

   Pro's
   
   Interesting hero creation system Plenty of options for custom games Nice SCI-FI soundtrack Con's Exceptionally bad AI AIPro's
   
   Interesting hero creation system
   Plenty of options for custom games
   Nice SCI-FI soundtrack
   
   Con's
   
   Exceptionally bad AI
   AI cheats more than most 4x games
   AI too predictable when it doesn't cheat
   Save scumming allows easy victories
   Terrible quests
   Buggy
   
   AoWP feels more like Civilization V than an Age of Wonders game, it doesn't help that the tutorial doesn't really explain much either and definitely doesn't help its case, I often had to resort to youtube for some tutorials to explain a few things which did it better than the tutorial. The problem here is that AoWP fails at being a civilization clone and feels like it abandoned its Age of Wonders heritage, not to mention research is also extremely limited tech trees which limits the overall enjoyability as well.
   
   The AI has such typical behavior patterns, and sometimes just wacky attacking patterns that completely disregard attack strength making them waste units spectularly, and other times I've seen that you could have a far higher attack strength, heck you could have an entire party of hero's with rank IV gear and a higher attack strength vs a group of enemies with lower attack strength and pick auto battle and inexplicably lose.
   
   Diplomacy as always is a complete joke, with the ability to sweet talk potentially enemies whilst you build up an army and most of the time, if you are going to be attacked by anyone...you can see it a mile away, or if you keep taking sectors....the AI can take sectors away from you without really suffering from any significant penalties, sure you'll gain Casus Belli but once again, its a system that really doesn't benefit you at all except reducing or eliminating any potential morale penalties from your civilian populations, and I'm pretty sure this doesn't effect the AI at all.
   
   Lets talk about bugs I've had a few, especially related to enemies sitting on top of resources and being unable to attack them, and the buttons would just freeze up. Seems like a common issue too that was never fixed with the only reliable fix was to restart the game.
   
   In closing, Planetfall fails at 4x game imho, and fails at being a civilization clone as well and as per usual, the AI is the big issue here. Anyone reading this, you can easily just google yourself the results of this issue and youtube has quite a few video instances of this, which really doesn't help this game and no amount of apologizing for bad ai is going to change that, this aspect of 4x has always been a problem but other 4x have managed to find creative ways around this problem, planetfall feels like it falls into the the category of Civilization 2 level of AI cheating and because of that, I'm not really going to recommend AoWP to the casual fans of 4x games, basically if you want a good spacey 4X/Civ clone then look to sid meier's Alpha Centauri which is so much better than this.
   
   AoWP has its fans, and if you like the game - more power to you. But for other people who haven't played any 4X games, or are new to the AoW franchise then I suggest to avoid this one.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful

See all 40 User Reviews