Etherlords II

"Not awesome, but fascinating nontheless"

Well, how shall I start?
I don't know Etherlords1, though I have the sneaky suspicion they ripped the engine right from there :)

Let's begin with what's this game about:
Card dueling!

Like Yu-Gi-Oh!, or, more precisly, like Magic the Gathering (since it also ripped some cards directly from there...)!

Doesn't appeal to you? Fear not, this is made interesting. The ''duels'' happen between you and another wizard, and you battle with spells and creatures, summoned with ''cards'' (they aren't actually cards in the game, but it's far easier to explain that way), which cost a certain amount of mana (called ''ether'' here).
''Ether'' is a limited resource which you gain automatically every time it's you turn (turn-based-fights, watch out, they can get pretty heavy on the strategy side!), and which's income increases every time it's your rounds too.
Additionally, there are like 50 cards which effect nothing but your or the enemies ether income. And that's only fraction of the total array of things to pull off against your opponent, so you have hundreds of options!

The actual fight consists of summoning/casting/attacking, then the enemy blocking with his creatures (or sometimes spells), then it's his turn...

All this is wrapped in 5 single player campaigns of 4 races, each race with their own set of cards, where you run around with you main char, completing quests, battling, and collectiong special abilities. Makes for some nice time you can put into the game for single player alone.

Graphics (6)
A bit old I'd say. As I said in the beginning, I suspect this is the old engine from Etherlords 1, but not sure. Still, the graphics are ok, and the spell effects are nice.

Sounds (8)
The FX is cool, and fits the creatures/spells IMHO, the music is often a bit slow, but it does fit the scenery.

Gameplay (8)
It's not Magic the Gathing, but it's a nice offspring from the idea of those trading card games. Makes you addicted for quite some time if you're not a hater of those card games!

Replayability (7)
As long as you got a friend to try out decks after decks of cards, you can play this endlessly. Without, I think you will perhapy make a second attempt, but that's about it.

Multiplayer (7)
It's standard dueling as in Yu-Gi-Oh. Interesting is that you need to pay cards, reserve cards, level of your character, special abilities and specialization from the same resources, so you can set your focus like you wish.
Boring is that it offers no special stuff like ''team duels'' or the like, so it's 1on1...

In general, give this a try, download the demo. If you like it, get it, I myself am still addicted and battling with a friend of mine :)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/04