Triumph Studios is not new when it comes to 4X turn-based strategy games and their Age of Wonders is one of the best strategy franchises running for a long time. Their latest title Age of Wonders: Planetfall is no different however it takes a brand new direction and has gone sci-fi. The latest title in the franchise takes you to numerous planets and adds different species which are completely unique from each other. We have chosen Xbox One as the platform for our review of Age of Wonders: Planetfall because we wanted to see how authentic a 4X turn-based strategy could be on a console.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is set in a universe which was governed by Star Union which was a human intergalactic government. However, a strange and unknown cataclysm has brought ruin to the government and now the whole universe lies in despair. Different factions are rising up in different planets and everyone wants to dominate the planets for their own. You take control of different factions and guide them to victory while completing main missions along with tons of side missions.
Starting with the factions, there are six unique factions in the game and they are all amazing and highly detailed. Each faction comes with their own unique units, research trees, structures, abilities, and campaigns. There is a very well detailed tutorial which will quickly get you up to speed with all new features of the game. After you are done with the tutorial, you are sent straight to the campaign screen from where you can choose which race you want to play with first. To unlock more campaign missions, you must complete the previous ones first.
The six factions in the game include Vanguard, Kir’Ko, Dvar, Assembly, Amazon, and Syndicate. Each of these factions come with their own unique strengths and weaknesses such as the Vanguard lack melee however they excel at ranged combat. On the other hand, Kir’Ko excels at melee attacks while they suffer at ranged combat. Syndicate are masters of stealth and Dvar are excellent at area-of-effect attacks. Amazon can tame and ride dinosaurs in battle which not only looks badass but also is very effective in battles.
The six factions are absolutely different from each other however they are exceptionally balanced when it comes to tactics, moves, and attacks. You can pick any faction in the game and use them to defeat any other faction by exploiting their weaknesses and using your own strengths. My most favorite faction in Age of Wonders: Planetfall so far has been the Vanguard as I’ve found them the most complete and balanced among all of the races.
Coming to the gameplay of Age of Wonders: Planetfall, you start of the game with your very first settlement and a small army. You then set out to explore the planet and find more places to control and expand your foothold on the planet. As you explore, you will come across more races and factions on the planet. Some will be friendly while most of the times, you will be required to sign peace treaties with them for a peaceful solution to share lands.
You can build and expand your settlements by making forward bases and provinces. If you choose to expand with provinces, you can then exploit these provinces for additional resources. Provinces not only expand your foothold over the planets but when you exploit them, you can also get some extra resources out of them. As you expand your settlements, naturally you will require more resources. You can build different structures inside your settlements which will allow you to build your armies, keep the citizens happy and make sure that you have enough resources for future purchase, researches, and expansions. Sometimes you will need to take over provinces and other key locations around the map forcefully so you must be ready with your armies.
Once you have exploited a province with a certain resource, you can then build more structures in that province which will further improve the output of that resource. For example, during a playthrough, I chose to exploit a sector for Industrial Exploitation and then I was able to further build structures like Civil Engineering Guild and Military Engineering Guild which further increased the production level of that specific resource while giving more bonuses depending on the structure constructed.
Units and structures can only be built from settlements which means that every time you get a unit or a building in the queue, it will be completed once its turn has arrived and the required turns have passed while its development was active. This adds further to the challenge because you will be required to have a balance between expanding your settlement and building your army at the same time. More units for your army are unlocked by researches which are however completed separately.
Making armies is very simple in the game. Simply choose a unit and click on the hex of another unit and they will be combined to form an army. You can also assign heroes to these armies which further improve the performance of the combat units. Each faction comes with their own main heroes however you will get offers to hire additional random heroes as well. Units that complete battles with a hero also level up and units who survive more battles level up and have increased firepower and stats than normal units.
The map of the game is in the form of hexes where icons represent your armies, settlements, provinces and all other points of interest on the game. These are not just dull icons but everything looks very alive and beautiful and does not bore you at any time in the game. You can move around your armies to capture and fight the enemies that occasionally pop up on your maps. Along with moving your armies around, you can also take advantage of different Operations such as Monitors and Enemy Detectors to help you explore the areas around you.
While playing the campaign missions, you will encounter more leaders and races on the same planet. Depending on your choices, you will have friendly relations with some and unfriendly with some. Friendly factions will often ask you to complete different tasks and you should try to complete as many of such tasks as possible. I found out that most of these tasks are the best ones as they would normally require you to hunt bigger enemies or explore certain locations where you will find some much-needed resources.
Each campaign planet can take a long time to complete depending on your gameplay style I tried to explore each planet as much as I could before I went for the main missions and still I have yet to complete the main campaign. I’ve even spent around 12 hours on the same planet exploring, researching, advancing my settlements and building up armies. The gameplay is never-ending and if you love to explore and fight other enemies, you can even spend more time in the missions. Ultimately if you want to play more, you will be required to complete the main missions because the campaign planets are not very huge in size. The extra missions which are mostly for making ties stronger with your allies or simply helping the planet to become secure against threats are always fun and provide a good distraction from the main missions.
You will need to research all these advanced tactics from your settlements. You can also form multiple settlements on the planet. Once you have access to a Colonizer, you can produce one and deploy it on a colonizing point to start yet another settlement. Apart from the research, which is global and works across all your settlement, you will need to build all structures and defenses in each settlement separately. This is very helpful as you will get multiple construction queues for making armies.
Expanding and managing your settlements is only one part of Age of Wonders – Planetfall. The second major aspect of the game is its battle system which features a very strong turn-based combat system. Whenever you come face to face with another army, you will have two options. Simulate the battle using auto-battle or jump in the battlefield and command your army against the opposition. During this phase, you will have complete control over your armies and their abilities.
Each unit in each faction comes with their own special perks and abilities. With manual battles, you will be able to use these perks. Heroes can also use Operations that are special powers and they range from deploying medic stations to raining down lasers on your enemies. Normal enemies come with abilities such as grenades, healing other units and special attacks which deal extra damage than normal attacks. This way you can control all the giant battle mechs and laser-powered dinosaurs yourself.
Before a battle starts, the initial screen will show all units of both sides and will compare their attack power to show which party is strong and which is not. If you are the one attacking the enemy, you can retreat and try again if your attack power is low. However, if your enemy makes the move, you have no way to run and must face them in battle. There’s also a neat feature where all your surrounding armies can join in the battle if they are near the battle thus making you even stronger.
You can see the complete battle from above as you zoom out for a better view. You have the ability to move your units in cover to save them from enemy attacks and developer different strategies to flank your enemy units to deal extra damage. Heroes deal massive damage to enemies. The main heroes cannot die in the game even if they fall in the battle. The normal heroes hired while playing the game will die permanently if they fall in the battle.
If you want to take a break from the main campaign, you can jump in the multiplayer or custom scenarios as well. The Scenarios will give you the option of choosing any planet and faction of your choice, set the conditions of the planet and the game according to your will and jump in the action. In this mode, you can relax and build up your civilization at your own pace or switch up the AI difficulty and try to fend off continuous attacks by the rival factions as you try to defend your own settlements.
Coming to the visuals, Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a very pretty game. Ranging from the main battle map to the actual battles, everything is extremely well detailed. The UI is fresh and neat and easily gives you everything you need right at the screen. You do not have to scroll through multiple screens just to see how good your settlements are doing. The battle effects are all there and each planet looks amazing Triumph Studios has really worked hard to make the game look as good as possible.
My main reason to choose Xbox One as the review platform was that I have played a lot of strategy games on PC and PC is indeed the best platform when it comes to strategy games such. The last strategy game I played on the console was a mess and I always avoided playing such games on console mostly because of the lack of control over your army. When it comes to Age of Wonders: Planetfall, the controls are very well made that I was easily breezing through my settlements and units. The unit management is very effective and issuing commands to units is even easier in the combat scenarios. Triumph Studios has proved with this game that strategy games should not be limited to PC only.
Final Verdict
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is the most polished and refined Age of Wonders to date. It brings tons of new features and mechanics into play and the fact that the game is so easy to play on the consoles, just further makes this a solid title in the franchise. I will highly recommend this game to everyone who is looking for a solid turn-based strategy game. With its diverse races and the option to play online, it will keep you occupied for hours and hours to come with its solid combat mechanics and deep strategic tactics. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is the most satisfying strategy experience of this year and I can say for certain that you will not be able to stop playing it.
Final Score: 9.5/10
