Solid fantasy strategy game: now with fewer bugs

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When Elemental: War of Magic came out in August, so many and so loud were the complaints about bugs, crashes and its unfinished state that Stardock CEO Brad Wardell made a public apology for releasing the game as it was and promised major improvements in the months to come.

Six of those months later, Elemental has seen several updates, and while it's not on the level of Stardock's best work -- Galactic Civilizations 2 and its expansions -- it's a solid game in a similar vein. The main obstacle now is that various aspects of the game are poorly explained, leaving players to figure things out through trial and error.

Set in a fantasy world a century after a great cataclysm shattered it, Elemental calls on its players to select a sovereign and establish a realm. (Elemental also features a story-driven campaign that gradually expands the scope of a player's options as progress is made.) There are several pre-made sovereigns, but players may create their own, choosing a representative from several races -- the five kingdoms of men and the five empires of the Fallen -- customizing his or her look, and assigning attributes, skills and even detriments.

A player's sovereign travels the world and leads armies if so commanded, and can cast powerful spells by calling on spell books and the power of elemental shards found scattered around the map.

The sovereign can hire champions he encounters, powerful units that convey bonuses such as extra movement or additional research points each turn. Sovereigns and champions increase in power like RPG characters as the game progresses.

There are four ways to win the game: through conquest, by killing off all opposing sovereigns; through diplomacy, by allying with every non-neutral faction through treaties, agreements and arranged marriages; by completing the game's Master Quest, which becomes available to all players as soon as someone unlocks it; or by gathering enough arcane might to cast the Spell of Making.

Research is the key to advancement, with separate technology trees for the human kingdoms and the Fallen empires. If a player's society hasn't learned to do something yet, it can't be done.

The heart of a sovereign's realm is its cities. Cities grow over time, and players can build housing, structures that generate building materials, wealth, research and other resources, and various buildings that are limited to one per city, or faction, or world (like wonders in Civ).

Combat, either against rivals or wandering creatures, is inevitable. Players can auto-resolve battles or take part in a turn-based tactical battle on a grid, controlling units manually. Units can be customized by the player, with cost determined by the equipment used. Elemental also features a dedicated creation mode where players can design everything from structures to map tiles for use in the game.

-- McClatchy Newspapers

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 3, 2011 E19