TheAmazonsareclearlythebest,butI’m
probably not giving the rest a fair shake.
Every faction has unique units, techs and
a playstyle that makes them all tempting.
The insectoid Kir’Ko, for instance, have a
penchant for psychic trickery, taking over
minds during the turn-based tactical
battles. But – laser dinosaurs!
My army of nature-loving warriors was
led by Sappho Tori, a premade character
that I tweaked only a little bit, providing
her a dinosaur mount straight away.
Named characters like Sappho are special
heroic units that lead armies, annex
territory and influence battles with
powerful abilities. When they level up, new
skills can be unlocked, letting you change
them into a legendary sniper or giving
them the ability to drive a huge tank.
Before I could send out this mighty
army of Amazons and stampeding
dinosaurs, I still had one more faction-
defining decision to make: what secret
technology was I going to pick? These
special projects dole out flashy abilities
that can be used in combat and on the
map, as well as giving you a new path to
victory by letting you construct a
doomsday weapon. I went with the
biological nightmare that is the
xenoplague, which, I would quickly
discover, is really gross.
In Planetfall, years of isolation have
ended and the various human, post-
human and alien factions of the universe
are once again travelling across space,
settling on forgotten worlds and
competing over territory. Despite the
stellar setting, Planetfall is not a space 4X,
as each game takes place on a single,
randomly generated world. Sappho and
her pals landed in an appropriately green
sector of the planet, surrounded by flora.
The map is a real treat. It’s a randomly-
generated jigsaw full of sectors with
meandering borders and special traits.
The result, at least using the default map
settings, is a world that’s got diversions
and shiny distractions at every turn,
egging you on to explore further, but still
manages to look coherent. Within a short
march from my colony, I found a mighty
river of magma, a dead city spread out
across an entire sector and even a
civilisation of intelligent fungi.
It didn’t take me long to get into
trouble. As well as the other factions to
contend with, marauding aliens wander
the map in search of fights. Like any good
tourist, I was heading over to the
aforementioned river of magma to soak in
the sights, but I was waylaid by a group of
angry plants before I could get there.EXPLOIT WEAKNESSES
Fights take place on a separate tactical
map informed by the sector you’re in, so I
found myself in a dense jungle – the
enemy’s home turf. Age of Wonders 3’s
tactical maps were more like conventional
Medieval battlefields, broad and flat, but
Planetfall’s are much more elaborate and
put a greater emphasis on cover and line
of sight. There’s still more than a hint of
the older games’ combat systems, but the
sci-fi conceit and abundance of firearms
means that, at times, it’s equally evocative
of squad-based tactics games like XCOM,
though fights are much shorter.
Even with dinosaurs, it pays to take a
step back and assess the enemy. I
absolutely did not do that, but it’s still a
great idea. Enemies have various
resistances and weaknesses, all handy
things to know if you’re planning on killingP
icking a faction in a 4X game usually
requires a lot of consideration. But this
time I didn’t even have to think about it.
My options were restricted to Space
Dwarves, Space Bugs, Space Americans or a group
of stoic warrior women with an environmentalist
streak who ride laser-packing dinosaurs. Was
there really any choice?
A weird sci-fi toolbox with
strong tactical battles
AGE OF WONDERS:
PLANETFALL
EVEN WITH DINOSAURS, IT
PAYS TO TAKE A STEP BACK
AND ASSESS THE ENEMYRELEASE
August6, 2019
DEVELOPER
Triumph StudiosPUBLISHER
Paradox InteractiveLINK
http://www.aow-planetfall.comNEED TO KNOW
PLAYED
ITPREVIEW
AgeofWo rs: Planetfall