The story begins with a young human named Merlin (sigh) attacked by dragons and lost at sea. Merlin is rescued by Gabriel (sigh), a master wizard-type who has lost his influence over a bunch of other wizards. Said other wizards are at war with each other and tearing the world apart. Gabriel wants Merlin to bring the combatants back to some semblance of order.

Okay, let’s overlook the clichéd names for the moment – we’ve seen worse. I just want to know why Gabriel, who is apparently a bad-ass wizard, has to send powerless Merlin out to do his bidding. Trust me; this becomes a factor in the game. Maybe it’s explained, and I’ve forgotten, but on reflection it’s a really weak way to set up the player as a novice wizard.

Usually, that means Merlin is some sort of predestined champion, who will unite the various wizards (who embody several spheres of magic) by uniting their powers within himself. Right? Right? I mean, that’s gotta be the reason the player must take on each wizard in turn.

Nope.

The first game had a great approach to the campaign, with the player able to choose to play either good or evil. Each of these mini-campaigns had branching storylines, making for tons of replay. Age of Wonders 2, on the other hand, is totally linear. The player takes on a sphere of magic at two levels, with a bonus third mission in that sphere available after conquering in the second. On moving on to the next sphere, the player is stripped of all equipment, allied heroes and magic.

Yes, that’s right. Merlin forgets every single damn spell from the previous spheres. You’d think the third (bonus) mission is in place to let the player get more powerful in that sphere. Nope. It’s just a scenario that has no bearing on the plot.

Okay, maybe I subscribe a bit too much to the “one to lead them” archetype of fantasy heroism. But what’s the point of even researching spells and building up Merlin’s power if it can’t be ever used again in the future? This is a huge black mark that made me not care enough to finish the game.

Still, I’m obligated to tell you the rest. The player moves armies on a main overhead map, capturing points of power and building cities to create more armies. Some vaguely RPG quests are thrown in, often issued by what look to be the very wizards Merlin is fighting. Combat is actually rather fun – like Heroes of Might & Magic IV, it’s played on an isometric battle map, though the player can choose for a quick resolution.

Each sphere has its own unique armies, though in time-honored strategy tradition, most are balanced by units from the other side. Quite a few of the units can cast sphere-specific spells, and all of the magic effects are very nicely done.

Enemy AI is highly aggressive: Most of the time, there’s a specific path to winning, and should a player dawdle too long on building up cities or capturing resources, you might as well start over. Unfortunately, the most effective strategy was to find the enemy’s wizard towers, build up just enough of an army to capture each and hope the enemy doesn’t have a massive army on its way toward your own wizard tower. (It’s not uncommon.)

Look, this game isn’t offensively evil. It’s just misguided in lots of areas. If you already own Heroes of Might & Magic IV, stick with that – it’s got the good points of AoW2 without the many bad points.