SSI had a big hit on their hands with Panzer General and they, being smart folks, are going to
wring every ounce of playability they can out of the Panzer General game engine. While Allied General (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) is a direct follow-on to Panzer General, their next title, Fantasy
General, has taken the game system into a new world of mages, warriors, and mythic beasts. We've managed to get in some game time with a preliminary demo, and we wanted to pass on some early tidbits about the game.
In the version we have you get to play as Archmage Krell û one of the four characters you will be able to play in the final version û battling the forces of the evil Orc King Dragga. The first thing you notice upon starting the game is the cosmetic changes to the interface; instead of a militant, industrial look we get screens of gold and mystical gems. The preliminary layout is altered somewhat from Panzer General, but is still very functional, and players of the first game should have little trouble sending their forces into battle.
As with Panzer General you are required to manage the growth of your forces both between
battles and during combat. Instead of prestige your currency is good old gold û no politicking with the
higher-ups here, as you are the higher-up. You can choose from a variety of unit classes: Spell Casters,
Siege Engines, Cavalry, Sky Hunters, etc. û a total of ten classes in the demo, with a plenitude of unit
types in each class. Units can be either mortal or magic. Magical units are stronger on the higher planes of
combat, but can't be upgraded and are more vulnerable to attacks of metal and mortal ingenuity in the form
of machines. Mortal units can be upgraded and defend better against machine attacks. There are even
airborne units like Harpies or Balloon Hangers to take the place of FW-190s or Stukkas. You pay the cost
of new or upgraded units from your treasury, and you fill the treasury with gold captured on the battlefield.
SSI has thrown in a new twist to the between-battles strategic portion of the game. Unlike Panzer
General, you now control the pace and direction of new unit research via your allocation of gold. You allocate your wealth to research within the different classes (a class can have up to 15% of the research funds allocated towards it, with correspondingly less available for the other classes), determine the balance of research between the mortal and magical areas within the classes, and decide on the percentage left in your war fund to actually purchase or upgrade the units. Any gold you capture in battle is divided up as you specified before starting the battle. As you can only allocate funds between battles, care is needed û too much research may mean no funds left in the war chest to purchase or upgrade units during battle..
Actual combat occurs much as it does in Panzer General, with several magical twists thrown in
to make things interesting. As the archmage you get to choose a "strategic strike" spell that you can
perform once a turn (my favorite in the demo was the ever-popular fire ball). Also, magical units may
have some form of spell they can cast on an individual basis. Even non-magic mortal units can perform
combat in the higher planes by using magic-endowed artifacts found on the battlefield or captured from the
enemy. The strengths and weaknesses of the magic and mortal classes add to the battlefield dynamics.
Units can lose strength points to wounding or death. Wounds can be healed during a battle by resting or
magic, but killed strength points can only be restored between battles or by purchasing replacements. You
can get varying levels of unit information, from information bars all the way up to a full screen run down.
If the wizards at SSI continue in the direction they're headed now, Fantasy General should be
even more of a crowd (horde?) pleaser than their earlier General games û by putting the player into a
purely fantastic world they've removed the distraction of historical details, freeing at least this writer to
have a lot more fun with the game. Here's hoping that the final product meets the initial promise!
