The 'off-genre' Fantasy General title from SSI's classic Five Star Series takes the solid WWII gameplay of Panzer General and transports it to a typical medieval-ish fantasy setting. For most game systems this is simply asking for trouble and a game that feels completely wrong. Not so, in this case. If anything, the simple little game feels even more at home in the new setting, and captures the feel of small, fluid pre-gunpowder battles much better than many other fantasy games that also feature mass fantasy battles (such as the Heroes series). While not very 'real', it feels right, and the 'wound' and 'death' losses make sense for the units, with the fact that heroes only take 'wound' losses quietly emphasizes that they are singular men at the forefront of an army. The background is generic enough. The main campaign features a series of-ever tougher battles with steadily improving troops on both sides. What saves the game from the tedium of fighting battles over and over is that, like its cousins, it is fast. Added to the challenges of different maps (and terrain types as you go from continent to continent during the campaign), evolving unit types, there are the twin difficulties of preserving your forces for the next battle and the need to hurry, as there is only a limited number of turns in each scenario. On the physical side, the art is quite nice, but always felt washed out to my eyes. The minimalist presentation, with no animation or the like just emphasizes the fact that this is a game where you need to think. The display is clear, and all functions are available through buttons at the sides of the screen. The soundtrack - all six tracks - is my all time favorite. But there's just the six primary tracks and variations on them which are so soft as to be nearly inaudible. The game was written for DOS, but was also meant to be friendly to the brand-new Windows 95, so it should continue run well on modern systems.
Wow, what a disappointing review! I loved this game. I think I played it almost as much as Panzer General 1 and 2. The mix of fantasy units was terrific, and really worked together tactically. This game was colorful,... Read Full Review
I had the opportunity to play this game in 1996, when a friend of mine purchased it. I was hooked right off the bat. Sadly, at that time I was in middle school and didn't have the buying power to get the game for mysel... Read Full Review
