No game out there has beaten this yet.
The graphics.... bad. But not annoyinly bad.
There is so much to do in this game. Things seem very balanced. The creators of this game were way ahead of their time. I havent seen anything replace this game yet. Ive seen many games copy its ideas, but only deliver about 50% of what MoM did in total.
You choose a wizard or custome make one. You can select from like 6 schools of magic choosing how many points to invest in each. The more you are trained in one skill the better the spells. You can also spend your points on benefits that help your army or towns. So really every point you invest in one school or skill you lose out on another. This makes for lots of ways to customize a character.
Then you select a race to have in starting town. Each race in the game has unique units and qualities. You can even select 4 dark races only if you selected the "alternate universe" skill, where you are in another dimension but can switch back and forth. Again another reason to play again and customize characters.
So you build armies take towns, trade or negotiate with competing wizards. Everything is turned based. Terrain matters.
There is alot of ways to play each game differently. You can build a veteran army or summon super strong beast. You can cast spells which allow troops to walk over water or become invisible. But you cant do everything with your built wizard. Schools of magic have advantages, so you will miss out on some until your next game.
Theres alot more to it, but im done here.