"Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic" Battle Tactics Fansite

The review at www.cgonline.com sumarises the Art of Magic, " It's not the prettiest game in the world, and some of the visual design choices are disappointing. At its strategic heart, however, Art of Magic is a fairly entertaining blend of role-playing and tactical maneuvering, and that makes it worth a look especially if you enjoyed the original game. "

The harshest review I've seen so far is at www.gamesfirst.com and sumarises the Art of Magic like this: " Ups: Nice visuals and animation; good maps. Downs: Repetitive play; not very strategic; clunky interface. "

The review at gamers temple sumarises the Art of Magic, " The unevenness of the campaign and awkward interface may prove to be too frustrating for some players. The skirmish mode can be enjoyable, though, and provides strategy gamers with an experience different from most other games in the genre. "

New review at armchair empire goes on " With more RPG elements or strategy elements or both, this game could have been a lot more fun. The game isn't without its merits however as what it does present, it does so with few problems. The game does present a lot of action and is sure to entertain gamers for at least a week or two, but in the long term, the game will unlikely enter the classic status of vanilla ice cream. "

New review at www.intelgamer.com sums up with " I have played about every fantasy RTS out there, including the original Magic and Mayhem, and I can only come to one conclusion about this game. It is a solid outing. It is hard at times, and you will have to redo several levels. The game offers nothing new to the RTS/RPG genre that veterans haven't seen before, but is the most complete effort out there."

www.magicandmayhem.co.uk has completed it's collection of level walkthrus.
All campaign scenarios for "The Art of Magic" have now been addressed with a level summary, revealed map, tactics, suggested spell choices, wizard releases, bugs, and level flow.

New review at gameraiders goes on "One of the most captivating features in this title is not the story line or the characters, but the visual effects. The fireballs and summoned creatures look great overall. The dragons look really awesome, especially when they breathe fire at their opponents. Two thumbs up in this department!"

New review at gamepen sums up with "What's to like: Good real strategy title with some minor role playing elements, great spell visuals. What's not to like: Blocky graphics and animation annoying voice-overs."

Did you know that if you complete greenhenge really quickly, then aurax stickman will become available in battle mode?

"Something that really grabs you about this game, is the attention to detail - right away you can see the gorgeous textures that have been applied to the landscapes. Down to the fluidity of the lakes and rivers to the branches and leaves on the trees."

" Overall, I must say that Art of Magic does an excellent job of providing a fairly unique gaming experience, and should more than live up to the expectations of Magic & Mayhem fans. The game looks great, plays great, requires quite a bit of strategy and thought, and should keep anyone busy for quite some time. As a word of warning, though, you should be fully aware of what you're getting into before you buy it, so I highly reccomend trying the demo first. It's completely unlike any other game, so it may be wise to figure out if you like the overall gameplay of AOM first. "

" Art of Magic is bursting with novel ideas, but at the end of the day these elements just fail to gel into a rewarding game. The interface is a little clunky, the AI awful, the battles chaotic, the graphics variable and the mission balancing all wrong. The result is frustrating, as it's clear to see that this could have been a great game. Must try harder.

Do you know how to have the scanner cleared, or an army of excalibured knights at your command before even meeting the enemy!

"The Art of Magic is spookily enjoyable, throwing enough challenges and new creatures at you to prevent boredom setting in. Granted, it's not radically different to the original, and if you can put up with the slightly hackneyed storyline, you'll get a kick out of this one. Or if you're just looking for real-time strategy game without tanks and planes in it, then The Art of Magic is well worth checking out. "

New review at www.gamespy.com sums up with "The Art of Magic is a neat little game. If you missed out on the original Magic and Mayhem now is your chance to redeem yourself, especially if you love multiplayer/skirmish modes and have the horses under the hood to run it."

Paul Whipp (executive producer) and Jon Brooke (UK product and PR manager) from Virgin Interactive Entertainment risk their reputations by submitting their top six spells to our HOT HEX database.

New review at www.khabal.com goes on to say " for all its fine features and its intelligence, it might be well... sad to say, a little too "different" or even "challenging" for many gamers at large. (Especially RTS players who like to spam the "Build Tank" button.)"

Did you know that:
scythian bow and excalibur can't be cast on enemies? (thanks to Julia for this)
or that gorgon stare can defeat a wind elemental? (thanks to Larry for this)
or that the tornado won't affect you in a building? (thanks to Larry for this)

You do now...

player review average - 5/5 - submit your own review

www.totalgames.net goes on to say " without a doubt one of the strongest elements of Magic & Mayhem [is] the way in which it successfully combines the two types of game to produce an end result that is satisfying to play whatever your preference. This is a game that should appeal to strategy and role-playing fans alike, and may well even encourage strategy gamers to experiment with the occasional RPG and vice versa. "

The new review at pc.ign.com continues " In the end Art of Magic ends up being a solid game that takes a number of elements from different genres. It doesn't go into a lot of depth on any of them, but nevertheless manages to be fun and entertaining. If you're looking for a fantasy-themed game which puts you into the middle of an epic story, Art of Magic is a good choice. "

The 3D graphics engine is pretty and versatile, the computer AI crafty and the overall presentation excellent.

Despite more glowing previews, gamespot have brought us down to earth with a meciocre review. The intelligently written report goes on to admire the spell system, but indentifies issues with the interface.

Bethesda Softworks have announced that Art of Magic is now shipping to stores throughout North America. See you all online real soon!

a new review at actiontrip.com gives thumbs up to "a huge number of tactical possibilities" and thumbs down to Aurax being "an extremely slow character".
But that's what haste is for!

www.magicandmayhem.co.uk has started it's walkthru section to support campaign players, which already includes breakdowns of the first 4 levels, maps, tactics, and a full listing of the experience points you may miss when completing levels. The site invites player feedback for the walkthru section, and will therefore be growing over the coming weeks - visit it here

Bethesda Softworks have announced that "The Art of Magic has gone gold and will begin shipping to stores throughout North America in the next two weeks."

"According to a company [Bethesda] spokesperson, a gold master candidate is currently in testing, and if it is accepted, the game will officially go gold and ship to stores in early October." Source: gamespot.com

site update: with the previews flying in thick and fast, the press page has been given an overhaul.

The new preview at www.gamezilla.com goes on to give the following bottom line:

"RPG players need to keep their eyes open for this release. If the preview copy is any indication of the final product (and I suspect it is), gamers are in for a real treat. Although it features a slightly borrowed script from many other RPGs, the strong graphics, easy controls and overall replayability make this game one to watch for. Gamers, get ready to rock n' roll."

"Things are looking up for this sequel. With fresh gameplay, new creatures, spells, and a smooth graphics engine Art of Magic looks like it will at least live up to its predecessor."

"Overall, I really enjoyed playing this game. Although this isn't a review, if the beta version were for sale I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to strategy game fans. The Art of Magic should be out in a few weeks. I'll be hanging out on GameSpy with a fireball with your name on it, ready to take on all challengers. See ya there."

"Art of Magic looks like a solid offering in the RTS/RPG blend genre; with a solid graphics engine and inviting gameplay, there's a lot to like."

the November 2001 issue of PCZONE (#108) has awarded Art of Magic their award of excellence. The review goes on to say that "it's an improvement in terms of presentation over the original title, and the gameplay that made the first game so addictive is still soundly in place". See pages 66-67 for the full review.

there's a new preview at www.pcstrategygames.com, which most notably does a great job at covering the evolution of the Magic & Mayhem series, from Chaos for the ZX Spectrum to the present 3D incarnation of The Art of Magic.

the new preview at gamepen.ugo.com says "The camera controls are simple and don't interfere with actual gameplay. The actual visuals are good, the landscapes are detailed and seem alive, the creatures, which range from sprites to dragons, all look good. The spells look fantastic; they've used some excellent lighting on these."

having trouble connecting the demo over gamespy arcade?
check out the new patch on our technical support page

read the full preview at www.armchairempire.com

19-09-01

"Art of Magic plays rather like a bizarre
combination of Sacrifice, Nox and Black & White,
if such a thing can be imagined."

read the full preview at www.gamesdomain.com

19-09-01

"The developers did what everybody wanted from them.
In essence, Art of Magic is nothing but
good old Magic and Mayhem in a total 3D world."

read the full demo review at www.freelancer.ag.ru

15-09-01

"The sheer variety of spells and RTS style combat makes me want to call this Magic: The Gathering meets Warcraft"

read the full preview at www.gamesmania.com

14-09-01

finally...the demo is downloadable!

see www.magicandmayhem.co.uk for more details

13-09-01

"clearly shaping up into
an impressive genre-bending title"

read the full preview at www.gamespot.com

10-09-01

latest screenshots (taken from the demo) here

07-09-01

interview at freelancer - freelancer chats with Climax Entertainment's Steve Norris to catch up on progress on Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic.

bio page at buzzsite - here

preview at IGN - here

02-09-01

demo released!

I'm just back from Gen Con, where the demo of AOM was finally released.

Gen Con UK (www.genconuk.com) ran from August 29th to September 2nd, and took place at Olympia 2, London. It describes itself as an annual convention supporting all forms of Gaming, especially Role-Playing Games, Card Games and Trading Card Games, Board Games and Live Interaction Games.

VIE had an 8 player LAN set up, with the beta version of the AOM being thrashed. Visitors to the show played mostly 4 player battles with all the wizards available (they're unlocked in the final product as you play through the campaign mode). We had a couple of intense 7 player matches. Needless to say that considering the venue, dragon's were extremely prevalent inmost of the games. That is until everybody found out the real power of expensive yet devastating judgement spell :)

Feedback was extremely positive, and I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces returning each day to play some more. Freebie versions of the demo had been pressed especially for the show, therefore I finally expect to see a few of you joining old 'orgon' for a battle on gamespyarcade.

Were you there? ? Al, Soulcleaver, Plup, Harvey, etc
Did Paul and/or me (the intense looking, shaven head bloke) meet you?
If so, drop me a line and tell us what you thought of it all.

There are no details as yet of a version of the demo being downloadable, but I'll continue to keep my ears open. And for those of you lucky enough to have a copy, don't forget to send me your screenshots.

25-08-01

latest screenshots here

18-08-01

spell tactical index now complete!

Final spell-of-the-week, "totem of life" concludes the spell tactical index

12-08-01

New spell-of-the-week, "totem of light" added to the expanding spell tactical index

04-08-01

New spell-of-the-week, "totem of guarding" added to the expanding spell tactical index

28-07-01

New spell-of-the-week, "teleport" added to the expanding spell tactical index

20-07-01

New spell-of-the-week, "subversion" added to the expanding spell tactical index

16-07-01

Art of Magic Beta Test (US only)

Bethesda are currently inviting US candidates for the U.S. beta test for Art of Magic. More details here

14-07-01

New spell-of-the-week, "scythian_bow" added to the expanding spell tactical index
Minimum/recommended hardware spec updated
work on the site
- latest update of the creature upgrades

07-07-01

New spell-of-the-week, "raise dead" added to the expanding spell tactical index

05-07-01

work on the site
- latest update of the creature upgrades

04-07-01

VIE's Art of Magic press release

"VIRGIN CONTINUES MAYHEM
Anticipated PC title confirmed for a September 2001 release
Real-time role-playing and strategy fans can once again rejoice � Virgin Interactive has confirmed that Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic is due to be released on PC CD-ROM this September.
Virgin today announced that highly-acclaimed developer Climax Entertainment has taken over the development reigns of The Art of Magic from Charybdis. "

more at: http://www.bastion.co.uk/link.asp?i=217&r=5956&r2=3817

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