Fantasy General
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Fantasy General
(2015) -
Five Star Collection
(1997) -
Megasixpak
(1997) - World of Sword & Steel (1997)
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Fantasy General
(2015 on
Linux,
Windows,
Macintosh)
Description official descriptions
Fantasy General is a turn-based strategy game set in a fantasy world with some steampunk/high-tech elements.
The forces of evil, in the form of the dreaded Shadowlord and his henchmen, have conquered most of the world. On the brink of defeat, the player (in the form of one of four heroes) is summoned as champion who will change course, free the world and defeat evil - or lose all.
The game features 10 unit types from four realms with lots of upgrades, complemented by a similar plethora available primarily to the opponent. Most of the game takes place on battle maps. Outside of those there's just a bit of basic recruiting, setting research priorities and financial managing. Battle maps are hex-based and feature lots of different terrain types that require a suitable approach - cavalry will rule on plains but is crippled in swamps. The player should build an army that is composed of the right mix of units and can adapt to new situations.
The game will look similar to players familiar with Panzer General since it uses a modified engine of said game.
The game offers two modes: the campaign against the Shadowlord or arena mode (single battle) against a computer or human opponent.
In campaign mode, the player selects one of four heroes, each with his or her special abilities and sets out to defeat the Shadowlord. The player must prove his or her own ability to adapt play style and army across five continents with different challenges until the player finally defeats the Shadowlord on Fire Isle.
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Screenshots
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Credits (DOS version)
66 People (52 developers, 14 thanks) · View all
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| Lead Artist | |
| Executive Producer | |
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| Associate Producer | |
| Campaign Editor | |
| Game Design |
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| Additional Campaign Design | |
| Data Manager | |
| User Manual Author | |
| User Manual Editor | |
| Additional Programming | |
| Manager of Visual Arts | |
| Artists | |
| Art Support | |
| Product Test Manager | |
| Lead Product Tester | |
| Product Testers | |
| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 86% (based on 15 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 35 ratings with 1 reviews)
The Good
I never played any of the other "General" games put out by SSI so I can't compare it to them. But I really enjoyed playing this game enough to play it through two different heroes (the Warrior and the Wizard) and played it half-way with the Knight. When this game came out in 1996 (maybe late 95), there were lots of "board" strategy games both for computer and for the table-top and while I wasn't into the genre, I did like the idea of controlling armies of dragons, rocs, knights, warriors, and the like.
The musical score for this game is incredible, enough so that I ripped the songs into MP3s on my PC! Of course as with all games, the music gets old after a while but it is good. There is some replay value in the game in that there are four generals you can play and different difficulty levels. Heck, every once in a while I'll play this game again just for the fun of it. The graphics are only static "pieces" but since this is played like a board game, that didn't bother me.
I did like the "learn more" feature of the game (used to learn more about a specific army).
The Bad
There is a lot to learn about this game. Sure, the basics of movement, casting spells, and the turn-based system is pretty easy to learn, but how to use different armies or heroes takes a long time to learn. Plus each general has different bonuses (or penalties) that are bestowed upon your armies. I suppose all good strategy games have this learning curve, but in FG, this was really steep. I think this was the most frustrating thing.
The Bottom Line
Think of this as a board game for your computer with all of your pieces in the form of things from the fantasy genre. It is a fun strategy game.
DOS · by AstroNerdBoy (35) · 2002
Trivia
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #14 Hardest Computer Game
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by MAT.
Additional contributors: Patrick Bregger.
Game added April 6, 2000. Last modified August 2, 2024.