Stephen Lamb

Master of Magic

Published February 20, 2010

Have you ever dug through some of your VERY old games and asked yourself "MAN, that was a great game back in the day, why didn't they make a second one or update it for different platforms?"

Being slightly older than the average gamer, I remember the first computer that my older brother bought, It was a 486SX. 5.25 floppy drive only. Well when i first got on Goozex I immediately requested the game Master of Magic by MICROPROSE.

This game is a turn based strategy game that in my opinion was way ahead of its time. I personally liken it to a cross between Magic the Gathering and Civilization. A player before the actual game starts has a number of "points" that they can use to "specialize" in different types of magic (RED, BLACK, GREEN, WHITE, and BLUE) [do you see the MtG connection?]. One can also use those points to get different abilities, some unlock races of people, some unlock spells. The more you specialize in one form of magic the more powerful the spells of that type are. There are thousands of different combinations that one could play.

When the game starts it is very much like Civilzation as you have troops that you can move and colinize the map, but there are also magic "Nodes" that are protected by magic creatures, taking these over gives the player more magic to research spells, and such. Whenever two opposing forces meet a different turn based battle window opens. One can then controls how ones players forces attack or what spells to cast to help their forces overcome the opponents.

If one is a fan of the original Sim Civilization this is a must have for your collection. I personally would love for another company or for Microprose to remake this for a modern platform so that I could see where they take this game.

Strategy 11 out of 10

Graphics 6 out of 10(back then, now 2out of 10)

Gameplay 9.5 out of 10

Replayability 9.5 out of 10