Rage Of Mages

Well, wouldn't you know it, it's another real-time strategy game with sorcerers and sword-wielding maniacs and everything else you'd expect from a fantasy-based RTS.

More similar in style to C&C than to Diablo, Rage Of Mages puts you in the role of either a sorcerer or fighter at the beginning of the game, and then plunges you head-first into a mystical world of, er, fairly predictable mission-based realtime strategy tomfoolery. But there are areas in which ROM excels, particularly in its unique approach to resource management. Rather than placing financial resources randomly across a level and leaving the player and his digital opponent to fight over who gets the most, ROM places a finite number of 'special' items (like gold coins, weapons etc) around a playing field and simply tells you at the beginning of the mission what your objectives are for that particular level. Once you've successfully met your objectives, you can carry on to the next level, or continue on the current one.

Which brings us to the 'clever' bit. If you decide to continue on a particular level and explore the whole environment, you're sure to come across additional items you may have missed. You can take these with you to the next mission and trade the extra items you've found at a local shop, where you can buy bigger, better weapons. ROM is a good game, which becomes great if you're willing to stick with it to the later levels where you discover some pretty nifty spells and items. It won't tax experienced RTS fans, but it's fairly enjoyable and rewarding.