If anybody was into tinkering with computers and computer games in the early 90s, they ought to at least recognize the name "Master of Magic," a masterpiece mash-up of a civilization and tactics game.

Somewhere between playing the new Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution and Final Fantasy Tactics A2, I thought how interesting Civ Rev would be if I could actually play out my battles in a tactics screen rather than let the computer roll the die and I remembered playing Master of Magic with my older brother some ten years ago. Following a brief nostalgic quest involving the download of dosbox and an abandonware copy of this game, I realized just how shoddy the game ran and looked. It's like playing Doom 2 all over again; it was amazing ten years ago, but playing it now is equivalent to riding a mule on a freeway.



Being able to take control of the actual battlefield and utilizing spells added a much more in depth aspect in this game that the Civilization series cannot compare to. If you have a strategic mind and you can turn underdog situations into victories, you should be rewarded for it! In the dice roll method (I'm sure it's more complicated, but I'm an uninformed fool, so bear with me), even rolling into battle with the greatest odds of winning could, in a stroke of bad luck and moldy cheddar cheese, leave your men dead in the field. And I know - in a game, such as Final Fantasy Tactics, attacking still results in a dice-roll like event that determines damage done, etc., but I think of the difference as simulating an entire battle versus simulating one strike. I like the combat of tactics games and it would be nice to have that control rather than have to watch the whole battle unfold in ten seconds.

Since my memory of this game resurfaced, I have hoped and prayed to the Gods of Games that a game studio out there will get knocked in the head by a cinder block and get the same idea that I had. There definitely needs to be another Master of Magic.