Another game in
SSI's famous
5-Star General series. SSI produced this game exclusively for the PC. Fantasy General is set in another world, where an evil being has held sway over the people's of the land for ages.
The game is descendent from the original title of the series, Panzer General. It is turn based, where the player controls squads of troops moving them through a hex based battlefield.
As before in the series, the game's experience system is based on prestige (here called fame), that you earn for winning scenerios, accomplishing special victory goals and sometimes randomly when you liberate towns, shrines and other landmarks.
You can choose to lead the armies of one of four characters. The knight, the barbarian, the beast master and the archmage. Each character has their own special abilities and troop strengths.
- The Knight -- Basically the best beginner's character. Strong with calvary troops. Able to cast an area heal of all units during battle.
- The Barbarian -- The strongest troops wise. Good in infantry with a bit of skill in leading calvary. The barbarian generally allows players to use more of a moving offense.
- The Beast master -- Able to command beasts in battle, which are generally stronger than normal human troops. These beasts can be healed by her spells once a battle. Unfortunately, beasts cannot be upgraded in most cases and thus lose experience when you advance to a higher category.
- The Archmage -- Commmands magic based troops, purely the strongest troops on the battlefield. Can also cast a minor spell to damage any visible enemy unit once per turn. Unfortunately magic troops are highly expensive and can never be upgraded to better forms, but must be bought anew.
A new form of unit upgrades was introduced by SSI in this game. Each type of unit can be researched. You set the percentage of points gained from each battle that you want to spend on research in each area and slowly, battle after battle, you gain better and better troops.
As you march your way across the continents of the land, your troops gain experience and increase in development, until you are ready to free the world from evil.
No matter who you chose to play as, you will be in for the fight of your life, and a fun time while doing it.
This game can still be bought in stores, though it is quite a few years old. If you are unable to find it in a store, check out some abandonware sites.