Magic & Mayhem: Art of Magic Impressions

Bethesda's Magic & Mayhem: Art of Magic is the sequel to the original Magic & Mayhem, a fantasy-themed turn-based strategy game with role-playing elements. In the original game, you played as an apprentice wizard in search of his mysterious uncle. To fight your way past the denizens that stood in your way, you summoned mystical energies to cast powerful magic spells, by combining spell components and artifacts, and armies of mystical creatures, such as elves, dwarves, and skeletons to fight your battles for you.

In Art of Magic, you're an apprentice again. But this time, there are several rival armies in the land that are battling for control of the world - and you're caught right in the middle. You'll begin the game's campaign with only a limited supply of spell components and magic powers, and you'll have to earn your more powerful abilities and spells over the course of the campaign as your character develops.

Though Art of Magic will draw on the original game for inspiration, the game will have a great deal of new material, including a robust new 3D graphics engine that you'll be able to use to zoom out to survey a huge battlefield or zoom in to view the minute details on a single monster. According to design lead Mark Hardistry, "[The developers] wanted to give the game a fresh new look and a fantastic storyline full of plot twists, without messing with the core elements of the game that worked so well before."

Eager apprentice wizards will be able to call forth new enchantments and even more magical creatures in January of next year, when Age of Magic is scheduled for release.