on the various buildings that are needed for creating them. Units can also be awarded medals, which are given independent of respective levels. The medals represent experience and give bonuses to unit statistics. There are many kinds of structures on the World Map. The most important ones are the cities and the structures that generate either gold or mana. Cities come in four levels. The lowest level is the Outpost, which can only construct a Wooden Wall and the race's basic unit. The next stage, the Village, can build many more buildings. The other stages are Town and City. The stages differ in how fast they can build, and the income they generate. There are fifteen races in the game, which fall into three main categories: light, twilight, and darkness. These categories can be further broken down into five groups; pure good, good, evil, pure evil and neutral races. Multiplayer Like both its predecessors the game was designed for single-player as well as multiplayer, and while the graphic engine is the same as in Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne, gameplay is improved and some important features are added. While every existing race in the game received at least one new recruitable unit and new buildings, 3 races are completely new. Much requested from the fans (and referred to in the forums as the "random map cult"), the game now offers a "Create Random Scenario" option. Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic can be played in multiplayer mode 3 different ways; 1) Joining via I.P (Internet Protocol) address; 2) Joining via LAN (Local Area Network) connection; 3) Play by Email. Development Shadow Magic was probably planned as an expansion pack for Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne, but was published as a stand-alone game instead. After the end of the official support with patch 1.3 the game was unofficially developed further by the fan-community via a community patch. A further update was later released. Availability Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic was out of print and was not made available online for several years (Abandonware). The entire franchise was re-released on Stardock's Impulse digital distribution service in September 2010, soon after via GOG.com and GamersGate and finally through Steam service. Reception The editors of Computer Gaming World presented Shadow Magic with their 2003 "Strategy Game of the Year" award. They wrote: "Of all the strategy games we played this year,