When you fire up Etherlords II, you have the opportunity to take a short tutorial that covers movement around the map and combat. I decided it would be a good idea to run through the tutorial since it has been two years and a great number of games since I was in the Etherlords universe. The first change that I noticed was that, while the map looked reminiscent of the original, the environments appeared to be slightly more colorful and detailed. The environment is animated so volcanoes have rivers of glowing magma flowing from them, trees sway in the breeze, and from time to time, a bird of prey will pass over your head. This time around, however, you have a much closer view of your hero (and the surrounding areas) as he or she travels around the map. This is good and bad. It is good because it fits with the focus of the rest of the game: You do not have multiple heroes to control as you did in Etherlords. Rather you focus on your one hero and their trusty steed that you guide through the story as it unfolds before you. Since you are only dealing with one hero, the game keeps you zoomed in on this lone warrior. It is bad because while you have the ability to zoom out a bit (using the mouse wheel), doing so will move the camera straight above your hero, not really zooming out too much at all, and it does not show enough of the surrounding area. (Is everyone "borrowing" tricks from Warcraft III nowadays!? That's the same way you zoom in and out in Vivendi's LotR: War of the Ring, too! - 2Lions)