Category Archives: Reviews

La Grande Armee at Austerlitz is a Work in Progres

The first in an intended series of historically accurate simulations of the various campaigns of the Napoleonic era, La Grande Armee at Austerlitz (herein after referred to as Austerlitz to save my fingers) is still a work in progress. It ran onto problems right from its release however, the developers were quick to respond, and have been very responsive as further problems have surfaced and as gamers give their input on the system. Even now, in release 1.3 there are features discussed in the tutorial that are awaiting a patch to incorporate. Once I realized that you needed to download … Continue reading La Grande Armee at Austerlitz is a Work in Progres

World War 3 Hits Too Close to Home

There is turmoil and chaos in the Middle East again. Sound familiar? No, I’m not watching CNN; I am playing JoWood Productions’ World War 3: Black Gold. World War 3 is a real time military strategy game in which you will control three different military powers. Using ‘real-world’ modern day weaponry, you will take command of the United States army, the Russian army, and the Iraqi army. World War 3 is similar to most real-time strategy games. There are goals that must be achieved in order to succeed and move on to the next mission, and you must build supply … Continue reading World War 3 Hits Too Close to Home

Around the Universe in 20 Minutes

I have a pile of lesser known sci-fi books collected from the dusty desks of co-workers when they moved on to new jobs, from library sales where everything was just a quarter, and several that friends have lent me with no intention of ever recollecting. A lot of these books, especially the short stories, contain some real gems. Sure, you have probably never heard of either the authors or the story title, but just because something is not embraced by the mainstream does not mean it’s bad. I love many of these books, and some of the stories they contain … Continue reading Around the Universe in 20 Minutes

Patrician II is a Rich Game

Patrician II takes you back to Europe in the 1300’s, where sea trading was really starting to take off, and a veritable fortune could be made if a trader was clever enough. The most resourceful sorts of fellows could even reach positions of power in a town or even a seat on the fabled Hanseatic League. As with any economic strategy game, the concept of "buy low, sell high" is a must to master. However, it’s not exactly simple to determine what is in low demand in one town, and more difficult to predict what will be in high demand … Continue reading Patrician II is a Rich Game

Conquest is Fun in the Suns

I can here it now "Ah, jeesh, yet another Starcraft clone." Wrong! Conquest: Frontier Wars by Fever Pitch Studios is not another planet based real time strategy game. It does involve starting with a single ship and managing the collection of resources and completion of structures that will allow you to build huge fleets to battle the baddies (in this case the bug type Mantis or the energy based Celareons), but any similarity to Starcraft ends there. In Conquest you are dealing with planetary systems of one or more planets and wormholes to get from one to the other. The … Continue reading Conquest is Fun in the Suns

WarCraft III – Preview Overview

Hello from the battlefields! I was given the awesome task of playing the WarCraft III beta and telling all of you Game Industry fans the skinny low-down on game. I’ll try my best to cover as many aspects of the Beta as possible. Hopefully all of your questions will be answered. First, the beta disc didn’t include any single player content, map editing tools and cinematics. For all intents and purposes this is basically a beta test of WarCraft III under the Battle.net environment. Regardless of this, in short this game is eons ahead of its predecessors. In sheer volume … Continue reading WarCraft III – Preview Overview

Steel Soldiers Metallic Eye Candy

Two global corporations that had been locked in battle for 500 years are on the brink of a negotiated peace agreement. On a distant out post, Captain Zod of the Mega Com Corporation learns that perhaps the enemy, the Trans Global Empire, may be preparing a devastating, final assault. This is the opening of Steel Soldiers, a real time strategy game for the PC. In Steel Soldiers you control an army of robots. Like most RTS games, there are mission goals that must be met in order to win and progress to the next mission. You must build factories and … Continue reading Steel Soldiers Metallic Eye Candy

Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising is unique warfare

So, you have to save the world again. This time all war has been abolished (or so they thought). The world is a place where you can get whatever you want at the nanoreplicator on the corner. Piece reigns and all is well because nobody needs anything. Enter the bad guys. A small group of would be dictators are not happy with the current situation, as they are not in charge. They have been secretly keeping old weapons systems alive and have been updating them with new technology. The unsuspecting world knows nothing of this until missiles start dropping. No, … Continue reading Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising is unique warfare

Zoo Tycoon is King of the Jungle

Been dreaming of building and managing the most spectacular zoo in the world? Dream no more! Microsoft and Blue Fang Games have brought you Zoo Tycoon. In Zoo Tycoon your job is to build exhibits, adopt animals and hire employees to keep up on the maintenance, while keeping the animals and your guests happy. The key to success in Zoo Tycoon is to keep the guests happy and spending their money in your zoo. This means constructing exciting exhibits that resemble each animal’s natural habitat. This keeps the animals happy and playful. Since nobody wants to look at depressed, lifeless … Continue reading Zoo Tycoon is King of the Jungle

Stronghold is Strategy and Structure Amid Medieval

A man’s home may be his castle, but if you want to keep your Middle Ages home safe, then it better be a stronghold. Fans of the old Castles series will be overjoyed to discover a new realtime castle building sim for their PC. Players become the chief architect for wooden Motte and Bailey castles, advanced stone concentric designs or even fortresses never before seen. Of course you also have train archers, crossbow men, pike men, knights and others to man your defenses against armies that would like nothing better than to fill in your moats, climb over or bash … Continue reading Stronghold is Strategy and Structure Amid Medieval