This Wonder Takes The Throne

The development of wargames over the past few years has followed two distinct tracks. The far more popular one has been in the direction of real-time strategy games, with a role-playing modification being the feature of note lately. The road less traveled is turn-based. Despite wonderful real-time games, I have remained a steadfast fan of turn-based games. The genre almost died out a few years ago, but was saved mostly by the Might and Magic, and perhaps the Warlords series. (Does anyone still remember when Might and Magic was an RPG?) Today, turn-based strategy remains popular, though I doubt it … Continue reading This Wonder Takes The Throne

Gore is Shooter 101 Class

Remember good ‘ole Doom? It was easy to learn with no tricky play. Just find weapon upgrades, ammo and health packs while blasting your opponents, and you were the master. Well with Gore : Ultimate Soldier that is all back with a vengeance! The premise is that street gangs in the US (controlled by MOB) have grown in strength and ability so that they now control neighborhoods and entire cities. To combat this the US Government, in the form of the UMC, has developed a new virtual training facility that takes raw recruits and turns them into sophisticated soldiers in … Continue reading Gore is Shooter 101 Class

Came, Conquered, Done That

If you played Europa Universalis, you may feel like you have been there before when you play Europa Universalis II. It has the same look, the same feel, lets face that it’s basically the same game with nifty new options and even more comprehensive economic and diplomatic systems. There are also more decisions for you to make as ruler of your nation of choice. But after a game has started, the differences will become more and more clear to you. This is basically a major enhancement to an already great game that only increases the player’s enjoyment of it. Many … Continue reading Came, Conquered, Done That

Neverwinter Means Never Bored

I am impressed with Neverwinter Nights, but I did not start out that way. I guess it’s just a matter of perception. Given the long development time and the many, sometimes conflicting press releases and various other information I read about the product, I really did not know what to expect. Some people thought, and based on the feedback I get from our readers still do, that Neverwinter was a massively multiplayer game in the realm of Ultima Online or Asheron’s Call. Its not, though you could hardly blame gamers for thinking the wrong thing. Basically, the development of the … Continue reading Neverwinter Means Never Bored

Morrowind is (Finally) a True RPG

We have been waiting a long time for Elder Scrolls: Morrowind to be released by Bethesda Softworks, and the longer we waited and the more we read about the game, the more our expectations grew. To our great relief, Morrowind is everything that we were expecting and more. It is at long last"a true RPG for the computer. Chris is the primary reviewer on Morrowind and has experienced the game on the Xbox. John is going to chime in on his experiences with the PC. He has also had the chance to play longer, as the PC version came out … Continue reading Morrowind is (Finally) a True RPG

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (BGII) is as fine a sequel as any game company could ask for. This follow up to the award-winning Baldur’s Gate has the same great graphics, the same wonderful sound effects and the same great game system. That being said much has also been expanded on and improved. First of all BGII has been designed to run native on OSX for Mac, having originally been a PC title. This is terrific because OSX is the most stable GUI I’ve ever dealt with and you can push the game in both single and multi-player modes … Continue reading Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Warcraft III Reigns Supreme

How long has it been since Blizzard released a quality RTS game? About 4 years, if I remember correctly. I have always mentioned how Blizzard seems to take forever to get their titles out on the market. However, unlike other developers who take forever to make a title that ends up being bad (Battlecruiser 3000AD, anyone), whatever Blizzard releases ends up pure gold. Remember how long it took for Starcraft to come out? But also remember how the final product was so memorable, so engrossing, and just so deep that it is still enjoyed to this day (especially in Korea … Continue reading Warcraft III Reigns Supreme

Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy

From the smoldering ruins of the great war, four tribes claw and scratch to rebuild and gain control. Afghanistan? No, Nevendaar. This is the basic story behind Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy, the turn -based strategy sequel to Disciples: Sacred Lands from Strategy First. In Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy, like its predecessor, you control one of four races; the humans, the dwarven mountain clans, the undead, or the legions of the damned. There are full campaigns and one-mission sagas type games for each of the four races. Disciples 2 is completely old school turn- based strategy. During each turn, your squads … Continue reading Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy

Assimilation: AI is Irrelevant

I hope I’m not hopelessly dating myself, but I remember when the pizza joint down the street from the college campus got in a game called Ataxx (this was back in 1990). It was different from a lot of the other games that were coming out at that time, in that is was a turn-based puzzle game. I spent many hours at this game, trying to beat ever-increasingly-difficult AI opponents in an effort to get a higher ranking. (Take that, Droolman!) Later, in 1993, 7th Guest came out with a rehash of the Ataxx game as one of its puzzles … Continue reading Assimilation: AI is Irrelevant

Grandia II marries PC and console RPGs

Ryudo is a sword for hire who takes a job protecting Elena, a young priestess on her way to a very important ceremony to seal the remains of the evil god, Valmar. Before they know what has happened, they are caught up in a battle of good versus evil and the world hangs in the balance. This is Grandia II from Ubi Soft and Game Arts. Grandia II is a RPG for the computer that looks and plays more like a console based RPG. When I say "console-based RPG," I mean Grandia II is reminiscent of games like Final Fantasy … Continue reading Grandia II marries PC and console RPGs