Cities: Skyline

As anyone that reads my blog or has known my gaming preferences would know, one of my favorite game genres is city builders/simulators. However, for the last 13 years, myself and any other city sim fan knows, we have been having to play the same game. Sim City 4 was the last good sim made for folks like me, and all the other garbage release since has been nothing but huge disappointments. I never understood why, I mean the formula for SC4 was already good, all it would take is a bit of a graphical overhaul and a few new tweaks and you could have another great title out. Somehow every developer has been focusing on the wrong things, not what players wanted. Until now...

Paradox is one of my most respected companies in the gaming industry, and in combination with a finish developer (Colossal Order) they produced the long awaited title for us city sim fans, Cities: Skylines. This is a modern take on what SC4 last did with a huge number of improvements. In particular, this title added a crazy amount of attention to traffic, to the point that I can't even imagine how it keeps track of so much data for each vehicle and their routes. The road system and traffic are some of the best improvements in this game.

Another great addition to this genre was the physics. This game has great water physics that makes it so much fun and so easy to cause irreparable problems to your city. Just to give you a sense, in one of my first cities I decided to put my waste water into this convenient pond located on top of a hill, that way the drinking water wouldn't come from the same source. Great idea no? Well turns out the game kept track of my waste water, which had no escape and as the city grew the pond started to fill up. Until the day I got a lot of chirps about flooding in my industrial zone. I took a look and the streets of my industrial area was covered in shitty water and the stuff was starting to rush all through my city. I lost about 6-7 hours of gametime building a city that was almost irreparable at that point... best gaming day I've had in a really long time. I was so happy to see that kind of attention to detail in a game like this.

This isn't really a review of this game, it's mostly just me saying what I like about it, from the perspective of a huge fan of the genre. So the last thing I wanted to bring up is the map maker and the asset editor which come with the game for free. Basically you can make awesome maps and make awesome buildings for your city with the tools that already come with the game. Below is my attempt at a map I've been working on. It's incredible, and what's more amazing is that because they are so integrated with steam, all this stuff can be shared with other players and downloaded seamlessly right inside the game.

So if you are a big fan of city sims, you must purchase this game. It is even available for Linux, so if you are a linux user, make sure to buy it from your linux client so it counts as coming from linux (which is good to indicate to developpers that linux people are buying games)

DayZ review: my journey so far

I've been fairly excited playing this game in the last little while. I'm currently writing my thesis for graduate school and Dayz has been a great source of distraction for my breaks. Perhaps a bit too distracting at times. I thought, because this game is so new and there isn't much out there in terms of material on DayZ, it would be a good one for me to post about it.

DayZ Standalone is the standalone version of an Amra II mod that became very popular. To be honest, I never played Arma very much and it doesn't matter. DayZ is a game of its own and I won't be surprised when it surpasses Arma in terms of popularity. DayZ is a multiplayer survival game where you basically start off in a huge map wearing a T-shirt and pants and you have to try to survive. What that means is that you have to find water, food, better clothing to protect you and eventually weapons to fend off foes. While this is a zombie game, the zombie aspect of it at this point is fairly small, they are sparse and mostly just a nuisance. The most scary part of the game is coming accross real people. Real people (for the most part) will try to kill you to take the equipment you spent hours gathering, and then you'll have to start over. So as you can imagine, the game is very punishing if you are not ready.

Overall, the idea of a survival game is not particularly novel and I have played a fair number of them over the last couple of years. However, what I think makes this game in particular stand out is the level of realism that these developpers are trying to put into this game. They are really trying to make the environment look beautiful and real, trying to give you the sense that the world out there is hostile and that it only takes one mistake to lose it all. Not only can you die from being shot by another person, or eaten by a zombie, but you can die of thirst, sickness, infections, food poisoning and a miriad of other things. It all really adds up to a game that makes you feel on edge the entire time even though nothing is actually happening for the most part. As I mentioned, the map is very large so even getting from A to B takes quite a bit of time on foot (which currently is the only way to get around), so a majority of the time I've been playing this game has consisted of running around scavaging for scraps. The truths is, to me that all just adds to a more realistic experience.

One warning though, this game has been out for less than a month, and it is only a month of Alpha. So if you are reading this and considering buying this game, do it with full knowledge that it is still in development. It's buggy as hell and very much unfinished (check out my photo on the right of me beating myself up after my character lost all its gear and bugged out). Regardless, it has been a ton of fun playing it with my sister and bother-in-law. We're just three survivors, trying to get through another day.

XCOM Enemy Unknown Review and beginner tips

As of today, I've put in a solid 31 hours of this wonderful game I've picked up on Steam. For those that are not familiar with XCOM: enemy unknown, this is a reimagined copy of the early 90's tactical shooter also named XCOM. The original game is a game I have never played, but it is a well known title among gamers for being one of the greatest yet hardest games around.

XCOM is a turn-based tactical shooter game with an overarching strategy game component. The highlight of the game is definitely the shooter aspect though. To be completely honest, until 3 weeks ago I was unfamiliar with the genre myself. I knew of other games like this one, such as Jagged Alliance, but had never played them. It encompasses a turn-based game where you have multiple units that you must strategically position and use their skills to destroy the opposing units. In XCOM you will control between 4-6 infantry units that can be of one of four roles. They can be of the following types:

• Heavy - Tough units that use a LMG (Light machine gun) as well as a rocket launcher.
• Sniper - The name says it all. They are great at shooting enemies from a distance with sniper rifles. These units are critical in this game since taking damage, especially early in the game, is something you need to avoid. It is not uncommon to lose a unit with full health in one turn. This is definitely a game where mistakes have high cost.
• Assault -  One of my favorite classes, they are the sturdiest units and the only class that allows you to chose a main weapon. You can use an assault rifle which gives you a little bit more range, or a shotgun which can be very useful in close range combat. As I mentioned, this is a game that rewards safe strategies, however a well timed move by an assault unit can be devastating to a team already crippled. I sometimes also use assaults to initiate a fight. Once my entire squad is in a safe firing squad position, you can send in the assault unit, obliterate one of their units right of the getgo and then pick off the others with your more ranged units.
• Support  - Arguably the most versatile class in the game. They can be fairly mobile, they have abilities that make them strong healbots and just overall offer great utility as well due to their extra inventory spot. I tend to take 2 supports when I can with my team.

Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys a good strategy game. It's a 2K game, so there is an extra incentive to try it from Civilization fans. This game does seem to have some of the same appeals as Civ games does to me. Another cool aspect of this game and other games of this genre is the RPG element of building up your squad that develops as you use individual soldiers. You actually start to get pretty attached to your soldiers, which can make the permadeath from a mistake a fairly traumatic event to the player.

Lastly, here are some of my tips for this game from my first 30 hours of play:

• Don't focus on training up only a handful of soldiers. Expand your team and make sure you always have a backup. Soldiers can get hurt in a mission and be out of comission quite often. I've been in situation where I literaly had 10 soldiers hurt and only had 5 rookies to chose from, which is something you really want to avoid.
• In terms of the non-tactical part of the game, make sure to do your research and try to focus on building up your technologies. Especially the satelite/interceptor related ones.
• Don't overspend, only buy things you need now or soon.
• Try to get more satellites up as soon as you possibly can, I promise you will regret not doing that.
• In terms of research, research laser weapons early as well. They are much better than the standard weapons. Aside from that focusing on armor is also important. I try to get the skeleton armor early if possible since it has nice stats and allows for great mobility.
• Any research that tells you it's urgent or priority is only priority if you want the game to move forward. With only a few exceptions, not doing those things right away is actually a good way to slow down the pace of the game. This can make the game a bit easier since the aliens don't get too difficult too quickly and you have time to do more research and get more money before things get too tough. One exception for me so far was the skeleton key research to be able to invade the alien base. At that point in the game you will not have very many satellites up, so your fear levels will slowly get out of hand even if you are completing missions every time. So my advice is to basically do the research and build the skeleton key, but then hold off on actually going to their base until you have a country on the RED. Once you beat the alien base invasion you will get rid of a lot of the heat around the world. Of course, you need to beat that mission for this to work.
• Dig and build before you need them. While it's important to not overspend in this game, you also don't want to be waiting 20-30 days on something you need today. So plan ahead when you know you will need to dig deeper to expand or build another power plant.
• In terms of office training, I don't tend to bother with wet work until I have a lot of cashflow, it's not a big deal. Just try to get to 6 member squads and get the iron will quickly since those are very useful. Heaving the quicker turn around in terms of healing your units is also very nice.
• More engineers is always useful for progressing, more scientists is nice but I never need to build labs for that reason. So when it comes to chosing missions, I'll pick engineers first, unless I need the money. Sometimes you may want the soldier if it's a class you need.
• In terms of squad composition, I tend to use:

1. Heavy (mainly focused on suppression skills and holo-targeting), he serves as my first move in a turn usually to weaken opponents or last move if I need to shut an enemy off a bit. (Fire Rocket -> Holo Target -> Suppression -> Heat Ammo -> Danger Zoone -> Will to survive -> Mayhen, although Rocketeer can be good if you like the granade launcher build better). This character will usually carry a granade or maybe a scope if I don't need the granade.
2. Shotgun assault (Mobile and heavily armored, with the idea he will be deadly when enemies get close). My build usually is Run and Gun -> Tactical Sense -> Ligthning Reflexes -> Rapid Fire -> Close Combat Specialist -> Extra Conditioning -> Killer Instinct. I tend to wear a vest on this character for the extra hit points
3. Sniper, always with a scope and a laser pistol once I get them. My built is Headshot -> Squad Sight -> Damn Good Ground -> Disabling Shot (i love this one in tough situations, works to prevent mind control even) -> Opportunist -> Low Profile -> Double Tap
4. Support, I often carry the healing pads on this guy and maybe the stun gun if no one else has it. My build is Smoke Granade -> Sprinter (good for scouting)-> Field Medic -> Revive (although this is not necessarily the best) -> Combat Drugs -> Deep Pockets -> Savior
5. Rifle Assault, this guys will be more of a ranged class which will carry either a granade, stun gun or scope. It's more of a flexible role I suppose, not a substitute for the other build unless you are playing on a big open map. Run and Gun -> Tactical Sense -> Ligthning Reflexes -> Flush (great for first moves) -> Close Combat Specialist -> Extra Conditioning -> Resilience
6. The sixth position can either be for a rookie you want to take along, another sniper if the map is open and large or a support which can always be useful
7. Another worthy mention is the alternative build for a sniper I use. This is for a mobile sniper, perhaps not as deadly as the other one, but useful in crash maps and maps with a lot of indoor fights.  Headshot -> Snap shot -> Gunslinger -> Disabling Shot -> Executioner -> Low Profile ->In the zone

Review: Don't Starve, or at least try not to

Just recently I've discovered a new game which fits the "survival game" genre. Not sure how old this video game genre is, but if you don't know what it is, it's basically what Minecraft and Terraria would likely be under. Games where the main objective is to provide your character with basic necessities to stay alive. In all these games it seems that building and gathering resources are the tasks that you will spend most of your time performing. While Minecraft if a 1st person fully 3D game and Terraria is a plataformer, Don't Starve comes somewhere in between. Almost like an isometric game but you can move the screen around as well. The game has a very neat feel to it, reminds me a lot of a Tim Burton movie, a bit sinister while a bit comical. 

Don't Starve doesn't really have a tutorial and a bit like minecraft, it requires you to experiment in order to learn how things work. The one help of this particular game is that recipes for things are shown to you up front once you have the science machine. The majority of your time will be spent collecting things and managing your resources, but it's all a lot of fun since there is enough to keep you interested for a long time.

First thing you have to do once you begin the game is gather materials for your first night. Most importantly materials to make a fire pit, unless you just use a dinky torch, and some berries or other food items. It's actually quite challenging initially to keep you character alive. The game gets more difficult as you go, with winter starting at day 20 and the raging dogs of the full moon. At night, it is very difficult to be productive because if you are caught in complete darkness you quickly die, so you need to keep a fire going and you need to have gathered the minimum needed to survive for another day. Much like on Minecraft, having the wiki open as you play is probably recommended.

Overall I was happy to spend the 15 dollars for this game after I played a bit of a pirated copy. This game kept me interested for many hours already and I foresee this trend continuing for a while longer. If you enjoy building games like minecraft with a slight edge of desperation and the fact that there is no real objective aside from not dying, which is a goal you will never achieve, this game is for you. 

Hints and Tips:

For the most part you actually don't need to use the mouse if you don't want to. Most basic actions like item collection and other actions based on what tool you have equipped can be done by pressing the space bar and holding it. This is great for convenience and for making your character do things quicker.

Don't set up your permanent camp right away. I've found that I do a lot better if I spend one or two full days exploring different areas and biomes to pick the perfect settling spot. Personally I like to have a few things nearby when I set my permanent camp. I like having Beefalos for manure, spiders for silk, frogs for food. If I can settle in the junction between a few different biomes that's even better since you may want an easy source of different things close by. I've read a lot of people that like camping near the pig folks as they can help protect you (by giving them monster meat) as well as providing manure. Often they also have sources of food around too.

Don't overlook any one of your stats, I often get complacent after a while without running hungry until I'm almost dying of starvation only to find out I have no food anywhere near me. 

If your sanity isn't at 100%, pick up flowers as you go (+5 sanity and a bit of health). You know you are going insane when it's a few minutes before dark and you have to go on a mad and desperate hunt for flowers. It perfectly illustrates how your character is doing.

Farming is a good thing to get started early. So look for a source of a lot of manure as well as grass to build yourself some farm plots.

Review: DotA 2, the best things in life are free

About a month ago DotA 2 was finally released as a final version (ie. no longer Beta). I made sure to sign up for it as soon as I found out on Steam. After less than a day of waiting I got my pass and wow, this is an amazing game. Dota 2 is my fist MOBA (multiplayer online batlle arena) game, which for those that don't know is a genre of games that began with the original DotA and now include the popular League of Legends as well as others like HoN.

Basically the idea behind a MOBA is seemingly simple but the game itself gets very complex and technical. You have an even map with 2 starting points, one for each team, as well as 3 lanes where teams must clear in order to get to the other team's base. Each lane has 3 sets of towers that must be destroyed by the opposing team with the help of "creeps", which are foot soldiers that help the teams out.  A team consists of 5 players and the objective as I mentioned is to destroy the other team's Ancient.

If both teams just sit and do nothing, waves of creeps will just fight each other and the game will probably be stagnantly stopped forever. However, with help from each of the 5 heroes, creeps push lanes towards the enemy towers until they can start damaging the tower. Heroes all start at level 1 with a small amount of gold. From there players gain experience through being close to the dying enemy units, and gold is obtained by delivering last hits on enemy units. This is an important aspect of the game since only one player can last hit. Players that keep getting last hits (LH) will accumulate gold faster than his team mates, and if you are more efficient than your opponent, you will also gain more than him/her. The interesting bit of the game is the variety of strategies available to move through the enemy's lanes. The most common is the use of 2 heroes on each side lane and one hero in the middle lane. This allows the middle lane hero to gather gold and experience faster than the side lanes, since he does not have to share XP or gold with anyone (although gold is usually not shared). Also the mid lane is the safest lane since towers are closer together, offering more protection from enemy attacks. Side lanes will often consist of a carry and a support, which are some of the different roles heroes can have. This is a lot like in sports where you have a football striker for instance, whose role is to score goals and pressure the opposition offensively. You have defenders that keep the ball away from their own goal. The carry is the player that will have to become the strongest of their team because they will be the ones doing most of the pushing and killing towards the end of the game, they "carry" the team at the end. Support are there to assist the carry in harassing the other team and helping him farm for gold and XP as much as possible. There are other roles that are a bit more complex as well, such as roamers/gankers which are heroes that tend to be more mobile offering more map awareness to his team mates as well as help in killing enemy heroes when opportunities arise. There are initiators, which tend to be heroes good at starting fights with abilities that put the enemy in positions where they have to react, usually leading to combat. You also have pushers, which are heroes that are specialized in killing enemy creeps as well as towers, allowing the team to move through the enemy's lane quickly when it is uncontested. You can also have nukers, which are heroes that are able to do a lot of AoE (Area of effect) damage, and can be great for team fights, farming or lane pushing in some cases.

Aside from the game itself, Dota 2 has a great and growing community. Just last week was the International, which is basically DotA 2 world cup, and it was such a great event to watch. This was the first time I've watched an eSport event, and I must say it was very exciting. Really, just as exciting as a good football or hockey game. The coverage was great, exciting and professional. I urge anyone interested in video games to check these games out, they will surprise you in how thrilling it can actually be to watch people play video games.

I'm really only touching the surface of this game with this post, but I think the main message I want to convey is that DotA 2 is a great fun game for anyone interested in a deep strategic game that could potentially consume a lot of your free time. I'll give this game a 9.5/10.

Short Review: Crysis

Title - Crysis
Genre - First person shooter / Action
Platform - PC
Rating - A+
Comments - First impression of the graphics was just amazing, the level of detail on textures and interaction with the environment are something I have yet to see another game mimmick. I very seldomly enjoy a FPS for its story line, and I have only finished very few games of this genre. This game however has a very real feel to its unreal story line. The NPCs are very realistic in terms of sounds and visuals, and everything adds to a great experience. If I thought that FPSs were basically all the same, I was shocked to see a new game come out with an old type of game and still make it feel like its new. The nano suit abilities add a very interesting aspect to the gameplay, and it is not very difficult to use, even though it is difficult to master. There are tons of neat tricks you can learn to do, and the game has a nice replay value simply due to the great gameplay. Basically it is fun to shoot people and when you do the graphics looks very real. I recommend this game to anyone that has a PC that can handle the video, and has a nice sound system for the great audio as well.

Short Review: Neverwinter Nights 2

Title - Neverwinter Nights 2
Genre - RPG
Platform - PC
Rating - C+
Comments - It is sort of disappointing when you have such high expectations for a game and it turns out not so great. I'm not sure why it received so many great reviews since I personally thought it was extremely weak. It requires so much of your PC while the graphics are pretty mediocre. I never played NWN1 so I did not know that this was a heavily scripted game. I feel like I have been spoiled with my RPG choice so far and playing a regular RPG game felt the same way I use to feel about them years ago, slow and boring. This game just reminded me of a time when I really disliked RPGs. Well there are nice things about the game, such as a neat story line and a huge variety of classes, races, spells, orientation and all sorts of things that probably enhance the value of this game. However, I don't think I'll ever have the patience to finish it. Another issue was the controls, which I didn't like and I didn't like how the camera or the characters move through the game. If you are new to RPGs or you just want a new game to try out, I'd recommend TES: Oblivion over this one, the graphics are way nicer and it seems like it runs more smoothly as well as being a HUGE fun game.

Short Review: Battlefield 2

Title - Battlefield 2 Deluxe
Genre - First Person Shooter
Platform - PC
Rating - A-
Comments - Great game with very impressive graphics and very fun gameplay. It is hard for any FPS to get me going because I automatically compare it to CS, which I'm sure a lot of people do, this however is the first time another FPS actually caught my attention. CS's gameplay has not been beaten yet but this game is really fun to play online and they added several features that add a bit more value to the game such as ranks and unlockable weapons. I also like the in game grouping system. If you feel like your PC is too good for CS but you want that FPS experience again, try this game.

Short Review: Sim City Societies

Title - Sim City Societies
Genre - Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - F
Comments - I just noticed how few bad reviews I have given, and let me explain that the reason for that is the fact I usually do my research before I start to waste my time on any particular game. Despite reading many reviews on this one, I went ahead and got it anyway. I have always been a fan of the Maxis games, and Sim City specially has always been one of my favorite games as I have stated before. I have owned every single Sim City ever released. This version however, has been severely modified to suit a different audience. Developpers claimed that they attempted to keep old fans happy and get a new crowd to play it, well they FAILED. As an old fan of the series, I must say this game has nothing to do with the original versions, and insted of improving on something that had already been working for over a decade, they changed the game to suit different players, retarded ones or infants. The game is extremely simple and the new building system is extremely slow and unrewarding. The beauty of the old games, was the freedom to not only have fun building a city the way you wanted to look, but the fact that it was a science to keep the city running smoothly. I loved how they allowed me to decide on what buildings would be on my city through an indirect method of giving incentives to cater to certain types. On this game instead of allowing an indirect control over the buildings, you simply place them yourself, which takes away all the fun of creating a balance. The graphics on this new game are only marginally better. Overall this game was a waste of time,and a big disappointment on a series that was built by Will Wright, and completely destroyed by EA.

Short Review: World of Warcraft - Burning Crusade

Title - WoW - Burning Crusade
Genre - MMORPG expansion
Platform - PC
Rating - A
Comments - What was great just got better. Two new races were added to the game, and more importantly a whole new continent with things for level 60-70 players to enjoy. A lot of new places to go and the end game stuff now does not require 40 players, only 25 players which makes it a lot more accessible than before. Really nice change for those that try to maintain a social life.

Short Review: World of Warcraft (Vanilla)

Title - World of Warcraft
Genre - MMORPG
Platform - PC
Rating - A+
Comments - As you can read above I got into RPG, and now I got into MMORPG, if you don't want another addiction in your life, don't pick this game up. It is just too much fun. It does not look nearly as good as most of the games now a days, but it is amazing, once you get into doing instances and getting the end game gear, there is no way back. The game is just too addictive. I really enjoy the profession you can pick for your characters, and the way that all the characters are balanced. Overall great, I can't really explain.

Short Review: The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

Title - The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Genre - Open ended RPG
Platform - PC
Rating - A+
Comments - I got this game based on my opinion of the previous one of this series. I have to say that it is amazing, the graphics are stunning, and even though the plot does get a bit less interesting on this game, the developers seem like they were more interested in making a great game with amazing gameplay. The game does require a lot of your PC, and if you don't have a relatively good machine you won't run it, if you do however, I recommend. The game includes pretty much everything you could see on Morrowind, however this time you are able to do a bit more such as ride horses, buy property, invest money. It also has a very developed character creation process, and a neat tutorial that actually tries to fit you into a class according to how you play. If you are however into RPG and you want to really level your player, usually you shouldn't use the class the game picks for you, try to pick a class (or make your own) that is well rounded and has your most used skill as secondary. Well you will know what I mean if you are like me. One advice, try to follow the main story line, the game is huge and chances are if you save the main line for the end you might never finish the game because it is so long. Other interesting quest lines involve the Arena and the mages guild (which is kind of mandatory if you are interested in being a caster). If I do have to make one criticism about this game, I would say that some of the questlines require way too much traveling, I started new characters 3 times and every time I do I dread the fact that it will take me forever to get anywhere due to the some of the quests.

Short Review: The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind

Title - The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
Genre - Open ended RPG
Platform - PC
Rating - B+
Comments - I would have given this game a much better rating if I was playing it when it was released. The graphics must have been something really impressive for the time. Even now I still find myself amazed at this extremely large world of Morrowind of Vvardenfell. I really enjoy how big and open ended this game is. I never played the 2 previous games of the series so at first the plot seemed kind of vague and stupid, I basically played for the fun of using different weapons and improving different skills, such as alchemy, which allows you to make many many potions. I definitely suggest this game for anyone, I never liked RPG before, if anything I made fun of those games for being so nerdy. But this game actually changed the way I look at this genre. I can't wait to play Elder Scrolls 4 which already came out. I really want to finish this game before I move on. The plot actually became very interesting so it would be a shame to miss all this history that is behind this series.

Short Review: Lego Star Wars

Title - Lego Star Wars
Genre - Adventure
Platform - PC
Rating - B+
Comments - Very neat game, the graphics are lego but are definitely pleasing to the eyes. It is a great game for playing in two people, some missions are even made so that two players have to do them. The story follows the movies, so whoever enjoys the movies should really enjoy the game. I was never huge on the movies but even then I could still really appreciate the game. Definitely worth trying, it is a kids game so its fairly easy to finish but any adult can have just as much fun playing it.

Concise reviews of older games

Title - Fifa Soccer 2005
Genre - Sport
Platform - PS2
Rating - A-
Comments - Great game, if you like the previous games, you most likely will love this one. The career mode is also very good, it was improved from older versions. The new first touch control also adds some realism to the game. It felt a bit harder to play then the previous ones, but for me that wasn't really a bad thing, I like how it is more challenging.

Title - Counter Strike Condition Zero
Genre - First person shooter
Platform - PC
Rating - A-
Comments - The best FPS game I've ever player in game play, the graphics aren't amazing but it's definitely a game to try out. If you are familiar with the original one, its pretty much the same thing, they improved graphics a little, added a few maps and guns. It is still pretty easy on your computer, in terms of video cards and 3D accelerators.

Title - America's Army
Genre - First person shooter
Platform - PC
Rating - C+
Comments - The graphics were decent and it looks semi realistic, however the game play wasn't very good, and it seemed like there was more than skill needed to be able to play it well. The online option was also pretty bad, and the maps were in parts too confusing and claustrophobic sometimes.

Title - Rise of Nations
Genre - War Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - C
Comments - The game is very similar to all other games of the genre, however it was even less entertaining than most of the other ones I have played before. I thought the campain option was well designed, but the the way they did the technologies was not as good as other games. Game also average on graphics, and it was kind of easy.

Title - Civilization III
Genre - Turn based strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - A-
Comments - The Sid Meyer's Civilization series is considered revolutionary, and this game definately shows why. It is a one of a kind game. I thought, at first, that because it is a turn based game, that I would be bored after playing it a little. I was surprised how quickly I became addicted to the game. The "Play the world" expansion is a rip off, but I got it anyway. The only advantage is that you get to play it online if you want.

Title - Galactic Civilizations II
Genre - Turn based strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - C+
Comments - If you have played any turn based strategy before, it is the same as this game. It is fun, specially because of the intergalactic scenario and the different species you can play with. Even make your own species if you want. But it is not as good as newer game of this genre, if you can choose, go with CIV4... Although, this one is worth trying, if you don't feel like being hooked to a game at the time.

Title - Populus: the beginning
Genre - God game/ strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - B+
Comments - The graphics weren't that great, but it was a fun game to play. I found that the first few levels were really easy but all of a sudden the level of difficulty increased greatly.

Title - Black and White
Genre - God game/ strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - A+
Comments - The best god game I have ever player. Really engaging, with amazing graphics for the time of its release. Very neat idea to add the animals. One problem I had with this game is that you could never start a game without having to go through the tutorials and the whole initial steps of the game. It becomes annoying after the first few times you play the beginning. I am really looking foward to the sequel.

Title - Sim City 4 + Rush Hour
Genre - Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - A
Comments - I have always been a fan of the Maxis games, and Sim City specially has always been one of my favorite games. I have owned every single Sim City ever released. The new version however, adds many of the things I've always wanted on the previous ones. Rush Hour was also a very neat expansion, it seems like all the aspects that I found missing on the game, were added on the expansion. There are still a few things that I would add to the game to make it even more fun, but in general it is one of the most fun strategy/management games I've ever played.

Title - Evil Genius
Genre - Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - B+
Comments - Very unique game, with some fun graphics. In this game, you play an Evil Genius, hence the title, and the main objective is to conquer the world with help from your minions, henchmen and other evil masterminds. It's not the type of game that you will remember for the rest of your life but it sure is fun while it lasts.

Title - Sid Meyer's Pirates!
Genre - Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - B
Comments - A lot of fun, I love many things about this game, specially the physics of sailing and winds and all that stuff that makes the game almost realistic. The day I started playing it, I was immediately addicted, but the problem with this game showed on the 2nd and 3rd days, I got tired of it way too soon. The amount of things you can do is too limited for how much potential it has. I don't know about other people but I got sick of doing the same thing over and over even before I finished the game.

Title - Gran Turismo 4
Genre - Racing
Platform - PS2
Rating - A
Comments - I would have to say that this is the best racing game I've ever played. There are lots of cars, tracks and races. Soooo much to do, more licences and options than ever. I have played first game of the series and I owned #2, and playing this game made me see how much progress has been made throughout the series. It definately deserves an A, and I recommend it to anyone that likes racing or even if you just like cars, you might still get addicted to it. I loved the sounds of some of the cars, the graphics are pretty amazing and the physics of the game are the best I've ever seen.

Title - NBA Live 2005
Genre - Sports
Platform - PS2
Rating - B
Comments - Very good game, with relatively good graphics, and fun options of game. For a basketball game, I haven't seen a better game, but there are still improvements that could be made. Specially during seasons, I find that the budgeting is a bit limiting. Overall a decent game.

Title - The movies
Genre - Simulation
Platform - PC
Rating - B+
Comments - This is a great game, really fun to fool around with and it does get pretty competitive once your movies start competing for the "Oscars". The graphics are great, and I just love making characters and watching them get old and become drunks hehehe. It is a really fun game also in the sense that it has humour in it, specially if you listen to the radio station. It follows up with the years and the comments are really funny about communism, politics, war, technology and even some sexist comments in the old days. It is worth trying it out, I have to say all Lionhead games have been very good in my opinion, I hope they keep up the good work.

Title - Black & White 2
Genre - God Game / Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - A-
Comments - Great game, with really cool graphics. I do wish there was a bit more freedom in terms of the story, the game is too great to follow a script all the time. It is a good game, the sounds is good but it does get tiring fairly quickly.

Title - Empire Earth 2
Genre - War Strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - B
Comments - I never reviewed the original game, which I use to love and at the time was the best of its kind, in my opinion. I was super excited for this game because it was supposed to look amazing. Well I got it and it is really good for playing multiplayer games but I found it dry if you play single player. I did like the whole city system, but the different traits that you can excell in are kind of annoying after a while. The graphics are good, and I love having the weather, but they aren't as good as I expected. I want to try Age of Empires 3 to compare, this time I think Microsoft actually won...

Review: Civilization 4

Title - Civilization IV
Genre - Turn based strategy
Platform - PC
Rating - A+
Comments - This new Sid Meyer's Civilization game is simply amazing. initially I thought: What can they have done to improve the last game? But they did, it is for sure the best turn based strategy game ever. The graphics are pretty decent, not great because it doesn't need to be but it is surprisingly heavy on a weak PC. I absolutely loved the new features of this game such as the civics system and religions. I loved everything about the gameplay and the diplomacy, which has definately improved. The AI is still fairly predictable but I guess it will take a while to design more complex AIs. This game has the best value in term of how long you can play it, I am starting to think I will play this game more than any game I've ever played. I was fortunate to start exploring the modifications you can make. The developers were nice enough to release everything for users to create their own game based on CIV4. I haven't really touched any python but just changing the XML you can add civs, religions, civics, traits. You can also make new units which can be done easily if you know how to use 3dMax. Online it is not that different from single player, nothing really special aobut it... Anyway, I highly recommend this game to anyone into a strategy game, if you have never played any civ before, it will take a little bit of time to get used but trust me, it's worth it.

Review: Far Cry 2

I know this is kind of an old game to review but I had these written from a long time ago and since they are not posted anywhere else I thought "why not here?". I'll be posting some more reviews of old games, even though few people probably look for these, one thing the internet can never have too much of is information. All of them are pretty short too, which might bring some value to them. So here it goes...

Title - Far Cry 2
Genre - First person shooter
Platform - PC
Rating - A
Comments - I had big expectations before I got my hands on this title, after reading so many good reviews on the first installment of Far Cry I was expecting a lot despite never having played the original. Well, I have to say the game did not disappoint me, the game begins with an interesting story of a mercenary that has been sent to a country in Africa to kill an arm dealer. The country is in total chaos, being led by corrupt groups that are at constant war. Well, the story line is good enough to keep you involved in the game, however what really keeps this game interesting is the gameplay. That is really the reason I played it through its 30 hours of main content. First off, the graphics are very impressive and realistic. There are a lot of guns in the game, all of them fairly viable for completing any mission, but each one has a unique feel to it. My personal favourites are the AK-47 and the sniper rifles. The mortar and Missile launchers are also a lot of fun to play with. The game is really great, there is a lot of ground to travel, lots of places to go and tons of things to shoot. I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys a solid FPS. It does not feel like Crysis for those wondering that, and it may even be a better gaming experience if you are into realism.

Crusader Kings 2: A review

So, I have only recently really given a try to this great game from Paradox. Crusader Kings is a Grand Strategy type game, somewhat like other Paradox titles, like Europa Universalis 3 and Victoria 2. In this one however, the theme are dynasties.

I started my game as duke in modern day Denmark in the province of Slesvig. Duke Sceadwian I of Slesvig, owning the provinces of Holsten and Slesvig initially. My first few moves were to select my council, which I got some good people for the job and getting married. The options were unfortunately not the greatest, so the obvious pick for me was the (once) lovely Princess Ingegrad of Norway. Daughter of the king of Norway, as well as being a great steward, which complemented my character very well. In terms of stats I have 14 diplomacy (which is fairly high), 8 martial, 18 stewardship, 9 intrigue (good for plotting, which I may need to employ a lot), 11 learning (I am a scientist afterall). In terms of perks I've got Scholar, Quick and Charismatic Negotiator. Overall, my Duke is quite the package.

Ah, another reason for picking my lovely queen, is the fact that there were rummors running around that she liked to have some fun behind closed doors... Yes, supposedly, she is an eager girl... I soon discovered that the rummors were truthful. She spawned 5 children in a span of 7 years or so. The children of House Silenieks are Princess Amelia (11 years old now), Prince Juri (10 years old and growing to be a good steward, much like his father), Tea (the pious prodigy of the bunch, 9 y.o.), Ernst (second boy, 7 years old and growing to develop a keen sense of intrigue, may cause our Gavelkin succession system some trouble, but we shall see). Finally came the lovely Grethe, 3 years of age at the moment. The only one still requiring a tutor.

This game is really cool once you start to get more involved with the characters and their important life events. For instance, recently me and Juri both contracted measles. The one good thing about the experience was my character's recovery, which he did exceptionally well along with Juri. It's amazing how much I am cheering for some of these characters now. It's almost like playing a medieval aristocratic soap opera. The best part of this, is that it is supposed to be random like life, no scripts involved, and I can't wait to see what happens next. My Gavelkin system will definitely make things difficult for me.

FM13 review and my custom database

So, as I mentioned on my previous post, I have moved to FM13. After playing it a little bit, I have to say, there are definite improvements to the game, which are only held back by a number of problems, glitches and quirks.

I really enjoyed playing FM Classic. It is a simplified version of the game, which removes a lot of the main time consuming parts of it, which in some cases I'm happy about and in others, not so much. I like not having to many press conferences, meetings, complaints and all that jazz. You really only get a little question every so often and there isn't even a pre-game, post-game talk option, which to be honest, I won't miss. The one part I do wish was a bit more deep is the staff control. Now, much of the staff management you do, relies on just a few key people. You no longer have several scouts, several coaches and several physio people. Instead you have your assistant, you have a chief scout and a chief physio, and so forth. So it limits what you can do which can be a tad annoying, it does however eliminate a lot of the time I use to spend on those tasks. The main focus of the classic game ends up being on tactics, matches, player trades, some contract stuff, and a dumbed down version of the old training. Training I understand has changed for the whole game however, so this may also apply to the regular saves.

The new interface is quite nice on the FM Classic. It's simple, practical and intuitive. It's not perfect, but does the job better than previous versions in my opinion. The classic mode lacks a lot of the statistics you use to have on regular FM. Your basic team stats are still there, don't worry, however match stats from two seasons ago and things like that are erased once they are no longer important. This is good in that it makes the game saves a bit leaner, but for people like me who love stats, it can be a tad annoying. To the point that I have to make checkpoint saves every so often in order to revisit stats from previous seasons when I feel like it.

Now, in terms of complaints, the common one is the match engine which was very glithcy during the early days. There were players that were simply retarded, that would just stop and watch the game at times. This has improved as far as I'm concerned, and I don't think it is as much of a big deal now. The other problem, which for me is very very annoying, is that the db editor is only supposed to work for the regular game, and not for FM classic. This is very very annoying, as I don't see why I can only play custom games when playing a full game. I understand they want to make FM classic a more online friendly thing, but to me this feels a bit like FML, where the developers are a bit out of touch with the fans and what people want in the game. I have hopes that they will change this and realise that there are other ways to achieve what they want, without having to punish customers that want to be able to play custom dbs using the FM Classic mode. It's not a huge thing to ask for.

I did however find a way around this problem. Apparently if you have the original release version of fm13 there is a glitch where you can load up a database on the regular game, exit the game and create a new FM Classic (FMC) game and it will hold the same database. Therefore, now I have my regular steam FM13 game as well as a pirated cracked copy of the first release game, just so I can upload my database to the steam game. It works for now and I hope they don't take that away as well. If anyone else is trying to get around this problem I can try to help. Just message me and send me your DB, I'll convert it to classic and send it back to you.

+++

I started to work on this database I've been talking about, and some of the info on it can be found on a reddit post Here (original) and Here (update)

Review: Faster than light

Just picked up a nice little indy game this week called Faster than light (FTL), which is available on steam for less than $10. The game is a space dungeon crawler kind of thing. You start off with only one option for a ship, and 3 humans as crew. From there you are put in a sector where you have to keep jumping to other sectors as you are being chased by some bad guys. As you move along you encounter different things, such as pirates that want to kill you, ships in distress and other randomized type things. You are often given options on what you want to do next, so there is a level of RPG in it that way as well as the fact that you "level up" and improve your ship as you go.

Similarly to other roguelikes (ie. Dwarf Fortress), it is almost always innevitable that you will die. At least for me so far, the game is about seeing how far I can get before I get myself into a situation I have no chance of succeeding in. The reason I like it so much is the amount of strategy involved with the combat. It reminds me a bit of X3 but obviously it doesn't have the same quality of graphics as you can see from my pic, but managing crew, weapons and so forth are quite fun and it does get quite intense. For that I give this little gem a B+, for it's originality as well as for being such a fun and well paced game.