This is the grandest, most spectacular work of strategy gaming on the PC. If you’ve not tackled a Total War game before, or assume that they’re not for you, we challenge you to play Empire and not be impressed, or even fundamentally changed by the experience. This is one of the most playable, and therefore important and accomplished strategy games ever created.
Despite the glamorous depiction, life as a military pilot is quite dull. And this is a good thing, because when your days arent overshadowed by the tedium of strict routine, it means someone is trying to kill you. And being shot at isnt much fun - just like Enemy Engaged 2.
In three near-future theatres of war- the Lebanon, Korea and Taiwan - Cold War rivalries have spilled over into all-out conflicts. You join in as the pilot of an American-built RAH-66 Comanche or a Russian Ka-52 Hokum B
Oct 31, 2007
Blending genres is always a tricky recipe. A pinch of RPG, a dash of FPS, and a hint of... some other acronym and, voila!: You've got the tastiest game on the market... or just plain alphabet soup? Unfortunately for Sirius Games, designers of action-RPG/RTS/GTA-clone Escape from Paradise City, their genre-blending plans never quite come together into a decent meal.
Things start out fun, if a tad clichéd: you're a former criminal, given a last chance to redeem yourself.
Early in Eufloria you’re told that you need to serve the
MOTHER TREE (note the caps) and her desire to appease mythical beings THE
GROWERS. At some point before your arrival, their formerly vast empire of
asteroids has been somehow lost. They need someone to step in and repopulate
the world. Like wildfire, you and your army of Seedlings begin spreading across
a multitude of procedurally generated asteroid fields, planting
Seedling-spawning trees along the way to build a bigger and bigger family. You
don’t get to ask questions as to why - all you know is that you need to invade
every last asteroid...
Europa Universalis: Rome is so lean and tooltippy, you may not need to open the manual at all. Within an hour of completing the ten minutes-worth of tutorials we’d doubled the size of Macedonia, negotiated my first peace treaty, and purged my young empire of corruption. We were galloping along and loving it. For those new to the series, this is PCT (Pauseable Continuous Time) grand strategy. You pick a starting date (anywhere between
While we'd like to be able to say that there's never been a better time to try EVE Online, we can't. The truth is that if you're going to try EVE Online, you should do so right now, because it's hard to say how long it's going to be this good.
Red Moon Rising is the latest large, free expansion for starship MMO EVE. While other games provide new realms, new lands or new dungeons, EVE is becoming more detailed. Developer CCP claims it's growing 'inwards'. It created a galaxy and all the
This is a bit awkward. EVE Online Revelations, the expansion to EVE Online, is a constantly evolving MMO. Were reviewing Revelations but its actually an ongoing series of patches; for now we can only review the first installment in the sequence.
Upsettingly, it hasnt brought with it the major graphical overhaul, or any of the snazzy DirectX 10 stuff that CCP have been talking about during 2006. Nor has it fixed really hardcore problems like the sovereignty system used to capture player-owned
When EverQuest II launched, we were promised plenty of online role-playing quests and immersive story lines. The new Asian-themed Fallen Dynasty adventure pack delivers that in a convenient, low-cost downloadable chunk.
In order to gain access to the Tower of the Four Winds and its quests, players must gain favor with the nearby villagers. As you progress through the quest line, you learn about the pirates who are invading the area, a mysterious missing tome and the Whistling Fists Clan of
How can a game based on endless miles of sand not turn out brown and dull? Somehow, the first EverQuest II expansion, Desert of Flames, mixes Ali Baba with ancient Egypt and shows how it's done. From desert oases (yeah, the plural of oasis ... look it up) to colorful djinn palaces to majestic pillars of stone abandoned in the wastelands, DoF demonstrates what a little imagination can do for a potentially bleak role-playing environment.
The desert is still predictably barren and inhospitable,
We know you manly men out there cringe at the thought of being caught role-playing as an effete fairy, but you won't want to miss out on the new fae race in the latest EQ II expansion. The colorful wings are a big draw, but what makes the fae so sweet is their ability to glide. You can jump from anything for some serious soaring fun without taking any falling damage. The only downfall is that if you take any damage while in flight you'll drop like a lead
