Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
6 Feb 04
First some site news. CSL has convinced me that we need to have reviews to be a full service site. At first I wasn't sure, but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. A good story can make you want to play a game, but not all games are for everyone. We want to get people interested in the games we like, but we also don't want to burn people and get them to buy games they won't enjoy. We want to share our enjoyment. So reviews would serve a purpose for us. They can give you, the gentle reader, a clearer picture of the game itself, how it plays, its strengths and weakness as well as who might like it. I would like to keep the focus on strategic and tactical games.
Of course, that means more begging for help from me. So if you aren't sure about writing up your strategies, perhaps you'd like to write some reviews for us. I'd suggest starting with a game you enjoyed, but perhaps not everyone has heard about. While I'm asking for input, what areas and categories are important to you? If it's got a historical setting, does historical accuracy matter to you? Everyone's reviews have sections for controls, gameplay and graphics. What else should we have? What scoring system would you like to see?
I think it's human nature to be interested in people who are different than you. Me, I'm a floating gamer. I play a game for a while and then move on. I might be playing nonstop for that time, but eventually I'll quit and move on to something else. That's not to say I never come back to games. I do that all the time. The people I find interesting are the ones who can dedicate themselves to a game. You know the people who got Warcraft III and the Frozen Throne on their respective launch dates, but haven't played any other games since. Now, I never want to play head to head against these people. My casual knowledge just can't stand up. I do admire them though. They certainly get more bang for their gaming dollar, and they experience a depth to the game that I'll never know. Still I guess they could say the same thing about my breadth of gaming knowledge.
Here's a little gaming value news for you. Fry's has Gladius for Xbox and PS2 on sale this weekend for $20. Also, Dreamcatcher has released Universal Combat (Derek Smart's latest) at the value price of $20. So for $40 you could get enough gaming to last you for a long time. Add to that Amazon has Rise of Nations on their Friday sale and you've got some great thinking games out there.
Finally, it's time for my weekly plea for support. We still need more people in the forums. We need more people visiting the site. If you have friends who'd be interested, please send them a link. If you're a member of an appropriate forum, let people know about us. We do need a community to thrive. Besides it's always fun to get in on the ground floor. Then you can tell people who come along later what it was like in the good old days. Thanks.
Jason
5 Feb 04
I've noticed that the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth (official site) has been showing up on many 'top games of 04' lists. It's a realtime strategy game from the developers of Command and Conquer: Generals. It's from EA so it's based on the movies. I'm interested, but also a little wary. There will be four sides (Mordor, Isengard, Rohan and Gondor). If it's well done, this should be a perfect game for us. Please note now however that I'm not going to ask everyone to install an elvish font set to view the site. Please keep any elvish submissions to graphics, thank you.
I guess what concerns me is that in the books the sides clearly weren't balanced. They have to be for a RTS. I realize you can do things like give Mordor more numerous weaker units, but what were Gimli's and Legolas' final counts? Right now EA is shooting for up to 500 units on the battlefield at one time. It's no Total War, but I think that's enough to give a pretty epic battle. With siege units and magical powers, it should yield some stunning battles. I'm just worried if they will be interesting battles. Right now I'm keeping Rome and Ground Control 2 in the top spots. I'm always open for a surprise (if it comes in the form of a better than expected game).
Oh, I've noticed that many sites are calling Freedom Force 2 a strategy RPG. I guess I can see that. Of course, Irrational themselves call it a tactical RPG. I suppose you could do some really neat comic book style stories with a little screen shot editing. You'd probably have to scale down the screenies to keep it 56k friendly. As always, send me your thoughts.
Jason
4 Feb 04
The main difficulty in explaining this site is that people who understand, understand already. People who don't understand have a hard time catching on. Here's an attempt anyway. Think of a mystery novel. There are basically two types. One is where everyone is in the dark until the end. The other is where you know the criminal, you see the crime and you know when the detective is following a false lead. Now if you've never read a good mystery novel of the second type, it's hard to explain how it could be as good and as involved as the first type. The goal remains the same, get the detective to a position to remove the criminal as a threat. You just sacrifice suspense for depth.
Games are similar. Do you care more about the story the game tells or the story you create? The story of Starcraft is great and involved, but that's not why people keep playing it today. Every day people create these epic battles. They make interesting decisions based on timing, resources and strategy. Whether those decisions are good or not depends on the decisions made by their opponent. Those layers of interplay create one type of story.
The other type of story is what we have from our first submission. CSL has donated one of his After Action Reports from XCom. We still get a deep and involving story even though we never hear a shred of the thinking going on behind the alien's side. Check it out in the Games section.
I'm always on the look out for upcoming games that could be good candidates for us. I'm beginning to think that Splinter Cell multiplayer could be great. It's limited to four players. Two mercenaries and two spies. The mercs play in first person mode and are defending objectives. They have the cool weapons. The spies are trying to infiltrate, so they play in the third person. They have the cool toys. In a head to head fight, the mercs will clean up, but, of course, it's not head to head if the spies can help it. With the toys, weapons, and multiple routes it sounds like a bonanza of tactical goodness. Hopefully we'll be seeing some stories from there before too long.
Jason
3 Feb 04
I just read some new information on Ground Control 2. I know a lot of people missed the first Ground Control. Sierra released it in close proximity to Homeworld. They were often compared because of the attention to detail in both. You could "zoom in" in both and see the moving parts on your vehicles. Of course, the game play was worlds apart. Ground Control was essentially a tactical ground combat game. You started a mission with a few squads and finished with whoever survived. Units could gain experience and become more effective. Unfortunately it must not have sold well stateside because instead of releasing the expansion pack, Sierra offered to give it away to anyone who was willing to pay for shipping.
Now a sequel is in the works. It's supposed to be out in the second quarter this year. It looks to be once again pushing the graphics envelope. They also seem to be really involved with their fans. I hung around of the message board for a while last year. The developers were holding their cards close to the vest, but each time they'd announce something new it would be a refinement on suggestions given on the board. Good on you Massive Entertainment.
The thing I'm most excited about is the promised cooperative internet play of the main campaign. Campaign missions are often designed to be epic and dazzling battle especially towards the end. The opportunity to actually coordinate assaults on tough targets sounds like massive fun. Be sure to check out the official site.
Also check out the new faction, the Viron Nomads. If Ground Control II and Rome: Total war both make it out and live up to their potential, this will be a great year for strategy games regardless of what else comes out. I know I'm probably forgetting your favorite strategy game due out this year. Drop me a line to remind me.
Jason
2 Feb 04
Happy Groundhog day. I put an update and an example on the games page. Please check it out.
Nameless77 was kind enough to put up some tips for Gladius in the forum. Thanks. It's a very ambitious game and somewhat unexpected from Lucasarts. Their next surprise should be coming this month and it's called Wrath. It's also a console title. It hearkens back to the old archon days. You summon monsters and move them around a strategic map then when conflict occurs you go to a fighting engine. It sounds good in theory, but early reviews have not been kind. We'll see if things look better once the average joe gamer gets his hands on it.
Just a bit more on the games page update. I made an example using Starcraft. I need feedback on what type of information you'd like to see on a main game page. I tried to go with a general description and a little on the sides. It would be overload to go into each unit and structure, but please tell me what works and what's missing. I used Starcraft because it's so well known, but think about what information you'd like in a summary if you'd never played the game. Keep in touch.
Jason
Talk Strategy 2004
