With Christmas coming up, I am – sadly – finding few games that I want or need as a gift.
Age of Empires III? Got it. Civ IV? Got it. Legion Arena? Got it. Blitzkrieg 2? Got it. Barbarian Invasion? Got it.
Imperium? Not out yet. Rise of Legends? Not out yet. Rise and Fall? Maybe never coming out.
So my feeble list amounts to Dragonshard (because people say I should try it), The Movies and Call of Duty 2 (because my students say I should try it. Yes, I know it’s a shooter and that I will die.)
Lame.
Here’s you chance, loyal readers, to pitch me a strategy game that would look good under my tree. I prefer historical strategy and war games, but am certainly not averse to trying something else.
Oh, and make it interesting. Something I may know nothing about or a game that is under the radar would be very cool.
I know you mentioned it, but I am loving The Movies. It’s not really what I would have thought was my thing (I ~hated~ The Sims) but it’s one of the best games I’ve played since Rome: Total War :).
I am also really enjoying
Weird Worlds: Return to Infinte Space.
That’s what you get for buying (or getting) all the latest games as soon as they become available. Serves you right. :-)
Nevertheless, I notice that you totally forgot about: “Take Command: 2nd Manassas”, the new game from Mad Minute Games supposed to come out this December. Never played the first one (Bull Run), but the buzz around it was pretty OK.
“That’s what you get…”
Yeah, I know. It’s my own fault. I’ve only bought Civ 4, but I guess a flood of strategy games is the price I pay for getting a chance to review them.
I loved the first Bull Run game from Mad Minute. I didn’t know that the second one would be out so soon. A definite possibility.
Toby:
Weird Worlds – why are you enjoying it?
Have a Nintendo DS? Advance Wars is a portable blessing.
Have a GameCube? The new Fire Emblem would probably interest you.
If you want a shooter, try one of the Brother in Arms games. They mix strategy and explosions together in a unique way.
You might even want to give Full Spectrum Warrior a shot. I rather enjoyed it last year.
Do what I do, don’t ask anyone for games for Christmas! Last year I got books about games, peripherals and fun things like game soundtracks. Here are some good book recommendations in order of which to buy first…
The Ultimate History of Videogames by Steven Kent
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761536434/qid=1133447031/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-6955276-3325627?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
Game Over by David Sheff
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0966961706/ref=cm_lm_fullview_prod_3/002-6955276-3325627?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262524201/ref=cm_bg_d/002-6955276-3325627?v=glance&n=283155
Opening the Xbox
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761537082/ref=cm_bg_d/002-6955276-3325627?v=glance&n=283155
…and just because I’m in it.. Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596007140/qid=1133447439/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-6955276-3325627?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
There are a few more like Chris Kohler’s Power-Up and I haven’t read Raph Koster’s new book, but I bet that’s worthwhile too.
Greg Costikyan actually has an Amazon list.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/9GY8SA36108B/ref=cm_bg_guides/002-6955276-3325627
Anyway, I’ve kind of given up on games for Christmas. I buy or receive too many from working in the field so I find it’s a lot more fun to get these kind of things because I wouldn’t normally have the dough to buy books instead of games. :)
–Dave
Ugh… guess I should’ve used HTML links. I figured it’d handle that for me. Sorry about the cut and paste necessary above…
How about Tribal Trouble? I’ve only played the demo, but it would probably make an amusing RTS diversion for you.
I suggest San Juan and Power Grid (Funkenschlag).