With E3 2010 in the books, Troy talks about what he saw and is generally concerned about how “everything fits together”. Julian gives us a preview of Risk: Factions and Rob runs down what 1C has coming your way, based on what he saw in San Francisco.
Also, bonus tip on how not to prepare vodka.
Wheres Tom?
Tom ‘s schedule has been uncooperative for the last month. He is still part of the show, but we may mix things up a bit in future weeks. Stay tuned.
http://www.facebook.com/Crusaderkings
they’re almost up to 3k now. not bad
Rob, I think you should try to learn Men of War. I think you may be thinking about it all wrong. If you learn the controls, and the possibilities, on their own terms, it is an amazing game. The missions are very difficult, but worth it because of the ridiculous number of possibilities for things to go different each time. Each map/mission is like a sandbox. Controlling only a few guys at a time, instead of huge groups like in other RTS’s, is how you need to approach it. The AI can be smart enough to hide/defend itself while you control a couple of guys. Also make sure to use the line of sight feature, where you get a MGS esque cone of the enemies view if you click on them. The multiplayer is also a lot of fun, and worth the time investment.
The time investment is the big issue for me. “I want to play more ‘Men of War'” is something I am always saying, but never actually doing. Unfortunately I do not have a lot of time for overcoming difficult learning curves in games that I’m playing purely for pleasure. Between an increasingly busy schedule, a desperate need to start reading more actual books, and games for review and TMA… the game I play in my spare time have to be able to deliver those quick-hits of pleasure without too much frustration.
Also, Men of War plays on one of my compulsions: all my guys must survive. I hate losing an infantry squad in Company of Heroes, for crying out loud. Losing a trooper in Men of War or a particularly sweet vehicle I’d nabbed just drives me up a wall. This may come up in next week’s show, because Jagged Alliance 2 was the absolute worst game for that.
Yeah, I always reloaded whenever I lost a merc in JA 2. They had such indelible personalities and traits that it felt like too much of a loss to go on without them.
Men of War is CoH on steroids (which isn’t a bad thing if you’re into something that micro-intensive). I wish there was a pausable or slow time option myself.
Can’t wait for next week’s episode since strategy/rpg hybrids is one of my favorite genres. Hopefully MoM and Age of Wonders gets a mention.
I would not consider MoM and AoW to be strategy/RPG hybrids in any way. They are straight-up strategy games in my opinion.