The reviews for Combat Mission: Shock Force haven’t started arriving in bulk yet, with only two on the ‘net at the moment. Strategy game vet James Allen gives it top marks at Out of Eight (probably one of the best review sites for small titles and indie games, by the way). Combat Mission newbie Tom […]
The Problem with Expansion Packs
July 19th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Firaxis
The problem with expansion packs is having to relearn everything because they’ve messed with some pretty familiar mechanics. This is my big issue so far with Beyond the Sword. While I love the scenarios and mods I’ve tried, the new techs and espionage system really mess with my mojo. You know how it is when […]
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Another History of Civilization
July 18th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Firaxis
For those of you who missed my thumbnail sketch of the entire series in the Civ Chronicles, Benj Edwards from Vintage Computing has done a bang-up job on the original game for Gamasutra. Edwards contacted me early in his research, wanting to make sure that he was covering the bases and that he wasn’t simply […]
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Medieval 2 Kingdoms and Expansion Packs
July 18th, 2007 · Comments Off on Medieval 2 Kingdoms and Expansion Packs · Creative Assembly, Medieval, Preview
No, I haven’t got an early look. And I’m too busy in Beyond the Sword boot camp to go back to knights and archers and beehive tossers in beautiful 3D. But Kieron Gillen’s preview is up at Eurogamer. It’s full of great bits, and is, as he notes, perilously close to a review. He makes […]
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Escapist 106
July 17th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Escapist
The new Escapist has an article from yours truly about games journalism. I struggled a bit with this piece and there was some back and forth with the editors Russ Pitts and Joe Blacanto. It was eventually cut down some because it lost its thread a bit. Maybe my central conceit couldn’t hold the longer […]
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So Close…
July 15th, 2007 · 6 Comments · Slitherine, StrZone/XtrGamer
My review of Europe: Commander at War is up at Gamesquad (formerly Xtreme-Gamer, formerly Strategy Zone Online.) Commander is one of those games that has some superior design but occasionally poor execution. The good parts of the game – and there are many – are often undone by an AI that has no teeth. – […]
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