A Green Mushroom

Guys... Duelyst is really good. I wrote about it awhile ago and said that it had potential but I would have to wait for the official release to see how it panned out. Well, it's been out for a few months and it's really good.  It's somewhere between Hearthstone and Hero Academy, two games that I loved.  I highly recommend it if you're interested in turn based strategy or new card game mechanics or even just good online competition. Duelyst has come a long way and it's completely free to play (unless you want to spend money).  Seriously, go check it out if you haven't.

I'm finally completely finished with Fire Emblem Fates.  This game is definitely in the running for my game of the year pick. The Revelation campaign is the third and final campaign in the game.  It's highly recommended that you finish both of the other campaigns first to get the most out of it and I can see why.  Revelation pulls from both of the other stories and gives you the details about what's happening behind the scenes.  It's the middle path, and the one I think I would have chosen if given the option initially. It's super cool to see all these main characters that had to fight and kill each other in the other two campaigns finally meet as allies.  It allows for all sorts of interesting conversations.  Pairing up troops from opposite sides of the war was especially fun. Not to mention that the ending of this campaign felt like the true ending of the game.  Both of the others were satisfying but incomplete.  Playing through all th...

Battlelore has been an iOS strategy game I've been meaning to try out for awhile.  It's actually the digital version of a board game I thought about picking up, but I ended up getting the iOS version to play around with instead. The first thing that really surprised me is that it's essentially built on the same basic gameplay as Memoir 44 , which is one of the big name strategy board games out there at the moment.  Units are commanded in lanes and you can only control a certain amount of units in certain lanes depending on which set of orders you choose.  It sounds like it might be complex when I write it like that, but it's super simple when you see it in action. The main differences are the setting and the "lore".  The setting is fantasy and the "lore" is essentially magic spells.  These change up the game enough to make it feel like it's own game apart from the base they're working from.  I assume it's pretty much a straight po...

I finally got back around to my Fire Emblem Fates Conquest campaign and finished it off!  I really liked it! I was sitting at around 60% done with the campaign.  I had jumped into it right after finishing Birthright in the first week that Fates came out and just gave myself burnout on the game by playing so much.  Now, coming back to it, it only took me another two days to finish off the campaign and wrap it up. It's really cool to see the other side of the story.  Birthright covers siding with the Hoshido side and Conquest is about picking the Nohr side.  This is definitely the darker story.  Hoshido is more conventional and you get to be the "good guy" pretty clearly.  The Nohr side sees you trying to change things from within an evil kingdom even though you're trying your best to not be evil.  It's actually more interesting because of that. But, it's also the harder campaign by far.  Birthright has some challenges but most levels...

Galaxy Reavers is my latest little mobile time waster on iOS.  In it you get a squadron of ships to command on an isometric 2D plane in real time. It's basic ship to ship combat stuff with the hook of upgrading your ships or swapping out their equipment between battles. It's pretty fun and I played it for a week or so before slowly pulling away from it. It suffers from the typical free to play catch of having a ton of downtime between activities at higher levels.  Or you could just pay to skip that.  Or pay for a random chance at some better gear.  Or pay to unlock a new ship.  Basically, it really wants you to pay. So I'm done with Galaxy Reavers but if real time ship combat is your thing it's free to try out on iOS.

X-Com 2 seems to have clicked with me much more than the first game. I always appreciated X-Com as a decent turn-based strategy game but something about it just didn't quite click with my personal taste.  I tried playing through a few times but always gave up, despite my general love of turn based strategy games. X-Com 2 generally plays the same but there's just enough differences that make me like it a lot more.  I think the tactical battles are tuned to force players to play more aggressively, which is how I always played the original.  I didn't realize until I saw complaints online but I guess most people played the first X-Com very slowly and defensively... I guess I was playing it wrong.  X-Com 2 often has an objective with a timer that forces you to keep moving.  I love it. I also never seemed to make good decisions in the strategy layer of X-Com between missions.  Apparently there's one "correct" way to play it that I never figured out. ...

I downloaded the brand new Fire Emblem Fates earlier today when it released and after picking up the Birthright version I had enough time to sit down and play it for one full charge of my 3DS battery. My initial impressions are really good.  It has everything I loved about the first 3DS entry in the series, Fire Emblem Awakening, but it's been refined and added to.  The core of the combat system is still the same as is the relationship system and I'm really happy with that.  It didn't need big changes.  The minor tweaks they've done are for convenience. The biggest difference I've noticed right from the start is the attention paid to the story.  In Fire Emblem Awakening it had a very typical (and stereotypical) story that was easy to predict even though it was well executed.  In Fire Emblem Fates they've created three unique storylines depending on a key choice you make near the beginning of the game.  I'm already seeing huge ramifications and ...

I played a bunch of Duelyst and it's a fun mix of strategy, turn based games, and deck building.   I really like the potential here. The battle system has a general who can use abilities and summon monsters from your deck.  You draw new abilities and monsters every turn so your options are constantly changing and evolving.  Instead of these being cards they turn into actual characters that go on a board.  The game mixes current digital card games with turn based strategy games on a grid based field.  It's a really fun combination. It honestly reminds me of a fresh modern version of Hero Academy which I loved when it came out.  Except with Duelyst the battles happen much faster because it's not asynchronous. Duelyst is still early access but it's obvious that this game has lots of potential.  I played enough to know that I like it and that I'll want to play it when it actually releases.  But, I don't like pouring a lot of time into ea...

I played a bunch of Tharsis after hearing about it a few weeks ago.  I thought it was still early access, but it turns out it's a "full game".  It sure doesn't feel like it though. The core of the gameplay system is there but it feels like it needs options, missions, difficulty settings, and more fleshed out gameplay.  But, I really like what's there. Tharsis is a game about traveling to Mars and everything goes wrong.  It's a crisis management game.  Every turn you decide where your crew goes in the space traveling vessel and you roll dice for the crew to try to complete objectives. It's honestly like a board game made to be a video game.  I love board games and video games these days, which is what attracted me to Tharsis in the first place. Honestly, I really like it, but it feels incomplete. This one is going to go on the backburner for awhile until they add more to the game.  It's obvious that they intend to add more to the game and ...

I picked up Steamworld Heist when it suddenly appeared on a bunch of "game of the year" lists in early January.  I had been interested in it since I loved Steamworld Dig but for some reason the release date (near the end of December) had totally slipped my mind. If I would have played this before the end of the year it would easily have been in my games of the year post. Steamworld Heist is a 2D sidescrolling turn based strategy game with skillshots and trajectory skills.  It's awesome. You all know I love a good turn based strategy game, and this is a great one.  It follows the aesthetic of Steamworld Dig but beyond that similarity it is it's own game.  Steamworld Dig was a dig deeper and upgrade your character sort of game.  Steamworld Heist is all about being a ROBOT SPACE PIRATE . Maybe I should have put that up at the front of the post. YOU ARE A ROBOT SPACE PIRATE!  It's so much fun. The progression mechanics of acquiring new gear and ...

Nearing the end of my backlog has given me more time to revisit some of my favorite evergreen games lately. The other night I jumped into Civ V and played "just one more turn" for a few hours.  I haven't played much Civ in awhile but the strategy and flow of the game came back almost immediately. In the moment everything was fine, but reflecting on the game after I had finished I realized that I didn't get much out of it.  I feel like I understand everything Civ V has to show me.  I'm no longer getting anything out of this game. So, I deleted it from my hard drive.  I'm done with Civ V for the foreseeable future.  I guess it's not an evergreen game for me anymore.  But that's ok, it provided me with many hours of entertainment over many years.  It was a good game, but it seems like I'm ready to move on.

I've been on a big turn-based game kick lately.  Invisible Inc is the latest in a series of games that I've enjoyed but failed to put a lot of time into.  It's kind of weird that I know I love turn-based strategy games so much but lately none of them can seem to keep my attention for long. Invisible Inc is really good.  Out of all the turned-based games I've been playing lately this is the second best.  Only Valkyria Chronicles has a one-up on it. In Invisible Inc you navigate a team of spies through a procedurally created enemy complex.  Your mission might be to get new equipment, rescue other agents, retrieve intel, or a number of other scenarios.  It allows you to push your luck by staying in the enemy complex longer while you search for more loot, intel, and gear.  But the longer you stay in the enemy facility the higher their security level gets.  It's really fun! I like the game a lot.  I've had a bunch of nights where I'll play t...

There Came An Echo is an interesting game.  It's real time strategy controlled entirely by voice commands. It actually has really good voice recognition... once you get your mic configured.  But, it took me way too long to find settings that would work for it.  I probably spent my first 30 minutes with the game just fiddling with mic settings.  Once it was finally set up, the voice command recognition worked great, so I do need to give it credit for that. And not only is the voice recognition good, but the voice acting is really good too.  They hired great voice talent, including Wil Wheaton!  He's one of my favorite author/voice actor/actor guys.  He's cool.  And the rest of the cast does a good job too. But while the quality of the voice acting is good, there's just too much of it.  Overall there's too much story, and not enough gameplay.  I played the first 3 hours or so of the game and I feel like I was only in control of g...

I wrote up some reactions to the Codename S.T.E.A.M. demo while I was in the middle of playing it last week.  Last night I finally sat down and finished playing the demo. I've decided to not buy the game. It's sad for me since I was really looking forward to Codename S.T.E.A.M.  On paper it seemed to be a really cool turn based strategy game that would be a good fit for me. In practice it falls apart for two main reasons: The enemy turn takes way too long. The best strategy is to rush to the goal. By the end of the demo I hated both of these things. Waiting for the enemy to take their turn and move around becomes excruciating after a few levels.  It's even worse once the levels get more complicated and contains more enemies. As far as the "strategy" in this game... all my careful strategy and best laid plans are worse than just rushing one character to the end of the level and getting them in the "Goal" area.  Once I discovered th...

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution I've never been a huge fan of the Warhammer 40k universe, but I'm always up for a good strategy game.  That's why I picked this one up.  I don't know why I've waited to play it, but that's why it's called a backlog.  Games are just laying there in wait. I was ready for a cool strategy game but I only found an ok one.  It seems like this is built on the Company of Heroes engine.  Company of Heroes was a World War II RTS that had ideas like suppression and firing arcs.  This has those exact same ideas, but in the Warhammer 40k universe. Playing this RTS just served to remind me how good Blizzard is at making RTS games.  I would much rather go play Starcraft 2, or even Warcraft 3, than play more of Dawn of War II.  It just doesn't hold up. Saints Row IV I played Saints Row 3 for awhile and enjoyed it.  I never beat the game or felt truly drawn into the world, but it was a fun game to ...

I've been playing a lot of games for my 3DS.  Right now I'm playing through Fire Emblem: Awakening and enjoying it a ton. The older I get the more I move away from real time strategy games and start to appreciate the turn-based format.  It's not that my reflexes are bad, I'm only 26, but I just don't have time to devote to getting really good at execution in games.  I'm usually playing less than an hour each night and I'm lucky if that is one uninterrupted block of time. For me, right now, Fire Emblem: Awakening is perfect.  It's a turn based strategy with interesting mechanics that I can suspend at any time.  I constantly have it near me since my 3DS is almost always close by.  It's great to be able to take a turn and then put it down to come back to later.  Even if I know I only have 5 minutes I still get to make some progress and stretch my mind with some strategy. It's more character driven than most turn-based RPGs I've playe...

I just finished the Clash of Heroes single player campaign and thought I'd reiterate how much fun it was.  A tactical RPG puzzle game isn't something you come across every day and this one held me captive most nights for the past few weeks. On top of what I mentioned in my initial impressions  there were also a ton of battles with interesting win conditions.  If I ever felt like I was close to getting bored, one of these odd battles would pop up and re-engage me.  Switching between 5 main characters helped keep things fresh too. In the end, Clash of Heroes took me 30 hours to beat and provided me with weeks of entertainment for only 15 dollars.  And there's still a whole multiplayer aspect that I haven't touch yet. I liked this game a lot and now it's put me in the mood for something else tactical.  I want something slow-paced.  Maybe a turn based battle system of some kind.  I'm in the mood for more thoughtful decisions and less twitch ac...

Might & Magic Clash of Heroes is an Ubisoft creation with something in it for both puzzle and strategy game fans.  I stumbled across the demo in the Xbox Live Arcade, but the game is also available on PSN and Nintendo DS. The basic premise is a match three puzzle game where army units are the things being matched.  Match 3 vertically and they become an offensive attack.  Match 3 horizontally and they form a defensive wall to block incoming enemy attacks.  The player is limited by the number of moves in a turn before the opponent gets to respond in kind.  Completely drain the opponent's HP with attacks and you win the battle. It's a simple enough premise, but it quickly gets complex in a fun way.  Experience points, leveling up, gear, new units, and new skills all show up in the course of the game.  I've had a great time tweaking my army as I progress.  Personally, deciding between using giant treants or acid dragons was especial...

I have an itch to play strategy games at the moment.  StarCraft 2 has been fulfilling the need but I'm running into a problem.  I love the high minded thinking that goes into the strategy.  The clash of minds draws me in and keeps me captivated.  The dream of inventing a brand new strategy staggers me with it's awesomeness.  I want to invent a new strategy that wows and amazes. But then I go play the game. I get annihilated.  Absolutely demolished.  I go on losing streaks and just can't understand where the weak point in my strategy is.  The truth is, my strategy is fine but my execution is lacking. I only have so much time to devote to gaming in a given day.  I have two jobs, a wife, and an 8 month old.  They take priority over gaming.  So let's say, on average, that amount of gaming time is 2 hours per day. Is there any possible way for me to compete with master level players who devote 12+ hours to the game each day?...

It's interesting to watch the evolution of a gaming community around one specific game.  Things begin to change after the hype and excitement of launch.  People play through the game and discuss it with friends.  They revel in the shared experience.  And then it slowly fades from mainstream attention.  But, for some, they cling to a game and never let it go.  This poses some challenges in competitive multiplayer games. The divide between mediocre players and master level players increases as time goes on.  No longer is there the full spectrum of players be paired against.  Instead, most of the player population has gotten good at the game and they are the only competition left. If you're looking for some specific examples, think along the lines of the Halo or StarCraft series. Where there is a lot of competition to be found. As the total population playing the game decreases, the average skill level of each player rises.  The longer th...