Now that school is almost out, I am thinking about rewarding myself with a new computer game. But I really don’t know what is out there right now, and I hate just window shopping. It is too easy to drop a lot of cash on a bad game.
I really enjoyed Medieval: Total War, though I never picked up Rome. It just didn’t seem as interesting to me.
I play the Sims 2 quite a bit, but the newest expansion packs (after Open for Business) don’t seem to offer that much I care for. And I am getting bored with it.
I really enjoy the type of strategy game where you construct your little city, manage your populace and raise an army. I prefer real-time rather than turn-based for this type, though it isn’t any hard and fast rule.
I found Tropico delightfully fun though limited.
So what have you all run across lately that has been fun?
Age of Empires 3 is damned good, and it’s already got an expansion pack. Rome: Total War was VERY good, better than Medieval. If you get Rome, beat that, THEN download the Total Realism patch on the Internets. Find xtisme if you want some more feedback on the topic. I have Tropico and liked it as well. I wondered how Tropico 2 was but never got it. Black and White was a good game as well. If you wanna get more complicated with city building, you can’t get better than Sim City 4…until the next one comes out, that is.
I’ve heard great things about Medieval 2, Civilization 4, and Neverwinter Nights 2, but I’m still waiting on my video card. Grr.
My newest game is Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. It’s sort of like Age of Empires in space. You start out with a home planet and a couple of ships. You explore to colonize new planets, manage the economy, deal with political stuff in your empire, research new technology, engage in diplomacy or warfare, and expand your empire. You can go for victory by conquest, diplomacy, technology, or influence. Combat is more strategic than tactical–once battle is joined you can’t really do much but watch the animation waiting to learn the outcome. I enjoy it, but it’s for the patient gamers. One turn is considered to be a calendar week. I finished a game after a little over 10 years of game time. 500+ turns. There are some shortcuts to speed up turn time–you can set up queues for ships/improvements to be built so you don’t have to scroll through every planet every turn. Can also assign ships to fleets so you can issue one fleet command rather than umpteen commands to individual ships. Also has a utility that lets you do some ship design…working with set pieces, but you get to pick hull size, weapons/defenses/engines/extras.
I think there may be a new Age of Empires out as well…
Check out the games by Paradox Interactive; Europa Universalis II is their best in most people’s opinion, but EUIII is coming out in January.
It covers military, political, dynastic, religious, trade, and exploration/colonisation aspects of world history from 1419 to 1819, and is downloadable from Gamers Gate for $US15.
You guys undoubtedly know your games. Perhaps you can help me out. In the last week or so, I have seen references to an online sample of some hot new game - WOW? I intended to look into it, since I am not a gamer, but now I don’t recall what it was. Any ideas?
Does the OP like business management type games? I’m enjoying Sid Meier’s Railroads right now. No armies but you do get to see the cities grow if your trains deliver the goods.
I second Civilization IV. Then get the Warlords expansion pack.
If the OP liked Medieval Total War, get the sequel Medieval 2. I haven’t picked it up myself but I have played Shogun Total War and Rome Total War and enjoyed them.
Rather than jumping into Medieval 2, I’d recommend getting Rome Total War and see if you like it. It’s cheap, there’s an expansion pack and plenty of good mods for RTW. MTW2, on the other hand, was released with some bugs that still haven’t been patched, and to be perfectly frank it isn’t anything more than a heavy mod for RTW itself. If you don’t like vanilla Rome, then don’t bother with the fifty bucks for MTW2. Mine is gathering dust.
I’ll second getting Civ IV as a good return for the money and time invested.
This thead is really interesting beause I’m always looking for a new game. The only game that I’ve ever really played long term as been the Sims and probably because enjoy the house building and I’ve started to learn how to recolor objects and work with meshes.
The last game I bought was Syberia because someone recommended it on another board. The graphics are beautiful but it’s sort of an annoying game to play.
Ever see the movie “Wargames”? It’s kinda like that. Basically, you try and nuke your opponent and try to take the least amount of casualties. I downloaded the demo a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty good. I really like the music and the retro-style graphics.
In stark contrast to a number of above posts, I would like to strongly caution you against purchasing Civ IV. No good, I repeat, no good can come of it. Should you purchase this game you will not eat or drink for hours on end, you will forego the bathroom, and your little ones will cry helplessly in the night as their father battles the endless minions of that bastard Montezuma and that bitch Isabella. Barbarians will sack your cottages as you deperately try to connect your newly aquired horses, others will complete world wonders one turn before you do, and the AI will employ techniques that will astound you.
Do not give in. Do not tempt yourself with the forbidden fruit.
There’s a new one either out now or coming soon (I forget which) called Paraworld that sounded fun. It’s a realtime world building game set in quasi-prehistoric times.
RPG much? I have just recently started building games with the Neverwinter Nights engine. If you have an Inner D&D geek, this is an amazingly addictive passtime. I’m having trouble coming up with scenarios that can’t be constructed in it. I view it as a kind of “dollhouse” hobby that can entertain me either by letting me create in detail pretty much anything I want, or as a standard RPG. The game engine is quite popular and modules of varying quality and personality created by the teeming millions can be downloaded – for free.
Rome: Total War has a demo available. Seems like with all the positive comments for the game, it would be worth downloading and checking into it. (I found it on FilePlanet, but I’m sure it’s available elsewhere, too.)