historical
Civilization V may be my favorite Civ game ever, so I was anxious to get my hands on it’s first true expansion. How does it hold up? Let’s find out.
When I reviewed The Guild 2 back in 2007, I talked about playing it in spite of its myriad flaws. The game was fun and unique but had some serious technical issues, such as all human characters turning into cows from the waist down. Three years later, I’m not as easily dissuaded from poking at a game’s faults. That comes into play here because despite the fact that the game can still be fun, Renaissance may be worse off, technically, then The Guild 2.
I’ve played Civ games for years, getting my start – ironically – on the SNES’s Civilization. Not a great launching pad I’ll admit but I enjoyed it enough to pursue further games in the series. I’ve played Civ II, III, IV (and it’s expansions) and now Civ V. How does it stack up with it’s own history? Let’s break it down piece by piece.
I’ve been reviewing Out of the Park Baseball games for four years now, only missing last season’s OOTP 10. I’m a huge fan of the series and can’t wait each year to see what they’ve done to improve one of my favorite games. From the addition of the Face-Gen tech in OOTP 2007 through the written scouting reports in OOTP 9, I have always enjoyed these games. Is the latest the greatest, or has the series finally stalled?
After releasing Out of the Park Baseball 8 a little over half a year after the previous version and with minimal improvements, OOTP9 comes out at the right time, and with much improved features. OOTP9 is another grand slam for OOTP Developments, and it’s a version that was worth the wait.
Out of the Park 2007 was a hit with me and many baseball enthusiasts. The ability to run your own league, however you wanted, online or off, was absolutely dazzling. Now, however, just about 7 months after OOTP 2007’s release, Out of the Park Developments has released a new version, Out of the Park 8. Is it worth your money? That depends on how you look at it. Continue reading
Keep in mind while reading this review that I writing as someone who has put countless hours into the Empire Earth series. I enjoyed the original and loved the sequel. Thus you can understand why I’m so disappointed with Empire Earth III. The first two games were huge, almost unbearably so, but that was their charm. They, rather then focus on a particular time or place, tried to encompass the entirety of human history. While the nations were a little on the generic side, they allowed you to play how you wanted, when you wanted. Then, Empire Earth III came along. Continue reading
Civilization IV was huge. Warlords contracted it somewhat with it’s emphasis on scenarios that tightened the focus of play. Beyond the Sword, however, again makes Civ4 the biggest turn-based time sink around, with tons of new civs, leaders, units, buildings, techs, and wonders. Even the scenarios tend towards this huge open-ended play style that Civ gamers love. In all, they could have called it Civilization 4.5 and charged full new-game price for this and still had a bargain going. It’s that big. Continue reading