Well I have put in hours of play in the game and I like it.  Not nearly as addictive as Civ4 but well fleshed out and truly enjoyable.  I warn you be ready before you declare your Independence!

 My 10 year old son and I have played the multi-player and we tried two games before we ended up playing something else.  This is not because of any game issues, I found it enjoyable, but because there wasn’t enough combat for someone his age.  Sure you can fight each other but it is limited, the Indians offer little resistance as long as you are careful not to anger all of them at the same time.

Plus until you learn out to use the import/export with your wagon trains moving your goods around can get a little over whelming.    Over all I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys Sid’s games.

Back in the Day I was I HUGE Moo2 (Masters of Orion) fan, heck I still have the game installed on my gaming box and laptop.  So a few years back I bought GC when it first came out, the reviews and hip looked great.  When I got it installed  and started playing I was disappointed.  Guess deep inside I was hoping for the good M003 that I ever got. (yes I know a Moo3 came out but it was no where as good as Moo2)

So a while back I picked up the GC2 Dread Lords in the bargain bin and was going to give it another try.  I have played it a few hours over the last week and just can’t sink my teeth in to what I don’t like about it.  The interface is better in this version over the original GC2 even the some of the game play.  But the combat is boring, the tech tree is stretched just to be lengthened. 

So it has been put back on the shelf to collect dust.

I dropped by Best Buy to grab the Ironman DVD that just came out and what did I see on my way out of the store?  Why a brand new game from Sid Meier, called Civilization IV: Colonization.  A remake of his 1984 game using the Civ IV engine.  While it is a lot of fun it isn’t quite as addictive as Beyond the Sword.  This weekend I’ll test out the multi-player.

My son and I have been getting a lot of play time in on Diablo II getting ready for III.  I know I know it most likely won’t release until late next year, but man we just can’t wait :)  You have got to check out the videos they have over there on the game…  makes shake with anticipation.

A conversation broke out here at the geeky side of the office, about old Roguelike games. I don’t remember the name of the first ascii based one I played nor even what year I first played one, but it had to be in the mid 80s.  Every few years something will click in my head and I have to get my rogue-fix. One of these very same urges had stuck me earlier this week, so it was coincidence that this topic came up. One of the people I work with brought up a game he claims

“This is better than Rogue by about 100x, and is better than any other rogue-like I’ve played. Hack and NetHack don’t even come within 1% of how good this game is. I’ve been playing for eight years I Still am…”

So this weekend I am going to give Adom a try.

Someone should have grabbed some red paint and marked the door to my house to warn of the plague within.  However, it seems to be passing finally, and just in time for this weekend/New Years.  Having friends over and I did pick up both Agricola and Dust.  I haven’t even had the desire to punch them, but I will tomorrow.  Love playing new games and these should be a lot of fun.

 While I was on my death bed my son dusted off and reinstalled Stronghold 2, it had so much promise as a castle warfare game.  The castle building and peasant management are a lot of fun, there are two completely different campaign paths, Civic and warfare.  Both campaigns are fun and really test your attention to detail, but I will say in one of them there is a hysterical infestation of wolves attacking your peasants.  I mean these things bred like rabbits on Viagra, and make the beasts in Resident Evil look like puddles.   The biggest disappointment is the combat and control of your units; so many other games do this better.  But overall it provides a few hours of entertainment.

Tossed up a bunch of new pages for a “free” MMO called ‘Astro Empires’.  Like many of these types of games they can be very addicting, so be wary if you start, you could end up like me!  So far my only complaint is the servers don’t seem to have a reset point.  Many of these games I have played either go for X number of months or until a player does X to end the universe.  I think it makes it a little more fun (easier to start) for new players and adds a challenge for the vets.  The cost of the game is almost nothing compared to most video games, so I for one showed my support.

These pages are copies of other sites, but I hate keeping track of tons of links and it is so common for web sites to go dead that when I find good info I keep it.  One site in particularly is just great, E-Space Society, and the many great write-ups of Ben Wilson.  His write up of the small fleet doctrine is a most read.  Anyway I am off to check in on my little astro empire.

All I can say is WOW; it has been a very long time since I have played a RTS that I have completely enjoyed. See I am a CIV fan, have been for a very long time. I don’t mind turn based games, and with CIV IV’s great multiplayer option I’ve had little reason to find another tactical and strategic game to play. But I have to admit the speed of RTS games does add a whole other aspect to combat games.

I didn’t play Supreme Commander, although I just picked up the newly released and full blown expansion Supreme Commander Forge Alliance. The game is great, tons of units, four different factions to play with their own complete style of units and play. Multiplayer games absolutely require map supremacy, there are two types of resources one that you can only get from points on the map “Mass” and one that can basically only be produced by buildings “Energy”. Map size determines how quickly the games finish, most smaller maps are over in 15-25 minutes with two players, larger maps with more players can take 2 hours. One of the greatest features of the game is when you zoom out you don’t get the standard fuzzy useless scope you get with most games. You get a strategic view where all your pretty units are turned in to icons easily recognizable from each other, much in the style of board games like ‘Panzer Leader’.

Check out the new SupCom FA page for more info on the game I’ll be posting.