Current Games I am Playing

The Movies

What a great idea for a game. Deconstruct the filmmaking process and the history of the industry, and turn it into a resource management game with the ability to make your own films. For more information check the website.

 

The Myth Series

I have always loved these games. A beautiful tactical multiplayer idea, that doesn't stick you having to worry about resource management. Plus the unit ideas are great, and the atmosphere very dark. The Online community is very supportive too, with patches and mods available for all three versions of the game. This was particularly necessary with Myth 3 as it came out very buggy indeed. But a couple of years after purchasing it, I looked up a few placeson the web, and heyho, all the problems were fixed.

Pax Imperia

Such a shame I can no longer play this owing to incompatibility with Windows XP. Pax Imperia was incredibily ambitions for its time, pitting real time head to head strategy on a galactic scale, as well as letting you go and design your own ships.

 

Vampire The Masquerade; Redemption

With all the talk about Bloodlines coming out last year, a good few moments thought has to be given to Redemption. Still an excellent game in its own right, and the father of a great deal of level design ideas in co-operative play. Many of the concepts present in Neverwinter Nights would never have existed if it weren't for Redemption. And, it remains unique in allowing one player to actually GM a game - playing all the NPC parts.

A lot of Online support is still going for this great classic, although copies are hard to come by now. The WODMOD was a particular favourite of mine, adding support for White Wolf's Werewolves, Changelings and Mages.

Dark Omen

The first really tactical battle simulator, showing the way for the Total War games. Dark Omen was too linear in the single player game, but multi player, put together with Warhammer's Mighty Empires, it became a fantastic system, particularly as units gained experience as they progressed, something that even the Total War games haven't been able to manage in Multiplayer.

Art of Magic; Magic and Mayhem

The zenith of the Lords of Chaos idea was this 3d version of Magic and Mayhem. Greate game with some good tacical ideas to add variety to the "Capture the flag" Concept. Dungeons were particularly good, with multi levels, bringing back some of the cool atmosphere from Laser Squad.

Warrior Kings

A game that tried to be Myth, but added a resource management angle that exposed its flaws. A good multiplayer game that whiles away sometime, but you really want to reach beyond the trappings and get into full scale tactical battles. The sequel (Warrior Kings: Battles) tried to address this, but the engine doesn't really offer enough tactical scope.

Homeworld

A great game that really transformed RTS and resource management to a whole new environment. However, the timeless highlight was the backstory and the use of Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. Still a little trapped by th triedand trusted formula, but the little querks were what made it most fun. The sequels Homeworld cataclysm, and Homeworld 2 really extendd the same idea, so it would have been nice to have more innovation in the game engine.

Dungeon Siege

Very pretty innovative party based adventure game. And then Neverwinter Nights came out. Dungeon Siege gets formulaic, and this is what lets it down. Nevertheless it does have a beautiful look, and the combats can require some planning.