Tag Archives: Stratagy Game

Surviving Mars: Relaunched – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – if you have never played the game before, this is by far the best version, and you should give it a go. If you have bought the game before, I am not sure there is enough to warrant the price tag.

Disclosure – I paid for this video game.

A Map of Mars.

Surviving Mars: Relaunched Review Introduction –

Today, we are looking at a bit of an odd duck in that we are looking at what is apparently a from-the-ground-up remake for a game that is less than ten years old, which, for a strategy game, is quite odd. However, as I enjoyed my time with the first Surviving Mars, I thought it was only good to dive back in to see if it was worth the relaunch.

So, to set the scene, in Surviving Mars, as the title suggests, your job is to help manage the first colony on Mars and make sure everything runs smoothly. You begin by picking your mission’s sponsor, the USA, Europe, Blue Sun Corporation, and more. You then choose what type of commander you are going to be, an Ecologist, Oligarch, etc., and then you are off to the red planet. Here you have to pick your landing site on a very detailed map of Mars, you can select from one of the pre-determined locations or go ‘stuff it game I’m landing in the Utopia Planitia’, and then it is just you, a rocket and a couple of automated rovers to start you on building the first place for humankind away from Earth. Where you will face the needs of a growing colony, the harness of the environment, and the risk of declaring independence.

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GNOMES – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – A perfect encapsulation of a premise, where every puzzle captivates you as you try to find its key to success, also you get to shoot Goblins with a blunderbuss.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Choosing the Gnomes.

GNOMES Review –

There are a lot of puzzle games out there that, once you work out their particular gimmick, they lose their power to intrigue. Today, we look at a game that changes things up every time you play, using the same building blocks to create vastly different scenarios. Then they took that core gameplay and framed it in a fantasy world that gives you the drive to explore more.

So, to set the scene, a war rages across a fantasy world, across every biome and society, one that has raged for so long that no one knows who started it or why. But they do see that wherever you are, the Goblins are at war against the Gnomes. Goblin war camps traverse the globe looking for Gnome towns to destroy. You have some gold and finite resources to raise a Gnome army to help defend your Garden Shed from destruction.

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Old World Cartographic Educational Database –

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TL;DR – Links to every geographical feature mentioned in Old World so you can explore them if interested

Northern Europe.

Educational Database –

A while back when working on our Civilization and Humankind maps, I decided to put together a Cartographic Educational Database to allow you to explore the features in our world. Well now that we have finished our Old World Map, it is time to do the same as we explore the many different geographical features of the Mediterranean region. Below you will find links to Nations and their Cities, and Wonders. As well as, all the geographical features in the game.

Most of these links will be to the relevant Wikipedia page, just because that is probably the most practical option for most people, but there are some links to other sites where it was the best fit. Also, while I have tried to find easily accessible links to every feature, some of them don’t have that access. There is the odd one here and there, which you can see below.

To assist with searching, you can jump to

So let’s dive into the geographical world of Old World.  

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Mapping Old World– Map-It

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TL;DR – We continue our project of mapping historical video games with a look at Mohawk Games’ Old World

Rome.

Mapping Old World –

One of the joys I have discovered working on this site has been our mission to map historical video games. We started with Civilization, followed up with Humankind, and our next mission is Old World. I had played a bunch of Old World when it was back in beta, and now that its next expansion, Pharaohs of the Nile, has arrived, I knew it was time to jump into this map.

Before we dive in, a couple of quick notes: while all attempts have been made to ensure that everything is accurately placed, putting this together meant working from multiple sources, map projections, and sometimes not firm locations. As such, no matter how much you try, there might be slight discrepancies. This is increased in places with many locations grouped into a small area [cough Greece cough]. So take this as indicative of the place, not a pinpoint location. Also, some entries could be one of several different locations; in that case, I had to make a call about which one it was.

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Humankind – Features Post

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Humankind Title Image. Image Credit: Amplitude Studios/Sega.

In this thread we will be documenting all the new additions for Humankind from Amplitude Studios.

TL;DR: You can layer from 60 different civilizations from history to create your own unique narrative. It will stretch from the Neolithic to the Modern age. In the end, the civilization with the most Fame will be the winner. Full of Humanmade Wonders, Natural Wonders, Units, and Buildings for you to construct.

Note: all images are created by the team at Amplitude Studios

Cultures

The Civilizations. Image Credit: Amplitude Studios/Sega.
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How well did they create Persia and Macedonia in Civilization VI?

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TL;DR – Persia and Macedonia are great new additions to Civilization 6, even if they do raise some questions about ‘civilizations’

Civilization 6
Review –

So the Spring Patch and new DLC for Civilization VI has been out for a week and now that I’ve had a chance to give Persia and Macedonia a play through I thought I would look at how well they have been implemented in the game. So to do this we will first chat a bit about the changes made in the latest patch to the game as a whole, we’ll then look at Persia and Macedonia focusing at how well they have been represented as well as, how well they have been implemented in the game, and then finally we will take a moment to look at the issue of ‘civilizations’ that this new DLC raises.

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Video Game Review – Master of Orion (2016)

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TL;DR – A good entry into the 4X genre, but it does not quite have the staying power of others in the field.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Master of Orion. Image Credit: Wargaming.

Review –

2016 is turning out to be the year of the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) games, with a number of quality releases not seen since the mid-90s golden age. Already this year we have had the quite good Stellaris, and as well as this, soon we will get the sequel to the great Endless Space and then the next entry into the granddaddy of 4X Civilization. At this point, it should be clear that I love me some 4X, whether it’s turn based or real time, bring it on. So I was interested to hear that one of the classics of the golden era Master of Orion was getting a remake/sequel/reinterpretation, so now that it is out of Early Access I thought I would pick it up to see how it goes. Now I need to say growing up I did miss the original Master of Orion games, I was playing more Civilization at the time and we didn’t have the luxury of Steam or GOG for those more obscure games, but I did get to play some of the games it inspired, like Birth of the Federation, so while I won’t be able to personally compare Master of Orion with the original, I will be able to compare it with the 4X genre generally speaking.

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