XCOM: Enemy Unknown
When I first experienced Firaxis Games’ and 2K Games’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the original UFO: Enemy Unknown, developed by Mythos Games and MicroProse and marketed as X-COM: Enemy Unknown, had already existed for nearly a decade and established itself and the resulting series of X-COM games as favorites of the turn-based and tactical strategy genres. Within […]
Age of Wonders III
After a healthy experience of the Eternal Lords expansion to Triumph Studio’s latest title in its Age of Wonders series it seemed like a good time to mention recent 4x contender Age of Wonders III. The Age of Wonders series has brought up 4x fans since 1999 and features many traditional elements of 4x play […]
Armed Forces Day 2015 special: the Mammoth Tank
This week in honor of the upcoming Armed Forces Day I decided to do a special themed post about one of the Real Time Strategy genre’s most iconic elements. This element is the super heavy unit; represented primarily by the infamous Mammoth Tank of Command & Conquer fame. Since video games have featured conflict there […]
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition
When Age of Mythology and its expansion pack The Titans first came out in the early 2000s I was sure that Real Time Strategy games had entered an era of improvement and advancement. Microsoft Game Studios had already delivered the stellar Age of Empires series and built an impeccable track record from which to pioneer […]
Supreme Commander
Those of us who remember playing Total Annihilation recall what was easily one of the most unique Real Time Strategy experiences in digital gaming history. Total Annihilation was an ambitious game with dynamic base building, expansive resource collection, a heavily detailed unit roster, and a physics simulator that was ahead of its time. It was […]
Total War: Shogun 2
Ever since the release of Total War: Medieval II Creative Assembly’s Total War series has been undergoing constant changes as experiments are conducted to increase the level of depth Total War games are able to provide. Total War: Shogun 2 has continued that development by departing from several notable aspects of the Total War […]
Endless Legend
Endless Legend: This past year saw two notable franchises release the latest titles in their series. For 4x giant Civilization this game was Civilization: Beyond Earth. Beyond Earth was highly anticipated and featured many revolutionary new takes on elements of 4x play as well as radical departures from previous Civilization mechanics. Yet despite this strong […]
OPUS 1
Happy New Year good fellows; I am the San Juan Gamer and this is my blog. I live on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, USA. The San Juan Islands are a very rural community; quiet, artistic, with their fair share of farms and woodland parks. They have been slower to adapt to […]