Dominions 3 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Dominion series is a turn-based multi-player fantasy strategy "god" game. The technology is not new (it's a few steps-up from text only) but the sheer depth of this game has to be seen to be believed. If you are a fan of turn based strategy or fantasy, you owe it to yourself to check this game out by downloading the free (and very capable) demo at Sharpnel Games website. Illwinter is obviously most interested in putting out a product that gives players options . . . thousands of options . . . and a compelling reason to play a game again and again and again. Appropriate comparisons for this game include any of the old turn-based map strategies, Master of Magic and the Total War series.
The mechanics of game play are basic. The bulk of play is executed by issuing orders to "hero" units. These heros can be military commanders, mages, priests, scouts, assassins, or even your pretender-god. You can also build armies to assign to your units. After all orders are issued and build queues are filled, you process the turn results (this is when battles are fought) and repeat.
Sounds simple but there are dozens of different hero types, each with a couple score attributes, a few magic item slots, the possibility of magic and other unique abilities, and even different potential order options (assassination, preaching and casting spells are not available to just anyone!) Add to this hundreds of spells, magic items, unit abilities and units, and you begin to see the possibilities.
Combat is unique in this game because you script your starting tactics and battlefield positions beforehand and then let the computer duke it out between forces. The net effect is you can determine how you will start your battle . . . but after that the tide of war determines how it ends (frighteningly similar to actual war in the ancient world.)
Victory conditions can vary as with almost a dozen other game options so it is hard to say what your ultimate goal is. Crushing the other pretender gods can't hurt!
The game background draws heavily from history, mythology and fantasy. Units range from grecian hoplites to hindu-influenced monkies to lovecraftian deep ones to clasic undead to the physical forms of the Pretender Gods themselves (dragons, demi-gods, mages and . . . weirder) Notably absent are the "normal" fantasy races . . . if you are looking for tolkienesque elves you'd better keep looking.
Just to help you wade through this mire of options, Illwinter has included a 300 page game manual. Not only is this a normal manual but it includes tidbits like quick-lookup tables and even a smattering of "standard" play strategies (which are a great starting point when you have this wide of a set of choices.)
Quick list of pros and cons:
Cons:
Graphics and audio (sprite based grahics, surprisingly good music but not much of it, "Cute" sound effects)
some potentially objectionable themes (human sacrifice, demons, raising the dead, magic, claiming godhood)
overwhelming array of options (you'll probably spend more time designing your pretender-god than actually playing the first few games.)
Price (not cheap)
No downloadable game.
Pros:
Options, options, options make for great replayability (which offsets some of the bite in the price)
Spectacular "atmosphere" on top of some very inventive background.
Simple enough to play right away even with the variety of options.
Simple system requirements.
Broad range of OS's.
Dedicated and global multi-player base.
Wonderful demo to try . . . and get hooked on.
So give it a go, you have nothing to lose and a whole lot of exploring ahead of you!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Dominions 3

Dominions 3: The Awakening gives you a chance to save your world from the coming chaos -- or take advantage of it to see your god ascend and rule. Awakening from a slumber beyond comprehension to mortals, the gods promise much to their followers -- and to their enemies they will deliver blood, fire, and death. The war for true ascension to godhood begins and a new chapter in the Akashic records is about to be written in the tattered flesh of the fallen...Turn any image into a map -- battle across Faer n or Middle Earth Choose whether you want you chosen god awake or dormant when the game beginsRebalanced rates for income, supply and resources to enable larger conventional armies Streamline play by checking for taxes & unrest automatically, through the Autotax functionNew music from Erik Ask Uppmark and Anna Rynefors, the duo behind Dominion 2's lilting musical score Features 300-page printed manual with a play-along tutorial, spells reference, nations info and so much more

Click here for more information about Dominions 3

Read More...

Yu-Gi-Oh Duelists of the Roses Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)INCREADABLE! There really isn't anything more to say, I mean the first time I saw this game I was blown away by how detailed and animated it was! The graphic are amazing and the game-play is just as good as Forbidden Memories. After all Duelist of Roses is the sequal to Forbidden Memories. Travel through the entire duel monsters world, while battling opponents and winning cards. You as Yami Yugi are once again called to save your kingdom from the evil mage, Seto. Explore many places and theres even a new feature, if you press buttones in certain places you can find secret cards. This is a exquisite game and it is very well made. It is worth buying and i highly recommend that all Yu-Gi-Oh! lovers should get it!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Yu-Gi-Oh Duelists of the Roses

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses lets the duelists clash yet again, with all-new more powerful decks!

Click here for more information about Yu-Gi-Oh Duelists of the Roses

Read More...

Panzer General II Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If survival is a measure of quality, then PZG 2 must stand with the greatest computer games ever made. It was a great example of "brilliance in simplicity" when it was released and time has not in any way diminished its laurels. In an age when even thinking-man's games are often judged on bells and whistles rather than user-friendliness and enjoyability, it's refreshing to have one at hand that combines the ease-of-play of an action shooter with all the mental challenges you'd demand from a game of strategy.
Simply described, PANZER GENERAL 2 is a tactical-strategic game set in WW 2, which allows the player to choose either individual, one-and-done scenarios from various points between 1938 - 1945 or fight out whole, multi-scenario campaigns that took place during the war. (Individual units are at the regimental level, which allows the player to fight corps or army-size battles). Gamers may select from any of the five campaigns:
British: Follows a British army in NW Europe from 1943 - 1945, with special emphasis on the Normandy battles. A fairly short campaign, maybe five scenarios.
American: Follows the American army in NW Europe from 1943 - 1945. Another short campaign, beginning at Salerno and ending at Dessau. (Closely mirrors the British campaign.)
Russian: Follows the Soviet Army from winter 1941 to the assault on Berlin in 1945. Five scenarios or so.
German: "Blitzkrieg" - follows the German Wehrmacht from the Spanish Civil War in 1938 through most of its victorious campaigns in Poland, Norway, France, Greece, Russia, Africa, etc. This is by far the most detailed of the campaigns, and can go up to or past 17 different scenarios, including some great "What-Ifs" including the invasions of Malta, England and America (if you do really well). "Defending the Reich", on the other hand, is a defensive campaign which begins at Stalingrad and leads you through battles at Stalingrad, Salerno, Kursk, Normandy, and Hungary. It offers the German player the challenge of saving Hitler's empire for him, against overwhelming odds.
PZG 2 is built primarily as a campaign game, meaning that the player starts out with a corps or "family" of units which follow him from scenario to scenario (assuming they survive), and also allows him to acquire new units as time goes on. A very impressive and well-researched array of aircraft, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, artillery pieces, infantry units, and so on are available for every side to draw upon. In addition, a detailed requisition board synced into the game's play-clock allows you to upgrade your weapons as time goes on, so that units fighting in 1944 don't have to use 1939 weaponry. Tough combat situations add experience to your units, and extraordinary feats on the battlefield produce "leaders" who lend elite qualities to their units such as tenacity on defense, double attack, etc. In addition, a scenario-builder allows you to design your own games using not only the major combatants but also Hungarians, Poles, Finns, etc. Once you have the game down, this can be a hell of a lot of fun (say, America vs. USSR, 1946!).
PZG 2 was designed to be intuitive, and requires very little in the way of brow-furrowing to master. Movement, fighting, supply, etc. are all very fluid and idiot-proof, allowing you to concentrate on your battle tactics. Unlike many "strategy" games which favor mindless use of brute force or crazy speed, this one demands that you pay some homage to Clausewitz - concentrate your forces, stick to your objective, mind your clock and guard your flanks (failure to do so may result in embarrassing side effects, such as a*s-kicking). While the game's AI isn't exactly on the Brianiac level, it is more than clever enough on defense to give you fits, and has an eerie knack for finding your weak spot and driving a few regiments of tanks through it.
A last benefit: the engines used to power PZG 2 are so simple that numerous downloadable campaigns, with upgraded weaponry and sound, are available for free on the Internet, once you've exhausted all the possibilities of the game itself. But since that takes a couple of years, don't feel rushed. This classic has stood the test of more than ten years in a market where most games are forgotten in a month. It can wait.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Panzer General II

From the back of the box: "Panzer General II. More than just a sequel. It's an entire generation beyond anything yet seen in strategy games. And seeing is believing. Witness the LIVING BATTLEFIELD, a new standard for strategy game artwork. Thirty painstakingly created battlefields that are faithful to the real ones of World War II. Of course, this beauty goes beyond skin deep. The phenomenal game play of the second-generation Panzer General game engine is truly awesome. Battles rage through WWII's Eastern and Western Fronts, North Africa, even the Continental USA!"

Click here for more information about Panzer General II

Read More...

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Birth of the Federation Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been interested in the Star Trek genre computer games for some time, but it seems that, with the exception of STV: Elite Force, they all stink. Every review I've ever read has rated just about every ST game in the cellar, to the detriment of my enjoyment. I was hoping for a quality sim, and it's here. BotF is a gem, with a few minor problems. First off, understand that I picked this up at a Best Buy for $2.99. (No, that's not a typo.) I hadn't read anything about it, and figured if it was as bad as its predecessors, for $2.99 I wouldn't be out a lot. What a deal I got. The game is worth ten times the price I paid for it, maybe more. If you want a turn-based, stratiegic empire-building game with Star Trek as the background, this is for you, period. The game allows you to choose between five races: Klingon, Federation, Ferengi, Romulan, and Cardassian. You can choose the level of technology that each empire begins with, in effect choosing a difficulty level. Choose the size of the universe, the number of minor races (which is always enjoyable to have many of), and a few other things, and off you go. You start at your own corner of the universe, and you find yourself frantically trying to expand while increasing your technologies for the unavoidable contact you'll be making with minor races (unless you choose to not have any at the game's set up) and the other major powers. Eventually, the colonization/assimilation will end, and you'll be swept into a wave of diplomacy, military strikes, upkeep, and espionage to help continue to carve out your niche in the universe. One of the shining examples of this game is how it makes you stick to the doctrine of your chosen race by rewarding you for playing "in role" and greatly penalizing you for not. For example, if you choose the Feds you are gifted with great diplomatic powers and are expected to use such at all times. Making contact with a minor race or a major power should result in diplomacy. If, however, you choose to be a warmonger, you will find the minor race populations very annoying and the other powers banding together to destroy you. So, you are rewarded with increased diplomacy and are expected to go that route, as the Federation would. If you are the Klingons, you are gifted with a strong (and eager!) military, and entering into diplomatic agreements are seen as a sign of weakness. The other major powers fall somewhere in the middle of all that: the Ferengi are excellent traders, the Cardassians are good at controlling populations, and the Romulans are good at spying and internal security. Use your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Combat is incredible. You issue orders to your ships, then sit back and watch the action as if you were in a movie. You can move your view all around the screen and zoom in and out to get the best views possible. Then the turn ends, and you can change orders if you wish. Even the Borg are in this game. They will appear as a random event, and if they do...well, reset the game if you're not at the pinnacle of your technologies. I played as the Klingons in a small universe, and went rampaging across the galaxy. Within a hundred turns, a Borg cube appeared in orbit around one of my conquests and proceeded to dissect it. My huge Klingon fleet went to fight the cube (about 12 ships in all), and in one turn they were shredded like yesterday's newspaper. Oops. Reset! Okay, so now to the niggling little points. For one, the entire game is in the Star Trek: TNG format. So, even though you choose to start as the Federation and only have Earth, you don't start with the older ships. You have weaker versions of something you'd expect to see on ST:TNG. You start, in the lowest tech setting, with three ship types - colony, transport, and destroyer. They are all TNG-style ships. I would have liked to see the older Constitution-class heavy cruisers (the original Enterprise from the 60's series), then be able to upgrade as the series did, ultimately to the Galaxy-class ships. It's a minor detail, but one that would have made this game even more enjoyable. Otherwise, if you are a turn-based strategy/Star Trek fan, pick this up. You shouldn't regret it!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Birth of the Federation

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Birth of the Federation is the first PC CD-ROM strategy game based on the rich Star Trek, universe! Forged from the cultures, time lines, events, and technologies of the hit TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation, this turn-based epic emphasizes resource management, combat, and diplomacy. Control one of five major alliances: Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Ferengi, or Cardassian, each with its own set of abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Encounter over 30 exotic races. And beware, there lurks the potential for a Borg invasion--threatening all players!

Click here for more information about Star Trek: The Next Generation, Birth of the Federation

Read More...