Empire: Total War (Special Forces Edition)

World in Conflict

Sins of a Solar Empire

Is an RTS+TBS game greater than the sum of its parts? With Sins of a Solar Empire, the answer is: YES.

RTS On its own, the RTS battles in SoaSE are decent if not good. The graphics are nice, and all the usual rock-scissor-paper elements are in place. But you don't advance through ages (and get wildly varied units durin... Read Full Review

Empire: Total War

Know those movies where the nerd eventually ends up being the sexy stud? E:TW, you're a few patches away from stud-dom.

According to my profile statistics on Steam, I've played E:TW for just under 60 hours over two weeks. By my calculations, this means an average of 4.3 hours a day ... and I work full time with two kids! In some sense, ... Read Full Review

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

O.K., I'm 70 hours in, and I feel safe making some definitive statements about Oblivion.

I'll try to sum up 3 positive and 3 negative points with a brief conclusion to put a point on it: POSITIVES 1. See above. 70 hours! No matter what criticisms we might come up with, 70 hours on a game happily engage... Read Full Review

Medieval II: Total War

In the Strategy Gamer's Training Manual (if one existed), the first page should read, "Step One: Play MED2. Repeat.

NOTE 2 (Jan. 2, 2007): Having played a LOT more now, I can say even on the Hard Level that the AI seems to lack a coordinated sense of purpose. This is true for individual nations as well as for the nations as a whole ... Read Full Review

World in Conflict (Collector's Edition)

If you're interested in easy-to-join MP games and simple RT"S" action, then this is your game. Others beware.

Perhaps I am beginning to show my age (I'm 36), but MP as a substitute for great AI and varied single player skirmish modes just doesn't appeal to me. Of course, WiC has a lot going for it in terms of the graphics, paci... Read Full Review

Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms

If you're looking for some excellent set pieces that can be played from multiple perspectives, this is a must buy.

I don't review many games because, while I do "experiment" in genres, I tend to migrate back to RTS/BTS strategy games. The Total War series has always been unique in blending the two, and doing so with incred... Read Full Review

Dragon Age: Origins (Collector's Edition)

Stunning Achievement!

I am over 80 hours into the game and can say with confidence that it captures some of those feelings from long ago when I was much, much younger playing Bard's Tale, Ultima, and countless other classics that sucked time ... Read Full Review

Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

The rave reviews are a bit confusing to me.

Don't get me wrong: As far as expansion packs go, this is a good one. Stardock simply engenders rabid loyalty because of that "extra mile" Brad Wardell and his team go to surpass many players' expectations. Some exampl... Read Full Review

Real Racing

Want a challenge? Good.

I was looking for a good racing game on the iPhone and read a ton of reviews for many potential apps. I decided on Real Racing and am not disappointed. First let me say that the game becomes quite challenging after y... Read Full Review

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords

If you have yearned for more dynamic diplomacy and the possibilities for world war, this is the expansion pack for you.

Most reviews you are going to read in these early days won't have spent enough time with the game (or at the right settings) to get at the real gem of this expansion: Vassals. Basically, if you've been able to dictate C... Read Full Review