Well, if you remember a long time ago, I mentioned I was playing Beyond Protocol. While that game was good, it was eating up too much of my time. Apparently the developers heard my rant (they mention they always read the chat), and they came out with Star Alliances. Its pretty cool. They took out the diplomatic stuff, the agents, and made the research really easy. Its focused much more on combat and doesn't spend much time on the rest. I think it is great. I found myself playing it alot this weekend. I especially liked they made it free. Well almost. I am playing right now and having a blast and didn't buy anything yet. I may this weekend. The ships you get to make are much larger in the paid version. Right now, they removed the time limits on the trial accounts, so it works for me.

http://www.star-alliances.com

Buahahaha! I broke the tie, Fallout 3 all the way!

I picked it for it's RPG goodness, and because after 8 years of waiting, I wasn't really disappointed!

Ha, oh yeah, that one's got my attention... Maybe one of the kiddies will try biting Buzz's hand off and he'll shoot em in the face, then Buzz could spend the rest of the movie exploring his dark side... Odd, after typing it, I'd actually watch that, but I doubt they'll be going in that direction...

As for Army Men the RTS, I think it's a great idea, I just never had the time, and then I forgot about it. Maybe I'll give a shot soon. Thanks for the reminder!

I tend to take the good route, and even when I try to play evil, I find myself just killing/stealing from those that deserve it... Fallout 3 is a prime example of this.

 I do tend to replay games though to see how differently I can play something.

Sorry for the delay, life pulled the rug out from under me there for a few days...

The persistence is something that takes getting used to. Yes, when you log off, everything you've built stays in the universe and can be attacked. Course, the devs know that coming back to a smoldering empire is no fun for anyone, so they give you a planet/spacestation of your choice that can't be attacked while you're gone. Aside from that, the whole, "everything continues" bit is pretty cool. You send a fleet accross star systems one night, and by morning they reach their target, or set your factories to spit out thousands of tank guns, and after work they're done and ready to be put on a chassis. Then again, there are intense dog fights where a decisive tactic might win the fight in a few minute. Then there's guilds and aliases, so your friends can use your stuff, or protect it while you're offline/away.

Ok, I doubt anyone really follows me as an entity here, but if you've seen me before, you might know that my all time favorite game was just released a few weeks ago, Beyond Protocol. I played this game in beta a while back and have loved it ever since. It doesn't get too much love, so bear with me.

It's an MMORTS, and you take the reigns of an empire in a persistant universe with hundreds of other players.One of the coolest things about it is that there are almost no premade units. Cool? Why is that cool? ;) Cause you get to design everything else!

 If you want an example, read the next paragraph, if not, skip it...

Let's say I wanted to produce some missile support ships. I would start by designing my missiles, make them long range, high guidence, high flight time, and low speed to cut costs. Then I need a radar, I might want to make it a low accuracy, high visibility radar with a touch of jamming thrown in. Next is the engine, which will need enough power to support the missiles and radar, max the speed so they can run away if necessary, and minimise the manueverability to reduce costs. Finally, design a hull layout that will have enough space for all this equipment and some armor, research it all and put it all together. There are multiple weapon types, shields and special hull atributes, all of which have strengths and weaknesses. This also goes for buildings.

The game takes place on land, sea, and air inside of a planet, and goes into space and then across solar systems, so it is pretty massive. Then there are guilds, a bunch of empires banded together. Right now there are three major ones in the game, but as new players come, new systems will open up and I'm sure more guilds will start up. There are also Trade, Espionage and Diplomatic paths to take in the game, but like any MMO, there are enough choices to where you aren't necessaryily supposed to do everything. 

Ok, enough rambling by me. I love it. Anyone tried it? If you want to, there is a free trial on their home page.

-KillOBKilled

Well, I agree that it was a bit limited. I didn't like the level cap at 20, mostly because I didn't know about it beforehand, and I didn't like the ending, because it ended... but the rest of the game I enjoyed thoroughly. It's been a while since I played oblivion, and I guess I can see fewer choices overall, but I found the choices in Fallout to be more meaningful and diversified. One thing that I thought was a nice touch was GNR Radio. Several of the more high profile side quests make it to radio, and based on what you do in the quest, 3Dog's reaction changes (he's the guy running the station for those that haven't played it).

I may also be biased because I prefer Scifi to Fantasy, but I really did enjoy Fallout 3.