Where Are All the Good Strategy Games?
February 27th, 2010
I would argue that the best RTS of all time is still Starcraft, with Age of Empires 2 coming in second. I was never too into Warcraft 3, and the fact that it’s now only used for DoTA goes to show it’s hardly in SC territory. I liked AoE 3 even less; the units didn’t have clear identities and I’m no fan of the colonial period.
In the turn-based camp Civ 3 is still the reigning champion, with Civ 4 feeling like a major dumbing down of the series regardless of the various Civ 3 issues it addressed. With CivRev continuing the slide into dimwitted cartoon territory, I’m not optimistic about the upcoming Civ 5.
And finally, the best RTS/TBS hybrid is Rome Total War, although to be fair there are virtually no games in this category outside of total war. Nonetheless, both Medieval 2 and Empire failed to match what RTW did. Both had terrible launches with AI issues that made them nearly unplayable, and to this day the combat engine in M2 and Empire is still a step back from their predecessor. Napoleon just looks like an x-pack for Empire, and since I have very little interest in the colonial era to begin with (don’t like the combat or the wigs) I can’t see myself picking that one up.
There really haven’t been all that many recent games in this genre. I didn’t care for Dawn of War 2, though the first one was alright. For me strategy has always been about building and resource management, so I’m understandably not fond of the dumbing down that’s happening in the genre. The new C&C game looks like a perfect example of this trend: everything is turning into a checkpoint-capturing action game, with less thinking and shorter sessions.
I actually bought the Risk-clone Lux Delux a couple weeks ago. Not bad for what it is, but does get old fast. Don’t much care for the ugliness, the generic factions, and especially for the retarded blitzing through enemy territory. Why can enemy armies run through my entire empire in one turn when I can’t move my armies more than a single space?
There have been a couple space strategy games, both in the RTS and TBS fields but they’ve all had flaws, and this has never been my favorite setting to begin with. I did get into a little game called Space Empires V a while back, but ultimately its ridiculous microing and annoying espionage system ruined it.
So what is there to do but make a strategy game myself? It’s either that or wait for Starcraft 2.
Posted in Game Critiques | 3 Comments »
April 7th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I just like the approach you took with this article. It is not typical that you just discover a subject so concise and enlightening.
May 29th, 2010 at 5:29 am
Totally agree with you on this article. Starcraft is still one I find myself falling back into and so far is my only true love in the rts realm.
August 6th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
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