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]]> 04 Oct 2007 09:52:01 Tactics Ogre is a Strategy RPG made by Quest and released by Altus. The game was innovative in its branching plotline. Crucial decisions made in the game determine the path of the story, the members of your army and the ending sequence. There are always multiple endings with radically different outcomes.

For eighty years, Valeria has been in constant strife, and its three leading ethnic groups all claim leadership. The three factions are:

Gargastan: While these people make up 70% of Valeria's total population, they suffer constant inner struggle between moderate and radical theorists on how government should best be handled. This weakens what would be a dominant majority.

Walstanian: An oppressed minority of Southern Valeria, making up only 10% of the population. Their suffering is the catalyst to the plot in Tactics Ogre.

Bacrumese: These are generally the more "elite" of Valerian society, making up a solid 20% of its people.

Mighty King Roderick, aided by the forbidden powers of the "Hell Gate," is able to dominate the people until Dolgare of Bacrum successfully leads his army to defeat Roderick and his dark powers. With the king dead, the charismatic Dolgare claims the throne as his own, and is able to end the struggle between the ethnic groups. Under King Dolgare, the rights of the people are preserved, and internal struggles in Valeria come to a temporary halt.

All is right until the entire royal family is lost due to a string of accidents. Because the late King Dolgare had no living heirs, the ethnic groups once again struggled for leadership: Bishop Branta of the royal court, Cardinal Barbatos, dictator of the Gargastan people, and Duke Ronway, representative of the Walstanian minority, all fought for control, but in the end, Barbatos and Branta stalemated. In order to preserve their power, the two men took separate measures: Cardinal Barbatos sought an "ethnic cleansing" policy and slaughtered thousands of innocent Walstanians and Gargastans, while Branta received aid from the Roslolians, the greatest order in all of Lodis.

The separation of the three races thus sets the stage for the beginning of the game. The player is greeted by a collage of scenes depicting the Roslolian Order's mysterious actions in Griate, home to Denim Powell, Kachua Powell, and Vice Bozek, the main characters. Denim and Kachua's father, Plancy, was kidnapped by the enigmatic Lans Tartare, and the three heroes seek vengeance against the dark knight.

]]> 17 Jul 2007 04:02:39 Ascendancy, the debut game from The Logic Factory, is a game of galactic exploration and encounter. In Ascendancy, you develop your home planet, research new technologies, build ships to traverse the stars, encounter aliens, and colonize new worlds as you expand your presence throughout the galaxy.

You begin the game by choosing to be one out of 21 possible species. Then, choose the size of the galaxy, the number of species in the game ranging from 3 to 7, and whether you want to play in a peaceful, neutral, or hostile atmosphere.

Play begins on your home world where you begin building structures for the purposes of increasing your research,industry and prosperity. As you build these structures you also begin doing research. Eventually your research allows you to build ships for the purpose of space travel. You can equip your ship with a variety of hi-tech gizmos including weapons, shields, engines, power generators, and special function devices. The more your research advances, the more various and powerful your selection of gizmos becomes.

As you travel to other solar systems you will encounter alien lifeforms,some friendly, some hostile. You can conduct diplomatic relations with them, exchange knowledge, make alliances or declare war.

You expand your empire by either colonizing unoccupied planets or invading planets belonging to your enemies. Finding a peaceful or violent solution to conflict is left up to you. There are several ways to achieve Ascendancy as you will discover on your own.

]]> 16 Jun 2007 02:52:16 My Bogle is a small group tactics game, where your characters (called "Bogle", with a long O) engage in strategic and fun combat against online opponents in a variety of game types. It's extremely accessible and yet there's plenty of depth just waiting to be uncovered. It's turn-based play makes it ideal for casual pickup and play and yet the turns are quick and fast paced so as to keep the action moving.

My Bogle will be launching along side our Friends Play Free invitation service. What that means is that when you buy My Bogle, you'll get to send invitations to your friends and family, who can then download and play the full version of My Bogle online against you anytime they want, without any restrictions. The only caveat is that if they want to play when you're not around, then they'll need to buy the game too. Think of it a bit like Frisbee for Video Games. As long as you own a Frisbee, you can play it with anybody you want, right? You don't think "hey, I wonder if the person I'm throwing this to has a license to catch it." And that way your friends can be exposed to the great game of Frisbee for free (all thanks to you), but they can only play Frisbee when you're around unless they go out and buy one for themselves. Video Games should be more like Frisbee, and that's what Friends Play Free is all about.

]]> 03 Mar 2007 09:40:52 Worms is is a classic strategy game where each player controls a team of four worms, trying to destroy each other. The worms have a wide array of weapons at their disposal, many of them which are subject to influences from wind and gravity.

Each game takes place on a randomly generated level in one of the ten available styles, ranging from forests and deserts to Candy land and the moon (complete with affected gravity).

The way the level looks at the start is never what it looks like at the end, since almost all weapons leave considerable marks in the terrains.

]]> 17 Feb 2007 06:23:42 Quintessential of console-style role-playing, Japan's popular Arc The Lad series returns to the U.S. in this PS2-exclusive release. Boasting over 60 hours of gameplay, Arc The Lad: Twilight Of The Spirits offers 3D exploration and tactical battle through a deep story line set thousands of years after the adventures of the previous games.

Players visit a dark world, rife with chaos and destruction, to join the heroes Darc and Kharg. Separated at birth, these two brothers have rejoined to seek the mystical Spirit Stones, powerful artifacts which may hold the only hope of returning order and peace to the land.

Twilight Of The Spirits features well over a dozen playable characters, each with distinct weaponry, attack styles, and special abilities. As in most games of this style, learning to use these varied powers together will be important to the party's survival. Motion-captured cut-scenes and in-game voice-overs are designed to bring out the personalities of each individual.

]]> 09 Feb 2007 12:21:14 The Black Hole Army has returned, stronger than ever, and it's going to take the combined might of all of the nations of Macro Land to fend them off and save the day. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising features a deeper storyline than the first game, new CO's, new units, and more as you work your way through the campaign. Not to mention plenty of unlockables.

]]> 07 Feb 2007 12:00:17 Sid Meier's Civilization is a landmark turn-based strategy game. It is inspired by Avalon Hill' board game of the same name.

The game begins in 4000 BC, where the player gets a small tribe which have to be controlled and made great through the ages until modern and near-future times. The game is also known simply as Civilization, or abbreviated to Civ or Civ I.

]]> 05 Feb 2007 10:25:27 The design team at Microprose has managed to add a score of new play elements that help the aging strategy classic evolve - without sacrificing the game's addictive qualities.

By: MicroProse, MPS Labs
Genre: Historic Turn-Based Strategy
Release Date: Feb 29, 1996
Players: 1

]]> 05 Feb 2007 10:23:37 Age of Empires: The Age of Kings ® for the Nintendo DS is based on the best-selling PC RTS title of all time: Age of Empires ® II: The Age of Kings. Players command five different civilizations, build armies and take them on scores of campaigns. Boasting turn-based strategy game play, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings ® allows players to move from the Dark Ages through the Middle Ages with one goal in mind: domination of the known world.

Features:

Command one of five different civilizations: the Britons, Franks, Mongols, Saracens, and Japanese.

Take control of special ‘Hero’ units like Richard the Lionheart, Minamoto Yoshitsune, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, and Saladin among others who command special ‘hero’ powers affecting the entire battlefield.

Command over 65 different types of units from bowmen and monks to hand cannoneers, mercenaries and samurai.

Turn-based combat, new to the Age of Empires franchise, keeps the battle moving at the player-preferred pace.

Players construct & upgrade buildings like town centers, mines, universities and ‘wonders’ to help units learn new skills and create resources for their civilizations.

Players research over 50 different technologies like chemistry, ballistics, siege craft and spying among others to take their civilization into the next age.

Get help from the new Combat Advisor who provides advice on certain campaign strategies and an indication of how the battle will go.

Multiplayer scenarios allowing up to 4 players to battle each other wirelessly.

Gain Empire Points to unlock maps & units and improve Emperor Rank.

Original music and sound effects from top-selling PC version.

* Based on Ensemble Studio’s PC mega-hit, Age of Empires ® II: The Age of Kings .

]]> 04 Feb 2007 12:32:45 Join Max, Rachel, Jake, Colin, Sasha, and all the rest of the advance wars CO's in the battle to save Omega Land from the evil forces of Black Hole's sinister armada. Fight turn-based wars against the enemy, and turn the tide of the battle with your CO powers! Whether you want to be a powerhouse like Max, or a long-range mastermind like Grit, Advance Wars is the #1 portable solution for strategy gamers and casual gamers alike.

]]> 31 Jan 2007 05:58:58 Rome: Total War is the third game in the popular Total War series. The player begins by choosing to play one of three Roman factions: the Brutii, the Julii and the Scipii. The player must manage each city under the faction's control, build armies, assign faction members to positions of mayor or general, and expand the faction's territory by defeating enemy factions such as Gaul, Greece, Macedonia, and many more. Meanwhile, the other Senate issues special missions for the player to complete and gain favor. Senate offices may be assigned to faction members. As the game progresses, each faction member's political and military influence can grow or shrink. If the faction leader dies, he is replaced by an heir. It is up to the player to choose who is in line for that role. Once the game reaches a certain point, it changes up and the player must fight the other Roman factions for control of Rome.

When combat takes place, the game moves from the strategic, turn-based map view to a full 3D real-time tactical view. The player has several units under his command, usually comprised of 50 or more individual soldiers. Each unit (not each soldier) can be maneuvered individually or all units as a massive formation. Siege equipment can be built to capture cities, the citizens of which can be left as they are, enslaved, or slaughtered at the player's discretion. Mercenaries can be recruited to fill in weaknesses in a particular army, but their loyalty is not at all assured and they, like the cheap peasant units, may prove unreliable and in fierce combat -- units with low morale may break and flee the field. When an army engages the enemy, if another friendly army (of the player's own or that of an ally) is within range, they will rush to reinforce the battle.

The combination of turn-based and realtime strategy is quite enjoyable. The scope of the game makes for some long and often intense playing sessions. Plus, when a player beats a particular faction other than the three starting Roman factions, it then becomes playable. So there is a great deal of replayability as well.

]]> 22 Jan 2007 05:13:30 PoxNora is a collectible turn-based strategy game where you build a Magic-style deck from hundreds of online "runes". You use those runes in game by deploying champions to the battlefield and casting spells. Champions move and attack each turn similar to miniature-based combat. The game features tons of unique abilities and great artwork.

Registration and and a "training" deck are free. Additional rune packs can be purchased.

]]> 12 Dec 2006 04:19:46 Moonbase Commander is a turn-based strategy game where players compete to spread a web-like base across a lunar battlefield while annihilating their opponents. Players can select from four factions each of which has a unique look for it's units and a specifically voiced adviser (although all four have identical capabilities) and compete alone or in teams against other humans (locally or via the net) or the assorted Bots that are included. Competition takes place on a variety of terrain, sometimes barren and empty sometimes green and full of rivers.

Once a battle is started, players take turns using a limited supply of energy to launch weapons against their enemies or launch new buildings to expand their base. Both are done with a simple aim and force interface similar to Worms or most early golf games so it takes some skill to land a building exactly where you want it. Because buildings are connected to your main hub with a web of power lines, careful planning is required to avoid leaving important nodes unprotected. There are 18 different weapons and buildings each with an energy cost based on how powerful and useful it is. Ultimately, you must destroy an enemy's main hub unit to eliminate him from the battle.

Moonbase Commander has a minutes to learn, lifetime to master quality. There's never enough energy to do everything you want to and your opposition is always breathing down your neck. Should you risk a tricky shot to place an expensive shield generator by your hub or just settle for launching waves of cheap cluster bombs at those enemy anti-air batteries in hopes of overwhelming them. Maybe you should just bide your time and send up a few more observation balloons. The possibilities are surprisingly limitless in this simple yet complex game.

(from the Moby Games Moonbase Commander site)

]]> 09 Dec 2006 08:55:01 Alien Sovereign, turn-based strategy game set in the future that puts you in charge of a fledgling space empire. The design goals are to limit player decisions to big important ones and full games that can be played in less than a day.

]]> 07 Dec 2006 02:10:35 Turn-based strategy game that seamlessly combines two different elements- tactical squad battles and resource management.

]]> 22 Nov 2006 04:38:58