Yeah, Final Liberation was fun, but the campaign was a bit too easy. It had the bonus of filmed cutscenes that I think were ripped from a Warhammer movie that was never finished. They were a pleasant surprise for a turn-based strategy game.
Chaos Gate ran fine for me. I probably would have finished it but I’m sure I had an assignment to get to. The pre-battle phase where you equipped your squad was a pain, though. Very clunky interface for that. It was also weird about the way it handled elevation, too. As I recall, you couldn’t see someone higher or lower unless you switched to that view plane.
The one I never played was the Warhammer game based on the Panzer General 2 engine.
:D Now that’s funny. I didn’t realize Dark Omen was made by Creative Assembly. On the day M:TW was released, the devs were on their boards soliciting suggestions for their next game and I suggested that their engine would be perfect for a fantasy wargame along the lines of Horned Rat and Dark Omen, but finally done right! Probably pissed 'em off.
Any idea if that is on the net anywhere? Final Rites gets my vote as best w40k PC game. I enjoyed Final Liberation, but prefered Final Rites. Both pale in comparison to the Dark Omen games.
:D Now that’s funny. I didn’t realize Dark Omen was made by Creative Assembly.[/quote]
You know, I must have been wrong about this all along. Awhile back I was brought to think that Dark Omen was by a different developer, despite my instincts telling me otherwise.
I always thought there was a very clear similarity between Dark Omen and Shogun, especially in their use of 2D sprite-based regiments on 3D terrain–very similar graphical style. But when the Creative Assembly guys visited GameSpot to show the work-in-progress version of Shogun (this was in '99 or something), I remember specifically asking about whether Dark Omen influenced the game, and they were pretty coy about it–enough to where I’d figured they just didn’t want to acknowledge any similarity. They never mentioned that any of the same team worked on both games or anything.
From doing a bit of research on this, it appears that only some of the Shogun team worked on Dark Omen, and back then, it wasn’t called Creative Assembly in the first place. So there’s probably some unwritten history there.
I’m a big fan of Dark Omen. Many aspects of that game really impressed me, but yeah, its difficulty level got to be pretty absurd and there was no in-mission save. Nothing like long, highly scripted, very difficult levels that don’t let you save. The game also had this persistent finance system, where you’d earn money from missions and have to use it to hire replacements for your killed units. So even if you finished one of the later missions, you could find yourself without enough resources for troops for the next one. That the game managed to be any good despite all this is pretty remarkable.
Final Liberation had a lot of promise. But it lacked an Orc campaign, and in the campaign game, the orcs would always abandon their defensive positions for a banzai charge, making the whole thing way too easy after a couple of missions. The skirmish mode was broken by the computer opponents unwillingness to ever purchase any Titan units (the large mechs).
The one I never played was the Warhammer game based on the Panzer General 2 engine.
That one was OK, but it was definitely not in Fantasy General’s league.
I have to shamefully admit, :oops: that Dark Omen (was that the second one in the serious? I remember there were two) was the only game I EVER cheated in. On the very last level fighting the mummy lord after 3 failed attempts at winning (and 3x 2 hour slots down the drain) I used a cheat code to make my units invincible.
Nevertheless one of my favorite games. I had no idea that there was a connection between the Total War games and Dark Omen.
Chaos Gate is pretty fun, but I also had a bitch of a time getting it running on XP last time I installed it. The patch fixed some issues, but I can’t remember what finally got everything smoothed out in the end.
Although i generally hate FMV in games, those cutscenes were quite a nice surprise. That commander guy was especially cool and well played/acted (for a game). Never knew they were from a defunct Warhammer movie.
I guess more than anything I want a turn based tactical game, with infantry level units, where you have considerations like equipping your squad, taking advantage of terrain, using overwatch, etc. It doesn’t have to be chaos gate. The other caveat is that I would like something more futuristic (guns rather than swords, but some melee is fun)
I mentioned earlier in the thread that I had no success in getting X-com to run. :/ It hangs after I put in the copy protection code out of the manual.
Incubation: Time is Running Out. Available free at Home of the Underdogs, though there are some problems with the cracked version. Overwatch is key and requires care, as the different weapons overheat at different rates. The missions are extremely varied and well-designed, and (in my opinion) have enough random elements to offset their often-puzzley nature.
I like JA2, but the basic mechanism of combat (step into range, shoot, step out of range) is about as unrealistic as it could possibly be. And at its core it’s an RPG, with lots of inventory micromanagement and gamey skill development that turns your mercs into supermen.
Thanks, I’ll look into both, though I’m more inclined to check the bargain bin at my local EB than Underdogs. It’s nice to have the manual for weapon and skill descriptions for games like that.
I couldn’t agree more — I actually bought Incubation on eBay, but couldn’t get it to install right under XP. The cracked version laid out the files differently, so it was easy to set compatibility mode on the main installer file. But hey, I’m pretty clueless about OS stuff, so maybe there’s an easier way that I overlooked.
I’ve just been playing Chaos Gate again myself. I got up to the third world before I got sidetracked by the Space Hulk/Blood Bowl thread. I haven’t run into any showstoppers in Chaos Gate recently, but I have a 98 box.
One bug I do remember involved the mini map. When the AI turn was crashing, did you have the mini map displayed Lokust? I can get some nasty crashes if I have the mini map displayed during the AI turn.
This is where I chime in with my obligatory mention of Shadow Watch. It plays more like a boardgame than a tactical simulator, but I think it’s the most underappreciated contribution to the genre. You have to put your usual expectations for a squad-level game aside, since it has its own conventions and a more abstract approach, but if you can engage with it on its own terms, Shadow Watch is tops.
Of course, personally I haven’t seen it in a store for years, not even in bargain bins. Is it available anywhere online, or should I just check the Underdogs?
Of course, personally I haven’t seen it in a store for years, not even in bargain bins. Is it available anywhere online, or should I just check the Underdogs?[/quote]
It’s long gone unless you find a copy someone overlooked. All the copies eventually sell at EB because they mark them down to $1.99 or something crazy. My EB has one copy of Jumpgate for less than $2. I’ve almost bought it a couple of times.
