I have never liked dedicated genre sites, be it for RPG, wargames… While I appreciate their usefulness for news, they always seem to exhibit an “us vs them” mentality, and the reviews on such sites are usually so predictable and seemingly pre-cooked in some community-built oven… Anyway, just to say I don’t think Wargamer was any good before their being bought by Slitherine, although I guess that didn’t improve things either…
Pocket Tactics was quite different, since it was covering all sort of gaming and was more akin to a blog? My impression is that they just bought a name, and filled it with uninspired mobile content you can find pretty much on any other uninteresting mobile site.
Thanks man. Thanks.
Well, Left_Empty has a point. For instance, Wargamer reviews, like most reviews from pure grog sites, haven’t really strayed far from when I was writing print mag board game reviews in the early 1980s. At least, last time I checked this was so, it may have changed, but I haven’t really been to grog sites in a while. The basic review format was still list everything in the box (or, in a computer game, all of the screens and features and menus), walk the reader through how the game plays in a sort of expanded game-manual sort of way, and most definitely offer zero actual critique or philosophical discussion of the underlying modeling, assumptions, or “gestalt” of the game. Which made trying to read these reviews mind-numbing anyhow, so I pretty much stopped.
I do remember getting into hot water in the old Fire & Movement days when I tried to deviate from the format and actually critique the assumptions that went into games. That…did not go over well.
[quote=“TheWombat, post:3246, topic:44002, full:true”]I do remember getting into hot water in the old Fire & Movement days when I tried to deviate from the format and actually critique the assumptions that went into games. That…did not go over well.
[/quote]
Really? Who was the editor then? Fred Helfferich?
Might have been; this is like 1983 ish. My memory ain’t that hot any more!
Well that review makes no mention of the fact that this title does not cover the whole war, and then goes on to say it has a game breaking bug that stops you from playing it all - and gives it a strongly recommended.
I occasionally still play the original Shenandoah Drive on Moscow, random pickup games online. I’ve avoided Slitherine’s replacement because I hated their PBEM port of Battle of the Bulge (still the best strategy game on iOS) and assumed they had wrecked the new DoM in the same way. Also, too, charging $10 for a game I’ve already bought for $10 is, well, an interesting customer service strategy! But, suddenly, I’m getting into pickup games with newbie players. I can’t quite figure out how that is happening - is the new Slitherine DoM GameCenter compatible? Where are new players finding the old iOS DoM app?
Hey now, don’t tell Slitherine how to do the wargaming business! ;)
The iOS Drive in Moscow was re-released by Slitherine.
Thanks, I saw that, but I assumed that, like BotB, it wasn’t GameCenter compatible.
Mare Nostrum has been announced by Slitherine/Matrix.
Normally games based around ancient sea battles don’t excite me, but given that it’s by the developers of Qvadriga, they have my attention.
Naval battles?! SOLD.
Day 1.
Hearts of Iron IV: Colonel Edition is on sale for $21.25, Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet Edition is on sale for $17, and other Hearts of Iron offerings are reduced in price at Green Man Gaming.
Most of everything Command Ops 2 is 50% off on Steam.
The pack offers are gone, sadly, so no discount comboing possible there.
Edit: nevermind, they are there, offering games at -60%, but hidden from the main store page:
http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2724/
http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2738/
Please note that all the games from the first pack are included in the second (they didn’t split the games, but offer two different packs).
Issue me my goddamn steam keys LocknLoad! Christ how hard is it.
Noticed that Matrix has two Civil War games on sale. Anyone know if either of these older games is worth picking up?
I never played the Tiller game. Grigsby’s War Between The States is very good, and not as fiddly as the usual Grigsby fare… The best ACW game in the catalog, imo, is Forge of Freedom, but it doesn’t seem to be on sale for some reason. Keep in mind these games are all several years old (10 or more, I think) so may not run on modern rigs.
If you want a Civil War game just go purchase Ultimate General: Civil War from Steam.
I enjoyed Grigsby’s game once I figured out the initiative mechanics and spotting. But my favorite was AGEOD’s first Civil War game. Many fond memories of multiplayer.