I’m not very good at real-time strategy games. I attribute this to my inability to multitask well, but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy playing them. The biggest problem I have with them is that most revolve around micromanagement, and since AI War, with its robust automation and smart unit management, I’ve become more of a macromanagement kind of guy. Why? Because it means I can focus on the strategy part. You know, the important part. Not the frantic juggling and tedious busy work part. Homeworld and Company of Heroes, allegedly two of the finest real-time strategy games evar, turned me off because I had to nanny certain units. I’m sorry but, engineers, you need to fix those tanks right in front of you. And repair frigates, those nearby damaged ships need looking at. Do your fucking jobs. The more granular my level of involvement the more distracted I am from the strategy, and for me, that’s a problem.
Review by Jason Dobry Total War: Shogun 2 Developer Creative Assembly Publisher Sega Released March 15, 2011 Available for PC (Windows XP, Vista, 7) Time Played – 55 hours and counting Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star “CA learned from its mistakes and made a masterpiece of strategy gaming…Everything is better, and most importantly, not so much because it’s ‘bigger,’ but because they refined and streamlined in all of the right places..” My last experience with Total War was the regrettably mediocre …
As my second piece of news, also Steam related, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd have today announced that Total War: Shogun 2, will be available on Steam on February 22. The press release goes on to state: SEGA and The Creative Assembly are proud to let gamers everywhere know that a demo for Total War: Shogun 2 will soon be available on Steam. The demo will allow all armchair samurai to test their skills …
I’ve always been a turtler. All that progress, pushing forward, actually doing stuff — it’s not for me. I’d rather just sit in my hardy shell, pipe and newspaper in hand, and hatch a plan; a plan to build more walls, a plan to build more towers, a plan to make my shell hardier. Yes, I’m a real-time strategy coward.
Review by Jason Dobry Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Developer Blizzard Publisher Activision/Blizzard Released June 27, 2010 Available for PC (version played), Macintosh Time Played Finished (single player) – about 30 hours Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “In the end, I liked the game, but I doubt I will ever play it again or buy the expansions or mini-sequels or whatever the hell they’re doing with it. In a way, it makes me sad, like in the way one tunes into an old favorite show …
Review by Jason Dobry Empire: Total War Developer The Creative Assembly Publisher SEGA Released March 1, 2009 Available for Windows XP/Vista Verdict 3/5 Middlin’ “Fans (like myself) of prior TW titles will appreciate the massive improvements to the turn-based campaign, but may be disappointed by the sleepytime AI in both the real-time and turn-based portions of the game, the infuriating pathfinding, and poor unit diversity.”
Ubisoft slurped up Massive Entertainment a while back, when that studio became a casualty of the Activision/Blizzard merger. World in Conflict, its critically-hailed and bongo-selling masterpiece of RTS design, was apparently not bongo-selling enough to fit in Activision CEO and super-genius Neanderthal retard Bobby Kotick’s new business model of annual franchise brutal rape exploitation. Thus World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, the upcoming standalone expansion, was in limbo for a while, until Ubi came to the …