Author: Jim Zabek

10/23/13

Tropico 4: Apocalypse – PC Game DLC Review

Developer: Haemimont Games

Publisher: Kalypso

Author: Jim Zabek

Sandy beaches, tropical islands, piña coladas, tourists, and perky salsa music. No, I’m not day dreaming like the Zac Brown Band, I’m playing Tropico 4’s latest DLC, Apocalypse. Apocalypse offers a single new mission, How I Learned to Love the Bomb, a new skin for El Presidente, a new trait, Survivalist, and a new building, the Fallout Shelter.

Does this hazmat suit make me look fat?
Does this hazmat suit make me look fat?

I hadn’t played Tropico 4 in over a year but when the new DLC came out I figured I’d drop $5 for it and see how it treated me.

I loved it. The scenario weighs in at 168% of normal difficulty and it took me all weekend to beat the mission. True to its roots I was faced with all the normal challenges of running a banana republic. Elections are held every 10 years (unless I were to take totalitarian steps against them), my people needed to be fed, sheltered, and their economy managed. The happiness of the various political factions was always hanging in the balance and there was never a point where someone wasn’t unhappy with how I was running things.

But in addition to the normal challenges faced in Tropico 4, the Apocalypse DLC placed me in new and dangerous territory: a tip from Agent Sasha informed me that nuclear war was “imminent.” Her definition of imminent and mine might differ slightly (some decades passed before I was able to win the scenario) but, as will all things Tropican, you can’t take things too seriously. Setting the plot, giving me a plausible sense of urgency, and plopping an extra $30,000 into the Tropican Treasury, my first task was to build the new building, a nuclear bomb shelter. Easy enough. With that out of the way the real work began.

Not the typical news you expect when you take office.
Not the typical news you expect when you take office.

At its surface the objective to win the scenario seems easy: recruit four political factions to join you in the shelter. In practice this is more difficult. Creating policies that make you popular with a particular faction don’t help. Instead you have to accomplish a series of what otherwise might appear to be “optional” tasks. None are particularly easy or cheap.

(SPOILER ALERT)

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10/22/13

Tuesday Screenshot – The Walking Dead Hyundai Chop Shop

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The Walking Dead roam the Earth but I fear no evil for my car and its door-mounted flamethrowers comfort me. Saws welded to the wheels convey me through the thickest hordes via the path of righteousness, and thy automatic shotguns reap what zombies hath sewn. Thou hath preparest reinforced steel windows and a chain link windshield for me in the midst of mine enemies. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

Build your own Grogpocalypse car: http://walkingdeadchopshop.com/

 

10/20/13

Total War: Rome II – PC Game Review

Developer: Creative Assembly

Publisher: SEGA

Author: Jim Zabek

Et 2, Roma!

Any time a developer creates a sequel they are faced with a challenge that I call great-more-of-the-same. A sequel presents a major challenge to a successful game. The developer needs to capture the essence of what made the original game great, but needs to offer enough new features and content to make buying the new game worthwhile. Too close of a clone of the original will find gamers sarcastically saying “Great, more of the same :/” On the other hand if a sequel is done well gamers will enthusiastically cry, “Great! More of the same!” Of course, the developer has a third choice, that of making a major departure from the essence of the original game, which case it may not much resemble the original at all.

The Total War series is now venerable. The first game in the series, Shogun, hit store shelves a whopping 13 years ago. Since that time battles have raged across computer landscapes as varied as medieval Europe, ancient Rome, Napoleonic Europe, back to the Sengoku Jidai, and now returning to Rome. That kind of tour-de-force must be respected not only for its breadth but staying power. 13 years is a long haul for any franchise. Given the fickle and demanding expectations of gamers, the ability to consistently and successfully deliver financially successful and critically pleasing titles over that length of time puts Creative Assembly in rarified air.

Diplomacy is better than ever. Here a badly beaten faction offers me a small payment in exchange for peace.
Diplomacy is better than ever. Here a badly beaten faction offers me a small payment in exchange for peace.

Even more worthy of praise is their ability to create titles set in a historical context which does a decent job of capture historical authenticity. No, the Total War games are not historical simulations. But for AAA titles they manage to bring a lot of history to gamers hard drives and please a lot of historical gamers. Perfect they may not be, but sufficient they are.

When the original Rome: Total War was released it was a significant departure from Shogun and Medieval. A different development team worked on it, and it brought the series fully into the mainstream with a high-quality 3D strategic map, top shelf graphics all the way around, and excellent gameplay. I still remember being haunted by the musical score as I played, and fun as Rome II has been for me, I don’t think its current music lives up to the greatness of the original Rome. A minor quibble, but I do notice such details and wanted to put that marker out there.

The graphics in Rome II are better than ever.
The graphics in Rome II are better than ever.

So when Rome II hit store shelves there was an instant cry among many gamers that it wasn’t the same game. Did Rome II step beyond the great-more-of-the-same category into that dangerous land of unrecognizably different gameplay?

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10/17/13

Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm – AAR Part 2 of 5

Author: Al Sandrik

Scenario: 11 Bravo

In Part 1 Al took considerable time examining the map and developing a strategy to defend against a Soviet attack. Today in Part 2 he describes the opening moves of the Soviets and how his plan is holding up.

Turn 1 06:00-0631:  Turn 1 started with a few quick surprises!  The first was a Soviet attack helicopter assault that savaged Bravo and Charlie Companies of 2-36!  For about 25 minutes they hit both companies knocking out 23 vehicles/units with 9 destroyed and 14 reported as falling out. It wasn’t totally lopsided exchange as two Mi-24 Hinds were brought down but still very damaging to my position!  Probably the main thing that saved me was heavy rainfall moved in reducing visibility to 500 meters at the height of the fray.  That actually was my second surprise of the turn, if we had maintained 1,500 meter visibility my Forward Air Controllers (FAC) would have been able to call in some F-16s to strike the Soviet units attempting to breach the obstacle belt (figure 18).  Another thing that went wrong was my M106 mortar unit didn’t drop smoke as ordered leaving the Scout unit assigned to blow the bridge exposed. There appeared to be some kind of mix up with the fire orders.

Flashpoint-AAR-Oct-17-Part-2-Figure 18-Turn 1_0600-0631

All of that said some good things happened for me this turn as well. The previously mentioned scout unit attached to Alpha/2-36 did move up to the bridge and began to wire the preset charges.  The OPs safely returned to my lines, and an exchange of fire between 1st Platoon/Alpha Company and the Soviet mechanized unit attempting the breach the obstacles resulted in some Soviet losses.

Elsewhere units from 2-32 Armored Battalion were advancing in good order and were close to assuming their defensive positions.  Overall, concern about the Soviet helicopter battalion continuing to assault my mechanized infantry, and the variable weather/visibilities aren’t helping my cause right now either. Current visibility is 2,000 meters (about 1.25 miles) and if that holds I might try to call in more airstrikes toward 07:00-07:30.

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10/15/13

Tuesday Screenshot – Star Trek

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Captain’s Log – Supplemental:

The Gorn have captured the Helios Device. As their ship escapes with it they have launched a spoiling attack to delay pursuit on our starbase. Commodore Daniels has determined that discretion is the better part of his valor and has fled to his escape shuttle to remove himself from the danger of the Gorn assault. Valorous or not, I cannot abandon the men and women of the starbase. Spock and I have headed to the heart of the Gorn assault and are gradually clearing the mess hall of the attackers. As if that weren’t enough, if the Gorn can unravel the secrets of the Helios Device, their assault on the Federation may be unstoppable.

Captain out.