Had a week off. (No, not a holiday, no such thing when there’s a three-year-old in the house). Bit of a break from writing about games. Though I’d rebuild and resupply a little, come back fighting fit, ready for anything GAMESWORLD might throw at me next.
Anything but this. … [visit site to read more]
I’ve played a million beginnings and around a thousand endings, or at least that’s how it feels. Imagine having seen the first act of Romeo and Juliet a hundred times but never having seen how it ends. That’s my experience with all manner of games, from big story-driven RPGs to some of my favourite strategy epics. I’ve founded so many starter cities that have never birthed a civilization and met so many characters whose fate I don’t know. And this isn’t a case of starting a game and then abandoning it; these are the games that I play again and again, sinking days and weeks into them, restarting but never finishing.
Diablo III is the latest.
Aside from starting a new tradition of unusually-named Steam Awards, Valve have also pulled out their worn and adored bargain bucket and have begun to fill it with games you ll enthusiastically buy and probably never play. Yes, it’s their Autumn Sale. In the streets, the apocalyptic jockeying for TVs and blenders has started. The moon has turned blood red. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Black Friday, and sales followed with him. … [visit site to read more]
Well, this really isn’t the chart I’d expected to see at this point of the year. We’re in peak Silly Season, and yet last week’s 10 best-selling games on Steam form a broadly unexpected bunch.
Which is exactly what I like to see.
Let’s get the important thing out of the way first: YES, YOU CAN NOW RENAME YOUR CITIES. Thank whichever god is at the head of your current pantheon for that>.
There are loads of things that I’d like to see changed in Civilization 6 [official site], even though I think it’s a fantastic game, and a new patch looks like it addresses at least some of my quibbles, including clearer tracking of amenities. The full changelist is here, and I’ve picked out some highlights below. … [visit site to read more]
Civilization 6 [official site] is a wonder in singleplayer, though we do have some complaints: the AI still struggles at times and diplomacy isn’t quite the revolution we’d hoped for. The perfect way to sidestep would be to play with non>artificial intelligences, who can conduct diplomacy using swear words and cruel deceptions. We sent our cultural ambassador Robert Zak onto the internet to test out Civ 6 multiplayer in all its forms. Here is his report.
We’re nearly at the end of silly season: most of the big releases are out now, with only Watch No Underscore Dogs Two really still to go. It’s been a messy one for a lot of the big companies, by all accounts. Let’s see how it shook out during Dishonored 2 launch week.
I’m a positive person. In life, I tend to find a bright side even if I’m lost in the dark, and I look for the best in people even if they’re concealing their best incredibly well. As a games critic, I tend to think of myself as harsh though, because analysing the best qualities of a thing often means finding all the fine points that fail to work along the way. Despite that, looking back at my reviews over the last couple of years, I can’t help but notice that I appear to like games. Quite a lot actually. I am almost always positive about the games I play and I figure it’s worth explaining why that is.
Last week, like drinking mulled wine on a chilly November evening, I found great comfort in a Steam top ten that seemed to reflect the wide, weird and wonderful nature of modern PC gaming. After months of recurrent names, it was a bright new dawn of variety. Anything is possible.
I am a fool. … [visit site to read more]
Firaxis’ latest bite at the macro-scale building turn-based 4X ’em up cherry has hardly been with us two weeks, yet has already inspired umpteen illustrious tales of mighty empires, astute observations and bittersweet victory conditions here at RPS.
Wot did strategy aficionado Adam think? He loved it, of course, but there’s always room for improvement – and when a game is made up of quite so many simultaneously moving parts, mods tend to help make that so. Official support hasn’t quite breached the shores of Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 [official site], however that’s hardly stopped keen modders from getting their hands dirty in the meantime. We’ll add to this list down the line, but here’s the best Civ 6 mods available right now.