For the last couple of months now I've only played turn based strategy games, and the ocasional cstrike, unfortunately there's a terrible lack of good turn based strategy games as they seem to only appeal to a niche market. I should mention that my absolute favorite is me2:total war but since this is a JA forum I'm only going to review other turn based type of games.
Shadow Watch (red storm, 2000) - I heard about this game last week and it took me almost 3 days to download it since no one has it (that should have been clue enough).
It's from the same people who made rainbow six. A 2d isometric military squad sim, what could go wrong with that?
everything... this game is java based but it might as well be a flash game, it is that bad. I've only played the first mission because no sane person would go beyond that point.
Imagine JA2 with Flash 'cartoony' graphics now imagine that you have to move your mercs SQUARE BY SQUARE by presing the arrow keys and u can only move 3 squares at a time. You can't select mercs and you have to move them until their AP's run out. When you get attacked all you can do is ask for backup and get shot, if your team is 50 squares away have fun waiting 10 minutes to move one guy from one side of the map to the next - 0 out 5
fallout tactics (interplay, 2002) - I was really into this game before downloading strac, got as far as the 9th mission and was ready to finish it...
problem is that after you get used to the JA dynamics and faster gameplay, where you can climb a roof and shoot a guy in the head from across the map, it's kinda hard to go back to fallout tactics.
The gameplay is much slower and cumbersome compared to that of JA, from the speed of your merc's to the damage it takes to down and enemy.
The graphics are amazing and miles away from JA, you can clearly tell what your soldiers are wearing and the datails in the maps and enemies are beautiful, really well drawn 2d graphics...
but back to the gameplay: the game is pretty much sneaking to a good position and wasting your enemies and then levelling your soldiers so they can sneak and kill more efficiently.
The best missions are the ones where you have to escort vehicles across town and enemies snipe you from buildings and one where you have to defend a ghoul compound from supermutants... this is really cool because your soldiers take defensive positions and you work together with the computer controlled guys to defend the compound...
but after the assault the game reverts back to sneaking around with your guy and wasting supermutants with a minigun.
The story, huge amazing maps and great graphics make this game worth playing... unfortunately the AP system where one single shot is 4 AP and the basic soldier has 6 AP's total makes it sometimes frustrating to play.
Basically u move your soldier 1 inch -> 4 AP's then you have to wait for the next turn to take a shot -> 4 AP's and so on and on ... and forget about aimed shots they are useless.
You can also turn off turn based altogether but then you won't be able to complete missions because it's impossible, this is a severe flaw in design... 4ou of 5
Age of wonders shadow magic - This is the lastest 'age of wonders''s game and stand alone install, it came highly recommended by a guy in this forum so I was expecting a lot.
The tutorial and the first 'level' played ok but on the second level when you control the blonde elf (elfette?) the game gets 2 frustrating and stupid.
Basically you move around the map with your AP's and are given several units each one can move on their own with their own set of AP's and when you encounter a enemy you go into a battle mode that also works with AP's.
In the first level this is simple enough and the ammount of spells and stunts you can pull is not ovewhelming in the later levels this is ridiculous
-> you have to capture this tower and have to send that fairy there and that midget here and protect the midget with spells and produce more troops in your barracks and build a dock, and then you face an enemy and realize you are controlling a blue fairy, 4 midgets with pitchforks, a dog and a unicorn versus a bunch of mutant ants... sorry it's not for me
Jagged alliance 2: wildire - The first time I played this game I absolutely hated it.
I remember landing down in omerta and without even touching the mouse 2 of my guys had already been shot and one was dead... besides that what really pissed me off was miguel's voice acting, the original voice acting was quite good now there was this guy with absolutely no acting skills and he sounded like a high school kid in my class reading english, nay scratch that it sounded like a russian guy trying to sound like a spanish teenager reading english for the first time...
I played the game again and was able to overlook all that and I adjusted my style of play to sneaking and ambushing. Wildfire became immensingly rewarding and addicting.
The maps are spectacular, they were cleverly designed to allow for intense combat action and are huge, the enemy A.I. blows that of 1.13 out of the water and I love the damage of the weapons:
basically u can kill with a single shot from a shotgun and AR or headshot with a handgun, this makes the game much more realistic but of course it works both ways -> when you are going from point A to point B and the enemy interrupts you and makes a headshot from 20 meters away and kills your merc u won't like it as much. still it's a 4 out of 5
UFO: Aftermath - more like afterbirth, STAY AWAY stay far far away especially if have nostalgic memories about xcom... not that this game is in any way affiliated to xcom but still...
I don't even think this is turn based this is more like pause and plan your movements and then press play. A system that would have worked fine woudln't it have been so fucking broken.
so it's more like pause, plan your movements watch your guys act like retarded ants and never obey a simple single command... stay far away from this and all 'UFO' games
Silent Storm - so many people raving about this game... but then again so many people pay to hear shitty music and see shitty movies... this is what this is: a shitty game, it's not 3d that is a problem it's just the gameplay itself it's just broken and shitty and unresponsive.
I'd also like more suggestions of games to play, preferably turn based strategy
