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Tag: Strategy

  • The Mims: Beginning Preview
    Upcoming
    • iOS
    • PC
    The Mims: Beginning Preview

    By

    Call me narcissistic, but sometimes it just feels so good to be a god - in a godlike video game that is! For you see, the god life actually chose me, when a stray asteroid careened into a spaceship carrying a crew of funny-looking orange creatures called the Mims. When the Mims crash-landed on some foreign planets, I just happened to be watching, and the next thing you now, these guys start depending on me to get them home safe. It's just good for them that actually doing so is nothing short of a godlike great time!The Mims: Beginning has been in development over the past 18 months by the three-man studio of Squatting Penguins, and although the game is about 90% complete at the time of this writing, they've decided to turn to Indiegogo for one final push of crowdfunding support. I recently had a chance to go hands-on with an early beta build of the work in the progress, and I have to say there are plenty of reasons to donate to the Mims' ambitious (and adorable) adventures."From the moment you first boot up The Mims: Beginning, you'll immediately get a feel for the game's lighthearted sense of humor and whimsical island settings. The titular orange creatures are always a delight to behold, whether it's in their cutscene dialogue referring to the player as "you, behind the screen," or just from watching the little guys meander around the greenery and wildlife that make up the main game's terrain.Playing an all-powerful god to the Mims is certainly fun, but it's also a big responsibility. The game weaves a number of classic strategy mechanics into its gameplay, and the main items on your god itinerary are usually getting the Mims to build various structures and power sources to harvest more Bio Mass for further exploration and discoveries. The Bio Mass substance itself is derived from island fruit, which must first be planted and extracted by your little orange colonists.
  • Winds of Destiny – Duels of the Magi Review
    Reviews
    • Android
    Winds of Destiny – Duels of the Magi Review

    By

    Winds of Destiny - Duels of the Magi is one of the most straightforward games I've ever played. Seriously, the game is on par with Checkers as far as complexity goes. A single match in Winds of Destiny can be completed in minutes, and the entire single-player game can be knocked out within a half-hour or so. Best of all, the game's brevity comes without penalty. It's clear that the developer, Stupidgizmo, realized the key to a good smartphone game is succinct gameplay, and they capitalized on that knowledge here completely.Players start the game out by choosing a guardian from one of three class types: healer, protector, and "damage." There are eight guardians in total, and the only difference between them (apart from varying cosmetically) is that every character possesses a special ability which can be activated during battle. Once a guardian is selected, players meet Custos, the leader of the guardians! Custos introduces himself and it is quickly apparent that his own special ability is conjuring up walls of text out of thin air."Once Custos' history lesson is over, players are plopped right into their first battle. There is no tutorial in Winds of Destiny. In lieu of a tutorial, Stupidgizmo uploaded a video onto YouTube that runs through the basics of the game. The video is linked on the main menu, which is inaccessible during gameplay: a fact I discovered straightaway. I found myself starring at a hand of cards, some with numbers, some with pictures, and I had no idea what to do.Luckily for me, and probably the good chunk of players who failed to see the tutorial link on the main menu, Winds of Destiny is really easy to figure out. At the start of each turn, players choose three cards from the hand which has been randomly drawn. If the player selected three numbered cards, the numbers are added together and that is how much damage is dealt to the opponent.
  • Front Wars Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Front Wars Review

    By

    War. War never changes. Well, except for humanity's new tendency to play our little battle games on a digital plane instead of with real guns and soldiers. That's a change, and a pretty relieving one at that.Front Wars by Gregory Challant is one such example of a war simulation. It actually looks and plays almost identically to Famicom Wars / Advance Wars, a Nintendo series that hasn't seen an update in quite some time (the studio behind the series, Intelligent Systems, has been hard at work on alternative war / strategy games like the excellent Fire Emblem: Awakening for the Nintendo 3DS).While Front Wars is nowhere near as polished as even the earliest Advance Wars titles, there's still quite a bit to like here - provided you're not bothered by Challant's, er, "flattery" of Intelligent Systems' work.There is one major difference between Front Wars and Advance Wars, however: Whereas the latter is based off fantasy scenarios and made-up wars, Front Wars lets you play through prominent battles that defined the Second World War. You literally send cute, large-headed soldiers to their deaths on the shores of Normandy. It's bizarre.
  • Aerena: Clash of Champions Preview
    Upcoming
    • Android
    • iOS
    • PC
    Aerena: Clash of Champions Preview

    By

    On another planet Earth that's very different from ours, human history has taken a dark turn. The discovery of Aether early in the 20th Century granted mankind almost limitless power - and sparked a war for control of that power unlike any ever seen. Great Aether-powered flying machines plied the skies, raining devastation down upon the cities below until there was virtually nothing left. From the ashes of civilization, a desperate humanity founded the United Nations, which took control of the few remaining Aether extractors and replaced war with The Games - battles between champions for control of the Aether.That's the story behind Aerena: Clash of Champions, the new online battle arena game from Cliffhanger Productions, and it's a pretty good one. "We're proud of the original story behind Aerena (actually we got carried away and wrote MUCH more than necessary), and this will increasingly show in the upcoming versions," Creative Director Jan Wagner told me. "I think the care and love for the universe we created helps set us apart from the more utilitarian approach of many other games.""Aerena is different from other entries in the MOBA genre in other ways, too. Wagner acknowledged that comparisons are inevitable, but said that Cliffhanger's game has little in common with other battle arenas at the gameplay level. "We really wanted to create something that combined the tactical depth of a game like chess with the sort of personalized play style you see in a collectible card game. So, each champion has set strengths and limitations, and building your team is one layer of personalization, but then you refine that even further by stacking your deck, so to speak, with abilities from ships and Aether shells," he explained."Aerena is turn-based, but the time limit per turn also adds a speed-chess element to the gameplay. It encourages players to really dig into their teams' potential combinations and develop strategies," he continued. "On the flipside of that, getting hit actually gives an Aether boost, so matches stay competitive until the end. After all, we want people to win through skill, not because they happened to land the first blow."
  • The Banner Saga Walkthrough
    Walkthroughs
    • iOS
    • PC
    The Banner Saga Walkthrough

    By

    The Banner Saga is a turn-based tactical RPG from Stoic. You play as a series of protagonists, traveling across the world, tending to your armies, and engaging in grid-based battles. Gamezebo's quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to make the good guys suffer for their foolish delusions of heroism."
  • The Banner Saga Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    The Banner Saga Review

    By

    The word 'epic' gets thrown around a lot these days, and it's starting to undermine what that word really means. Your Cheetos are not epic. That skateboarding porcupine, while adorable, is not epic. 'Epic' is a literary term used to describe a certain kind of story. One that takes us on a journey into a richly detailed universe; one that's existed long before we got there. And more often than not, the fate of the world is hanging in the balance.The Lord of the Rings is an epic. Star Wars is an epic. And this first chapter of The Banner Saga kicks off one of the finest interactive epics I've ever known."Set in a world of varls, humans and dredge, The Banner Saga can best be summed up as Tolkien by way of Scandinavia (if it were adapted by Don Bluth and Intelligent Systems). The developers at Stoic Studio have managed to blend these seemingly disparate influences together into something wonderfully original, creating a world that's even better than its gameplay.
  • Castle Doombad Walkthrough
    Walkthroughs
    • iOS
    Castle Doombad Walkthrough

    By

    Castle Doombad is a tower defense game from Adult Swim Games. You play as a villain who lays down traps and pitfalls to keep meddling heroes from rescuing the princess he has locked up in his tower. Gamezebo's quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to make the good guys suffer for their foolish delusions of heroism."
  • Castle Doombad Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Castle Doombad Review

    By

    Labelling Castle Doombad as a tower defense game is simultaneously accurate and erroneous. On one hand, you're certainly defending a tower. On the other hand, it's not the well-being of the tower that ultimately matters. The real point of Castle Doombad is to protect its most precious cargo, its princess, from being rescued by meddling heroes.The awesomely-named Dr. Lord Evilstein has spirited away a generic princess and imprisoned her in his tower. Now he's being harassed by dozens of generic warriors that want to get her back. Dr. Lord Evilstein is safe in the uppermost floors of his tower, but if the princess is rescued and whisked outside his domain, he's finished.Castle Doombad is a tower defense game, but it has a few personality quirks that separate it from the gargantuan herd that already roams the App Store. Playing as a bad guy is just one difference, and it's admittedly a hoot. Who doesn't want to command a tower full of devious traps and evil minions?More importantly, you're able to mix and match traps, which truly lets you customize your play style. Your choices are auto traps, manual traps, and minions. Auto traps are traditional tower defense fare like spike floors and arrow launchers, though you can also opt for ceiling hazards like acid-drippers and alien tentacles. Manual traps, like a huge weight that drops from the ceiling, pack a powerful punch, but need to be activated manually and come with a long cooldown.