Strategy

Battle of Tiles was Gametunnel's Strategy Game of the Year for '08, which is a little like Robert Parker deciding that the wine of the year was a $15 Malbec from Mendoza. (As I may be the only gamer / wine snob mutant in existence, let me explain that some really good “value” wines come out of Argentina's Mendoza valley, but no-one expects them to compete with $200+ bottles from Napa or Bordeaux.) Gametunnel's review of the game says: “I had about four hours of fun and at $5 that seems more than reasonable.”

Four hours of fun for $5 isn't bad, but that's not game of the year criteria.

Zatikon is from Chronic Logic, who have produced a whole slew of interesting games over the years, including Gish and Bridge Construction Set. It's a bit of a departure from them, both for its business model and for its gameplay.

Blue blooded aristocratic siblings trying to kill each other with an army of killbots and an arsenal of mind control rockets. Media corrupted, Presidents bribed, shares purchased, commodities manipulated - sound familiar? In Terry Cavanugh's pre-apocalyptic vision, illustrated with poise by Derek Yu, we have a game that is both lightweight in scope and heavy in connotation. You start the game by choosing from a family of rich assholes with different asshole proclivities, one is a politico, another a finance geek, another is a straight-up fascist and yet another is a science nerd, (but a mean nerd, not one of the nice ones). These people represent both the stark genius hiding in our frontal lobes but also the misappropriation of resources toward determined psychopaths, at the expense of the rest of society. It's like Oilgarchy but mil-gov and more pulp.

I got my start with Storytron, it was my first real trip into professional development, and let me tell you, I´ve seen this thing delayed more times than the Bush administration lied. Wait, let me tabulate that... no nevermind, Storytron was delayed roughly thirty times and the Bush administration lied over 900 times, but you get the idea. I´m happy to say that Chris Crawford has finally delivered, and the great messianic engine bears its promises with grace.

Armageddon Empires has a story set in the future and gameplay set in the past. Imagine Magic: The Gathering crunched with Hex-based strategy and based in post-Heinlein sci-fi, with a dash of Fallout for garnish. Things are slow and deep, and that's how they're meant to be. Resources are balanced against dice rolls, moves are carefully allotted, armies are assembled based on complementary numbers and specials, saves are made frequently. Even down to the individual attack, you make judgments with the prudence of a wargamer while hedging with the reckless tact of a card gamer. Only the hardcore need apply.

There is a reasonable probability that a hard take-off event will occur in the relatively near future. A prototype AGI, sitting on a university server, achieves a form of sapience and begins self-directed action. Less than two years later, it reverse-engineers the quantum super-structure of the universe and achieves apotheosis. Everything we know to be true is proven a mere 1 or 0, adjustable at the operant's condition.

Dwarf Fortress is an amazing game. I mean "amazing" at the level of Sim City and Civilization, as amazing to encounter today as they were when first released. I'm not sure I can offer higher praise.

And yet--it is also frustratingly difficult to get into, and utterly obtuse in terms of its UI.

Dwarf Fortress is a game from an alternate universe. Clearly, no one in his right mind would have created it in our own. I deduce this from its main characteristics, and I think can very clearly describe the alternative universe it came from--let us call it "Earth B."