By admin | November 28, 2008
In Populous: The Beginning (Electronic Arts), you are a Shaman with god-like aspirations. You must guide your people to victory over the enemy – followers of rival Shamans. You gain followers, either by using spells to convert wildmen and tribesmen, or by building huts and filling them with followers, who eventually reproduce. You aim to make them worship the ground you walk on, then you wield your earth-shattering powers to wreak havoc and hold them under your command. You can turn up the heat of battle with erupting volcanoes, or summon the skies to rain fire on your rivals. You can spread plagues among non-believers, or direct a tornado into the heart of enemy tribes.
The manual is an utter joke. Tiny pamphlets may be sufficient for action games, but any company producing a strategy title should know better than to scrimp on the manual.
By admin | November 27, 2008
Settlers III (BlueByte) is a strategic simulation game of tactics, prosperity, combat and growth. As a Champion of the Gods, the player can become leader of the resourceful Romans, the skillful Egyptians or the aggressive Asians. You control scores of tradesmen and command legions of armed forces in the evolution of your tribe and ultimately, the victory of your chosen race.
I found this game extremely enjoyable. It is quite easy to pick up and is very hard to put down once you get into it.
By admin | November 26, 2008
Theocracy is set in the 15th and 16th centuries and is about the Spanish invasion of Mexico. In 100 years time, the Spanish will invade the Aztec lands. Forewarned by a vision from your priest, you must turn your small Aztec province into a force capable of repelling the Spanish invasion and changing the course of history. Through trade or conquest, you must try to ally the majority of the 41 other Central American provinces to you. The ultimate objective of Theocracy is to gather your forces, fight off the Spanish Conquistadors before they destroy your fledgling empire, and throw them back into the sea.
Theocracy is an interesting and challenging game which manages to mix the turn-based and real time strategy genre to come up with something unique.
By admin | November 26, 2008
Imperium Galactica II is a hugely enjoyable science-fiction real-time strategy game of conquest and exploration. You have control over the destiny of an entire universe and your mission is to conquer the galaxy. You do this by constructing huge cities on your terraformed planets to generate income, war machines and over 150 scientific advancements. You trade with and spy on other cultures and you prepare invasion forces to increase your territory. Throughout the game there is over a full hour of some of the best computer video clips you will have ever seen. The clips are full-screen and are as good as a trip to the cinema.
Early in Imperium Galactica II, battles involve dozens of fighters and a few destroyers or corvettes. Midway through the game, battles become more involving and exciting.
By admin | November 25, 2008
Amazons – huge, powerful women who tower above all the other warrior races. In Quest of the Amazons (Bluebyte), Settlers III takes on a new and exciting dimension. The mighty Amazon race, founded by the fearsome goddess, Q’nqüra, and led by a cunning and ruthless leader, Penthesilea, have come ready to wage war and conquer civilizations. As an Amazon, you must swear allegiance to the goddess Q’nqüra and embark on a campaign to dominate the Settlers world.
Quest of the Amazons is an excellent addition to Settlers III. There are two campaigns to choose from. You can either play as the Amazons, or against them.
By admin | November 24, 2008
First there was Sim City, then came Sim City 2000, and now we have Sim City 3000 (Electronic Arts). The object of the Sim City series is to build and maintain a city, rebuilding whenever disaster strikes. Sim City 3000 – the updated version in this series – gives the player more control over all aspects of city management than ever before.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing Sim City 3000. As an owner of almost all the previous Sim titles, I found this particular one to be very easy to get into.
By admin | November 23, 2008
The Sims is a domestic simulation game. You create an entire neighbourhood of Sims, design their personalities, skills and appearance, and then run or ruin their lives. You build your Sims a neighbourhood, design their homes, and furnish them from a wide range of wallpaper, floor coverings, electrical appliances, plumbing, lighting and other accessories.
Players control the lives of their Sims, guiding their relationships and careers for better or worse. Players can help their Sims find a job and then send them off to make money. Players can instruct their Sims to find romance or to play games with the kids in the back yard. Players can force their Sims into a life of crime or help them live life in the fast lane. Everything in the house affects the Sim’s behaviour and happiness in some way and the game has endless playability.
MY OPINION
The Sims is a FUN game from start to finish. It has something for players of all ages. When you create your Sims, you can be as outrageous or as wicked as you choose – modelling them on teachers, workmates, friends or family members. One of the things I like the most about this game is that the Sims seem to adopt a personality of their own. If you leave them alone, even for a few minutes, your Sims will do all sorts of things – they’ll dance to the radio’s music, flop down in front of the TV or strike up a conversation – and they do it all with expressive animation which makes them almost seem like real people. TV watching Sims will lean forward and gaze intently at the screen or laugh out loud, and conversing Sims will gesticulate appropriately as they chat, tell jokes, insult each other and more.
The graphics in this game are absolutely first class. Everything is bright and colourful and highly detailed. The sounds are also excellent. Every item in the home makes a sound – music from the radio, TV, phones ringing, flushing toilets, running taps and many more. The Sims all speak in their own language, which is highly entertaining.
The Sims comes with an extremely comprehensive manual, although it is not necessary to study this in order to enjoy the game. You can simple load up The Sims and get into it right away. There is no ultimate goal to this game – simply hours of endless fun, laughter and entertainment for all.
SCREENSHOTS
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Fucking superman!
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Redneck Ranch
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White Building
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Creating Sims
By admin | November 22, 2008
In Theme Park World (known as Sim Theme Park in the USA) you build and run your own theme park. You do this by planning and placing rides, shops, side-shows and a host of other features. You must hire staff, and fire them if they’re not up to the job. The 3D graphics allow you to walk around your park and experience all the rides as though you were actually there.
Theme Park World is in-depth, challenging and very time-consuming. There is so much to do, and so many things that need attention.
By admin | November 21, 2008
The object of the game in Rollercoaster Tycoon (Hasbro), is to become the richest, most famous rollercoaster tycoon in the world. In order to achieve this, you have to design and build the world’s most dangerous, gravity-defying, face-distorting, G-pulling thrill ride. You can start with an undeveloped piece of land, modest bank account and your own imagination. You have to build up a theme park with food and drink stalls, entertainers, trees, statues and fountains – in fact everything you, yourself, would want to enjoy when visiting a theme park. You have to decide how much money to charge your visitors, in order to make as much profit as possible, whilst keeping your customers happy.
Problems can arise however. Rides can break down, you can receive bad publicity from fatal crashes and the weather can be unpredictable.
By admin | November 20, 2008
First there was Railroad Tycoon, and now we have Railroad Tycoon II (Gathering of Developers). The objective of this game is to set up a rail network that will not only service all the local towns and cities well, but will earn you lots of money in the process. The rail networks span the 19th and 20th centuries and the continents of North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Create chains of supply and demand, by transporting goods by train to various industries: mines, mills, factories, etc… Railroad Tycoon II is extremly captivating!
