Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Strategy Games

TOTAL WAR: ROME 2



RELEASE: October




Total War games have been consistently providing astonishing, epic-scale battles for over a decade, and to many, the original Rome: Total War was the pinnacle of the series. Now series' commanders Creative Assembly are returning, bringing with them everything they've learned from the likes of Shogun 2 and Napoleon: Total War. There'll be revamped naval combat (with ships able to interact with land battles), and, well, war elephants. Check one of ourpreviews to learn more.



STARCRAFT 2: HEART OF THE SWARM



PUBLISHER: Blizzard Entertainment

RELEASE: March 12



Heart of the Swarm has been in beta for months now, so we've had plenty of time to hop on and try out the changes to StarCraft 2 s multiplayer ourselves. The current thinking? Not much has changed, as each proposed new unit has found itself excised for upsetting the game's delicate balance. But! The singleplayer campaign remains something of an unknown. Will it be a tender romance between two lovestruck zerg larvae? One can hope - and we'll find out early next year.



COMMAND & CONQUER



RELEASE: TBC 2013



Command & Conquer has struggled to find its place in today's gaming landscape, but there's some hope this new multiplayer-only effort might reverse the trend. Developed by a new studio established under the BioWare name and led by Jon Van Caneghem, the creator of Might & Magic, it'll return to the Generals spin-off universe. That means modern military instead of distant future, traditional terrorists instead of aliens, and no Kane. Also, it'll be free-to-play, which either means it'll be the most popular game ever made, or simply really annoying.



COMPANY OF HEROES 2



RELEASE: Early 2013



Company Of Heroes 2 puts players in charge of the Soviet army, battling both the invading German forces and the bitter Russian winter. Despite the change in setting, it's remaining true to what made the first game great: tight, tactical battles, with an emphasis on using the environment to flank and overcome your bitter enemies. Is there a barn in your way? Burn it down. Have a tank behind a wall? Smash it through. See a frozen lake? Trudge dangerously across, or break it apart with grenades it to prevent your enemies from passing.With THQ's rather public financial woes doing the rounds, Company Of Heroes 2 could be a more important release for the publisher than anyone would have imagined back when it was announced. Their coffers may be helped by a multiplayer component with microtransaction, employing what Relic learned from the short-lived Company of Heroes Online.



EUROPA UNIVERSALIS 4



PUBLISHER: Paradox Development Studio

RELEASE: Q3 2013



Taking place in a time of muskets, pikes and natty helmets, Europa Universalis 4 brings grand strategy ideals to the fore: nation building, diplomacy, war and exploration. Given strategy gamer's long-lasting love for EU3 and its many mods and expansions, expect EU4 to have a similarly long tail, and a similarly expansive scale.



END OF NATIONS



RELEASE:TBC 2013



Developed by Petroglyph, who were founded by former Command and Conquer developers. Published by Rift, who brought considerable tech and online expertise to their MMO, Rift. End of Nations combines the two company's disciplines: a massively multiplayer real-time strategy game, set in a near-future world where three factions are vying for total control of earth and its resources. With up to 64 players on any particular map, each directing an army of dozens of units, you'll work together to capture territory from enemy factions and conquer a global campaign map.



DIVINITY: DRAGON COMMANDER



RELEASE: TBC 2013



How to improve dragons: strap time-slowing jetpacks to them. From the developers of trad-fantasy hack-and-slasher Divinity, Dragon Commander is a mad and brilliant sounding spin-off. As the captain of a fleet of armoured dirigibles, you form your armies (and find a wife) via Mass Effect-style conversations, then switch to a combination of real-time dragon action and mid-battle turn-based strategy to win sky battles.



FOLK TALE



RELEASE: TBC 2013



Fantasy city-building with adventure and questing elements in a world of goblins, blacksmiths and cows. Folk Tale has some interesting ideas and a sense of humour.
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