Howdy folks. Dood, it's been a whirlwind since I last blogged. We've been getting ready for our Civilization V launch party here at work. Trying to get sixteen copies of a game installed to forty computers and all working can be a chore, but after 36 consecutive hours of installing and staring at computer screens, the time has arrived. I'm super psyched about tonight, as 2K and iGames sent us some awesome Civ 5 posters and T-shirts that we're going to be handing out. Sadly, they don't support fat people size, so there are no XXL shirts. I really wanted one, too. Oh well. With that said, GAMES!!!
To Hex And Back
Sit on it and twirl, bitch. My personal history with the Civilization franchise is a long one: after discovering the first game hidden on the computer in my middle school's library, I would spend hours upon hours trying to find ways to sneak away to the library to play. After playing Civilization II a ton at my uncle's house, I eventually started jamming Civilization III and fell in love with the micro-management that they put into the game. It was tough to pull yourself away from, but it was also a lonely place at times: the Civ franchise isn't exactly something all of your friends are jumping up to play. I refrained from checking out Civ IV, but got into Civ Rev on the consoles upon its release. Going through all of those games, I had a good understanding of what to expect in Civilization V...and man, has it met and exceeded those expectations.
Let's get the negative out of the way real quick: no animations in multiplayer sucks some balls. Other than that, we're done talking about the negatives. Civilization V does a ton of things right to not only satisfy old players like me, but also lure in new players. There are multiple different pacing options that really have a drastic difference to them. Playing a quick game led to me actually beating a game of Civilization in less than a 24 hour period. That felt WEIRD! Regardless, the core gameplay in that time frame still felt like an absolute Civilization experience. Bringing a lot of the streamlined features over from Civilization Revolution was definitely one of the best things they could've done, as it makes the base level gameplay really easy to get the hang of. Everything you NEED to know is finally upfront and centered so you don't have to search for it. Getting into the micro isn't buried under a shitload of menus anymore either, as the UI in this game is designed with a lot of good thought and intelligence behind it.
I could rattle on and on about the greatness of Civilization V, but rather than do that, I would just say that it's one of the few games in existence right now that can absolutely justify every penny of the price tag you'll pay for it. The games you'll play are not short, but even if you lose, they are a massive amount of fun. Pick it up and enjoy.
An Unexpected Surprise
The smallest things STILL seem satisfying. While it may be a "late to the party" scenario jumping into Skate 3 this late after its release, the fact that I'd even be plugging in Skate 3 is an oddity. Skateboarding games have grown stale over the years, as the Tony Hawk franchise has become little more than "do the same tricks over and over to whore your score up, then repeat at next event". Even the first two Skate games didn't do much for me, mainly because the controls never felt intuitive enough for me. Maybe I missed something along the way, but Skate 3 is a pretty awesome fucking game! The single player may feel a little thin at times, as it serves as more of a tutorial for all the online components than its own mode in general. At the same time, there's an endearing level of skater charm and slight non-realism to it that make Skate 3 that much more enjoyable. The thing that really strikes me is just how deep the multiplayer really is. You can form your own skate team, make a logo, dress your guy up in some sick gear, take pictures of cool tricks, make videos of some good lines that you run, and the best part is that you can then upload all that stuff and showcase it. THAT is the kind of thing I always hoped for with a skateboarding game going online at some point, and EA finally did that shit! Everything about it is incredibly satisfying, especially when you are online and you have a couple guys line up on the ramp to check out your vert run, then comment over their mics that you did a sick run. Overall, the experience has been incredibly cool, and EA has really impressed me with the package they are offering in Skate 3. It's on the cheaps now, so really, the only reason you shouldn't play it is because you don't like skateboarding. ___________________________________________________
That's it for this week, folks. I could go on about Halo: Reach and some other crap, but I'll refrain and instead think more about playing Civ V...then later tonight, actually PLAY more Civ V.
Until next time, piece.
P.S. - Fuck Babylon. They THOUGHT they were gonna fuck with me. Don't FUCK with Oda Nobunaga, assholes!!! 8 Comments
Howdy folks. Dood, it's been a whirlwind since I last blogged. We've been getting ready for our Civilization V launch party here at work. Trying to get sixteen copies of a game installed to forty computers and all working can be a chore, but after 36 consecutive hours of installing and staring at computer screens, the time has arrived. I'm super psyched about tonight, as 2K and iGames sent us some awesome Civ 5 posters and T-shirts that we're going to be handing out. Sadly, they don't support fat people size, so there are no XXL shirts. I really wanted one, too. Oh well. With that said, GAMES!!!
To Hex And Back
Sit on it and twirl, bitch. My personal history with the Civilization franchise is a long one: after discovering the first game hidden on the computer in my middle school's library, I would spend hours upon hours trying to find ways to sneak away to the library to play. After playing Civilization II a ton at my uncle's house, I eventually started jamming Civilization III and fell in love with the micro-management that they put into the game. It was tough to pull yourself away from, but it was also a lonely place at times: the Civ franchise isn't exactly something all of your friends are jumping up to play. I refrained from checking out Civ IV, but got into Civ Rev on the consoles upon its release. Going through all of those games, I had a good understanding of what to expect in Civilization V...and man, has it met and exceeded those expectations.
Let's get the negative out of the way real quick: no animations in multiplayer sucks some balls. Other than that, we're done talking about the negatives. Civilization V does a ton of things right to not only satisfy old players like me, but also lure in new players. There are multiple different pacing options that really have a drastic difference to them. Playing a quick game led to me actually beating a game of Civilization in less than a 24 hour period. That felt WEIRD! Regardless, the core gameplay in that time frame still felt like an absolute Civilization experience. Bringing a lot of the streamlined features over from Civilization Revolution was definitely one of the best things they could've done, as it makes the base level gameplay really easy to get the hang of. Everything you NEED to know is finally upfront and centered so you don't have to search for it. Getting into the micro isn't buried under a shitload of menus anymore either, as the UI in this game is designed with a lot of good thought and intelligence behind it.
I could rattle on and on about the greatness of Civilization V, but rather than do that, I would just say that it's one of the few games in existence right now that can absolutely justify every penny of the price tag you'll pay for it. The games you'll play are not short, but even if you lose, they are a massive amount of fun. Pick it up and enjoy.
An Unexpected Surprise
The smallest things STILL seem satisfying. While it may be a "late to the party" scenario jumping into Skate 3 this late after its release, the fact that I'd even be plugging in Skate 3 is an oddity. Skateboarding games have grown stale over the years, as the Tony Hawk franchise has become little more than "do the same tricks over and over to whore your score up, then repeat at next event". Even the first two Skate games didn't do much for me, mainly because the controls never felt intuitive enough for me. Maybe I missed something along the way, but Skate 3 is a pretty awesome fucking game! The single player may feel a little thin at times, as it serves as more of a tutorial for all the online components than its own mode in general. At the same time, there's an endearing level of skater charm and slight non-realism to it that make Skate 3 that much more enjoyable. The thing that really strikes me is just how deep the multiplayer really is. You can form your own skate team, make a logo, dress your guy up in some sick gear, take pictures of cool tricks, make videos of some good lines that you run, and the best part is that you can then upload all that stuff and showcase it. THAT is the kind of thing I always hoped for with a skateboarding game going online at some point, and EA finally did that shit! Everything about it is incredibly satisfying, especially when you are online and you have a couple guys line up on the ramp to check out your vert run, then comment over their mics that you did a sick run. Overall, the experience has been incredibly cool, and EA has really impressed me with the package they are offering in Skate 3. It's on the cheaps now, so really, the only reason you shouldn't play it is because you don't like skateboarding. ___________________________________________________
That's it for this week, folks. I could go on about Halo: Reach and some other crap, but I'll refrain and instead think more about playing Civ V...then later tonight, actually PLAY more Civ V.
Until next time, piece.
P.S. - Fuck Babylon. They THOUGHT they were gonna fuck with me. Don't FUCK with Oda Nobunaga, assholes!!!
My personal Civ V preference right now is going for diplomatic victories with Alexander. Whoring yourself out to city-states just to get their UN vote might not be the most glamorous path to victory, but it seems to be pretty highly effective.
I've only played with Japan so far, and I enjoyed their racial ability for having strong military presence. It pulled me out of a tight spot early on when Babylon declared war on me, surrounded Osaka with catapults and archers when I only had two archer units and a warrior, and two of those were back at my capital. Luckily, I learned to get Musketmen, and those fuckers destroy catapults. Two Musketmen that always fight at full strength? Oh yeah. I can confirm that Ryan was not lying when he said a city will give up a shitload to not kill them off, as Babylon traded me ten cities and about 1,000 gold for peace.
UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't know that annexing ten cities would put me at 65 Unhappiness, so that was a long haul back up. However, my presence on the map kept people from fucking with me long enough to build up a ton of military units and dominate the map.
Personally, when playing Civ Rev, I preferred going for cultural victories and economic victories. It seems that getting a cultural victory on here isn't nearly as tough as the others, since the others require some tunnel vision to get accomplished while culture and policy stuff makes up a ton of the benefits gained from the buildings and wonders in the game.
I'm curious what social policies people start out with. I go with whatever the first option is, as that 33% production decrease for wonders is a pretty huge benefit early in the game, so it would seem.
I loved Skate 2 but I learned quickly that any game with EA Nation running the multiplayer should be avoided at all cost. Imo Skate 3 needed another year in the oven and I probably wont pick it up till its £5 in a bargin bin.
@jakob187: Are you talking S2 or S3? S2 was alright apart from abit of lag and btw that online trophy took forever to get lol. S3 was broken when it first released some people couldn't even play online which was funny because that was supposed to be the main feature of the game. How is the online now then months later?
" @jakob187: Are you talking S2 or S3? S2 was alright apart from abit of lag and btw that online trophy took forever to get lol. S3 was broken when it first released some people couldn't even play online which was funny because that was supposed to be the main feature of the game. How is the online now then months later? "
For me, it was stable and very cool other than the one time that maintenance was going down. Unfortunately, it's also pretty massive in terms of the things that can be done with skate.PARK and other stuff, so I pretty much just went in and started doing some vert runs. Haven't touched any of the challenges or anything yet., but I'll probably delve more into it in the next week or so.
8 Comments