Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: March 1, 2002

Product placement is becoming more and more omnipresent in games these days. From the levels of Super Monkey Ball laden with Dole bananas, to characters asking to be taken to KFC or Taco Bell in Crazy Taxi, developers seem to be testing the waters of how much product placement is acceptable by the notoriously fickle gaming crowd. One title that takes this notion to its extreme is Darkened Skye, an action/adventure release from developer Boston Animation. Darkened Skye was inspired by television ads for the candy brand Skittles, which featured such fantasy staples as wizards, arcane rituals, and mystical symbols. It’s quite easy to write this title off as “that Skittles game,” but the question we must ask is “Does Darkened Skye provide a good gaming experience, or just an overt commercial for Skittles candies?” ( read more… )

Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: February 25, 2002

The units in strategy games sure do have it tough. I shudder to think of the thousands upon thousands of troops I have knowingly sent to their inevitable doom in titles like Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Battle Realms. You have to wonder as you send them off to get mowed down by the enemy, whether those tiny troops constantly being dragged around with selection boxes have hopes, dreams, families, or feelings. How many fatherless families am I responsible for in the electronic universe? Perhaps in order to help gamers answer questions like these, Westwood Studios has released Command and Conquer: Renegade, a first-person shooter set in the C&C universe. Renegade allows players to view the never-ending conflict between the Nod and GDI forces through the eyes of the original Command and Conquer commando, Nick “Havoc” Parker. Can a classic RTS make the change to a first-person shooter without any problems? Westwood sure hopes so, and gave it their all in Renegade. ( read more… )

Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: January 25, 2002

The original Europa Universalis quietly shuffled into the gaming limelight in early 2001, becoming one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year. Combining board game mechanics like those of Axis and Allies and Diplomacy with elements of real-time strategy, Europa Universalis offered all the components of a great gaming experience: from historically accurate scenarios to deep, complex gameplay. Play centered on European nations in the tumultuous times of the late 15th to 18th centuries, as each feuded with one another for power and control. Players had the opportunity to recreate or even rewrite history, taking any of approximately 60 countries and expanding their empire across the continents. Now, less than a year after the original Europa Universalis wowed critics and fans alike, Swedish developer Paradox Entertainment has released Europa Universalis II, attempting to address the complaints gamers had with the initial product and expand the scope of the original even further. With such a short span of time between the original and its sequel, the question we must pose is, “How different from its prequel is Europa Universalis II, and do the changes really make it a better game?” ( read more… )

Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: January 18, 2002

You can’t help but love the little guys. Just about every year, some heretofore-unknown developer comes crashing right out of the clear blue sky, delivering a title of such caliber that it instantly catapults the game and its developers to fame and fortune. Any fan of the historical strategy genre will certainly remember the almost rags-to-riches story of Creative Assembly and their landmark 2000 title Shogun: Total War, which immediately became established as a benchmark for the entire genre. Magitech is the next small-time development team to step up to plate with Takeda, a title that attempts to emulate the success of Shogun in just about every way possible. Comparisons between CA’s Shogun and Magitech’s Takeda are absolutely impossible to avoid. Takeda features the exact same setting, similar units, controls, and objectives. While this may initially excite fans of Shogun, a genre-defining product is certainly a tough act to follow, or even emulate. Still, Magitech has taken that problem to task with Takeda, seeking to carry on the legacy of great medieval Japanese real-time strategy games. ( read more… )

Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: January 11, 2002

The real-time strategy genre is one of the largest and most popular categories in PC gaming today. Within such a large crowd, differentiation between one product and the next quickly becomes muddled. Sci-fi and fantasy games rule the genre, and often new titles borrow so much from their successful predecessors that differences are only skin deep. Liquid Entertainment’s first foray into PC gaming avoids such pitfalls by taking a tried-and-true setting and injecting it with a booster shot of personality. The result is Battle Realms, a matchless RTS experience. ( read more… )

Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: January 4, 2002

It’s difficult to speak about Wizardry 8 without also bringing up the economic drama that surrounded its development and release. Cash-strapped developer Sir-Tech engaged in a fruitless, months-spanning quest for a publisher. While Sir-Tech and its prospective partners haggled over royalties, contracts, and other business nuances, Wizardry 8 patiently waited, finished months before it ever hit store shelves. With its dying gasp, Sir-Tech coughed up the finances required to get Wizardry 8 on the shelf, circumventing traditional third-party publishers and shunting the product straight to retail. ( read more… )

Review by: Gavin Carter
Published: December 27, 2001

Despite the glut of titles available in the real-time strategy genre, the vast majority tends to focus on extraordinary scenarios, such as sci-fi or fantasy themed settings. Those who crave realistic military-based RTS’s are forced to either deal with a small number of lackluster titles, or ship themselves off to Afghanistan. But now, thanks to developer Reality Pump and publisher JoWood Productions, all those armchair John Wayne’s can hold off on the buzz-cut, and just play World War III: Black Gold instead. ( read more… )