Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Ino-Co
System requirements: Windows Vista/Win 7, dual-core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB GeForce GT240 or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c, 4 GB hard-drive space
Genre: RTS
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now

Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a turn-based strategy game that asks a simple question: if the King of Ardania disappeared and multiple powerful wizards were left behind to rule, what would happen? The answer is lots of warfare, spellcasting, and the triumph of one warlock to rule them all. Set in the same universe as Majesty 2 and featuring fantasy 4X gameplay, Warlock strives to give players a strategy-gaming experience with the kind of flavor you’d expect from the Majesty franchise, and all the fantasy elements you could possibly want.

( read more… )

Publisher: Red Wasp Design
Developer: Red Wasp Design
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.8 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, OpenGL-compatible graphics card
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Oh, what is man? What can pierce the sky with metal and fire? What can split the foundations of the universe into kindling for laptops and iPods? What god is man? And yet, when we stare at the universe, either through a telescope or a microscope, we see the same things. Beyond the banality of planets and particles, we see a large darkness. No matter how much we look into it, it never looks back. This is our modern horror, the unthinking, unfeeling insanity of H.P. Lovecraft’s lauded Cthulhu mythos. These century-old works of fiction have gripped the modern mind and spread through Internet culture like a mutated cult. Heck, even Batman’s Arkham Asylum is a nod towards Miskatonicly minded individuals. However, when the awakening cults finally hit gaming, I expected a Korean MMO, a card-battle game, or something equally insane. What we got was The Wasted Land, a turn-based strategy game originally on iOS. Much like the works that birthed it, what The Wasted Land lacks in body it has in soul.

( read more… )

Publisher: Remedy
Developer: Remedy
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7, 2 GB dual core/2.8 GB AMD or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB DirectX 10-compatible graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c, 8 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

One of the most powerful weapons a storyteller has in his arsenal is ambiguity. Think about the ending of Inception. The spinning totem in the final shot has inspired countless hours of discussion about its significance. Now comes the PC version of Alan Wake, a third-person action-adventure game initially released two years ago for Xbox 360. Through the narration of its protagonist, a best-selling author of horror novels, developer Remedy has fashioned a world of compelling ambiguity: How much of what we see is a memory? A dream? The product of a damaged psyche? For that matter, is the narrator even telling the truth?

( read more… )

Publisher: Her Interactive
Developer: Her Interactive
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7/OSX 10.5, 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 or better CPU, 512 MB RAM, 3 GB hard-drive space, 128 MB DirectX 9.0-compatible graphics card, 16 bit DirectX-compatible sound device
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: May 9, 2012

Nancy Drew has a long history as a book series. More recently, the PC game series is making a name for itself as a continuation of the tradition. As the 26th game in the collection, Tomb of the Lost Queen has a well established framework to not just match, but also hopefully to surpass.

( read more… )

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7/Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 2.0 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 3 GB RAM (4 GB for Mac), 512 MB graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead graphic-novel series has become a cottage industry since its original publication in 2003. The television series based on the comics has become one of the AMC cable network’s most popular shows, several board games have been released, action figures by Todd McFarlane are available. You can even get drinking glasses and beer steins emblazoned with Walking Dead graphics. And now, adventure-game publisher Telltale has added to zombie lore with the first of five video-game episodes, giving you the chance to guide a troubled hero through the opening days of the zombie apocalypse.

( read more… )

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developer: Cyanide Studio
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP2/Win 7, 2.0 GHz dual-core CPU, 256 MB GeForce 7900 GTX/Radeon HD 2600 XT or better graphics card with Shader Model 3.0 support, 2 GB RAM, DirectX 9-compatible sound device, 4 GB hard-drive space
Genre: RPG
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

“Foretold by many prophecies, the Rag’narok is the war of the age of darkness, the battle during which the gods will choose their champions before putting Aarklash to fire and sword.” Yes, the setting of Cyanide Studio’s Confrontation is grim. A strategy RPG with a rather detailed fantasy setting, Confrontation sees you gathering your group of heroes and going deep into the heart of the enemy’s territory, fighting innumerable battles to overcome your foes, using swords, spells and cunning strategies, emphasizing strategy over RPG elements.

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Turbo Tape Games
System requirements: Windows Vista/Win 7, dual-core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB GeForce GT 240 or better graphics card, 4 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Simulation
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

I’m not cut out for Navy life. Being crammed into poorly-lit metallic rooms filled with smelly people in the middle of nowhere reminds me too much of my college experience. There’s also my problem with authority. While I don’t think I’m cut out for taking orders in a tuna can, sitting in a climate controlled C&C bunker giving orders is entirely different. Turbo Tape Games is there to fulfill my curiosity with their new strategy game, Naval War: Arctic Circle. Featuring a depiction of modern naval combat so detailed it borders on simulation, Naval War has more than enough depth to drown in. But is it worth braving the cold?

( read more… )

Publisher: Lace Mamba Global
Developer: CBE Software
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 3.0 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, GeForce 8400 GS/Radeon HD 4200 or better graphics card, 1 GB RAM, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Indie game development has come a long way in 20 years. It started out as one lone coder peddling 8-bit shareware games on floppy disks in plastic bags to anyone willing to try them out. Things are a bit more high-tech these days, but the passion to create a great game with minimal resources is still alive and well. Witness CBE Software, a two-man Czech development team that has created J.U.L.I.A., an intriguing and visually impressive sci-fi adventure game that tries to give a fresh outlook to a shopworn genre story.

( read more… )

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7, 2 GHz Core2Duo/Athlon 64 X2 4000+ or better CPU, 1.5 GB RAM (XP)/2 GB RAM (Vista/Win 7), 256 MB Nvidia 7800/ATI X1800 or better graphics card with Shader 3.0 support, Internet connection
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

When it comes to MMOs, it’s absolutely vital to do your homework, doubly so if the game is based on a beloved franchise. With the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars MMOs have entered their ninth consecutive year, even as servers for Star Wars Galaxies were closed down last December. If you’re a fan of Star Wars or BioWare, then you’ve been bombarded with hype for months regarding this game. It’s not just a question of whether SWTOR can replace SWG, or whether BioWare can lend its roleplaying touch to a genre renowned for grind. The question plaguing anyone who cares is whether it’s worth the subscription. In an answer that will no doubt lead to accusations of favoritism and bias, I have to say yes. BioWare has created something special with SWTOR. Why it’s so special will take some explaining, but believe me when I say I haven’t lost my mind.

( read more… )

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
System requirements: Windows XP (SP3)/Vista (SP1)/Win 7, 1.8 GHz Core2Duo or better CPU, 1 GB RAM (XP)/2 GB RAM (Vista/Win 7), 256 MB Nvidia 7900/ATI X1800 or better graphics card, 15 GB hard-drive space
Genre: RPG/Shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

The word “epic” is passed around liberally in critical media, be it the movies or videogames. The unquestioned master of the epic film was director Cecil B. DeMille, whose films carried such massive scope and reach that only Cinemascope could hold them. In gaming, developer BioWare has crafted perhaps the first true epic story in the industry’s short history with the Mass Effect series. The 80 to 100-hour journey finally reaches its end in Mass Effect 3, in which one person truly shapes the future of billions.

( read more… )

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developer: Pendulo Studios
System requirements: Windows XP (SP2)/Vista (SP1)/Win 7, 2.0 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM Win XP (2 GB Vista/Win 7), 256 MB GeForce 6800/Radeon X800 or better graphics card with DirectX 9 support, DirectX 9-compatible sound device, 4 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

My aunt lives on a farm in the middle of the Wisconsin countryside. Like Keepers of the Citadel, innumerable cats run around, performing secret but essential tasks. As needed as they are, no one’s taken care of them in years. Once you could wonder into a barn and be greeted by a furry tribe of cuteness, but now you find a swarm of hideously inbred monsters. Adventure games are like those cats. Leave them alone in a vacuum for a decade and what comes out is a sickening mixture of all the recessive genes of 1990s point-and-clicks. Yet, where there’s a will, there’s a market. Some studios actually manage to craft fun games out of inventory puzzles. Adventure vets Pendulo think they can straddle the line with Yesterday and still deliver an approachable yet hardcore classic adventure game. Wrapped up with the styling of a horror thriller, is Yesterday a cute and cuddly kitten, or a mangled, inbred beast?

( read more… )

Publisher: Evolved Games
Developer: Trickstar Games
System requirements: Windows XP (SP2)/Vista/Win 7, 2 GHz Core 2 Duo/Athlon X2 4000+ CPU, GeForce 6800/Radeon X1600 graphics card with Shader 3.0 support, 2 GB RAM, 1.5 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Simulation
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Once upon a time, Jane’s was a title that meant something. Being the foremost producer of military analysis, they once licensed their name to produce a series of well received, highly detailed military simulations. Longbow, F-15, Fleet Command; if it had the Jane’s logo on it, chances are it was the best you could find. Today, after a decade of lying dormant, the proud logo once again appears, this time on Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters. However, it ends up being more Bay of Pigs than Normandy Invasion.

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Neocore Games
System requirements: Windows XP (SP3)/Vista (SP2)/Win 7, 2 GHz Core 2 Duo or equivalent CPU, 1.5 GB RAM (XP)/2 GB (Vista, Win7), 512 MB Nvidia 8800 GT/ATI 3850 or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c or better, 16 GB hard-drive space
Genre: RTS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Neocore Games has returned to their flagship title with a sequel. It’s time to return to Britannia and continue the adventures of King Arthur and his knights. This time, the player doesn’t rule as Arthur, but as Arthur’s son, desperately trying to heal the land and his father, and save the realm from demonic hordes. With plenty of combat to go around, and plenty of story with which to engage, Neocore is very ambitious with their new offering, attempting to capture and meld both strategy and role-playing genres.

( read more… )

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Microsoft Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7, Dual Core 2.0 GHz CPU, 256 MB graphics card with Shader 3.0 support, 2.0 GB RAM, 10 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Simulator
ESRB rating: E
Release date: Available now

Once upon a time, flight simulators were popular. Their intricate details were great at showing off what your new home computer could do, and besides, who doesn’t want to fly? At some point, those with only a passing interest got tired of feeling like they needed actual flying lessons to buzz around, and flight simulators fell into the purview of those weird people who run virtual airlines. After canning the team that developed Flight Simulator, Microsoft is back with the new Flight, a free-to-play sim that’s aimed at those with an interest in planes but who don’t own a $200 joystick-and-pedal setup. Does Flight succeed at broadening its audience without alienating core sim fans?

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Paradox Interactive
System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Pentium IV/AMD 3500+ CPU, GeForce 8800/ATI Radeon X1900 graphics card, 2 GB RAM, 2 GB hard-drive space, Direct X-compatible sound card, DirectX 9, Internet connection for multiplayer, retail copy of Victoria II
Genre: RTS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

It’s been almost 18 months since Victoria II was released, and Paradox Interactive has decided that an expansion is in order: Victoria II: A House Divided. The expansion doesn’t add any additional time to the original game, which is still set from 1836 to 1936. Instead, it focuses on additional game mechanics and a scenario that starts at the beginning of the American Civil War. Rather than giving more of the same, AHD aims to add even more nuanced gameplay to a franchise that’s already very complicated. It’s a more ambitious expansion than its simple name belies, and, even moreso than the base game, it rewards strategy players for patient and thoughtful gameplay.

( read more… )