All of the major titles, all looking shiny and pretty, listed in categories with links to their home pages. Good grief do some of these look sweet. I figure I spend enough time negatively haranguing the whole gaming industry that I should throw down one nice little post all filled with happy and rainbows and Care Bears. Of course, no doubt half of these AT LEAST will be either DRM polluted or turn out to be awful shit, therefore turning happy in to sad and Care Bears in to sausage.
Incidentally, anyone with some spare cash lying around MIGHT wanna invest in some Blizzard Entertainment stock. Call me crazy, but I suspect that Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 might move a couple of units.
Oh, and in case anybody’s wondering, the games I’m definitely interested in would be…
Jagged Alliance 3 – The second game is the best tactical squad game ever. This has been a figment of a rumor for so long I’m not sure I believe it’s actually real. Jazzed to hear the Silent Storm engine is being used here, since that was another very good (and underrated) tac squad game, and it managed to achieve the impossible dream of seamlessly integrating real time and turn based engines in to one system. Both the first and 2nd games, as well as some of the expansions, are available on Good Old Games.
Disciples 3 : Renaissance – The first 2 games were very underrated. Think along the lines of Heroes of Might & Magic or Age of Wonders, but you construct armies of individuals, rather than unit stacks. Sort of an ‘All Heroes/Villains’ sort of game. You also had to lay claim to land with a specific unit who was very vulnerable, and it was kinda cool watching the terrain start to morph to match your faction. Both the first and 2nd game gold editions are also on GOG.
Majesty 2 - The first was a sort of a hybrid RTS/RPG game. You built various guilds to hire heroes of various types, then hired heroes to expand your territory, but these mercenaries actually ACTED like mercenaries. You had to make any mission you wanted them to undertake worth their while, whether it was exploring a heretofore unseen area or attacking a group of orcs attacking your settlement.Being utterly reliant on mercs who would operate of their own free will could be immensely frustrating, but it also made for a pretty unique game.
Demigod – It’s Stardock, for fuck’s sake, which means it’s guaranteed to be DRM free. I’m not totally sure about this one yet, since the actual studio producing it, Gas Powered Games, is kind of known for creating the insanely fast clickfest kind of real time strategy games I fucking detest. The concept seems cool, though.
Solium Infernum – By the same guys who made Armageddon Empires, again it’s guaranteed DRM-free. Same concept as Armageddon Empires (new map board every game, decks of unit/tactics cards, moving armies about, collecting resources), but set in a Hell that has been abandoned by Lucifer, so everyone else is competing for the throne. If the concept of fighting to control Hades doesn’t interest you in the slightest, the terrorists have already won.
Hegemony : Philip of Macedon – Hell, just that screenshot of the damn map has me geeked up. I’ve grown more interested in the times of the ancients recently, so this seems to be right in my wheelhouse. Of course, it could turn out to be a typical, boring RTS title, so we’ll see.
Star Trek Supremacy – A 4X space game set in the Star Trek universe? Yeah, color me interested!
Dragon Age – It’s Bioware, for fuck’s sake! Unfortunately,l that also means it’s EA, for fuck’s sake, and it’s SecuROM for fuck’s sake, and it’s shoved out the door before it’s ready and here’s 6 patches in a month for fuck’s sake. 
In the end, it means I’ll wait and buy it used, then use a cracked exe, for fuck’s sake.
Reluctant Hero – The premise behind this is very cool…you quite literally live your character’s entire life. There’s no “Well, story’s over, game’s done.” You adventure and pillage or whatever the Hell you decide to do until you die, whether that be at age 26 as you’re run through by a longsword, or at age 77 from old age. You also gain skill ability simply by using them as you live. And if you want to play a shorter game based around one big storyline, you can. Ambitious as Hell.
King’s Bounty : The Princess – King’s Bounty : The Legend is sweet. It’s also laden with SecuROM…so this will get the same treatment as Dragon Age.
Fighter Ops – I haven’t played a flight sim in a long time. I used to enjoy them. Trouible is, to really get in to any of these new ones you really NEED a flightstick at the least, and a throttle lever/rudder pedals set up is probably the best. I don’t know if I’m willing to take that plunge with my life. Do I really want to be THAT guy?
Steel Beasts 2 – The pro version of the original is legendary for how incredible a game it is…it’s also a couple HUNDRED dollars, and is pretty much a civilian version of an Abrams tank simulator used to train crews in the States. Unfortunately, I also feel the same about a hardcore tank sim as I do about a hardcore flight sim.
Lone Wolf : Flight From the Dark – Only reason this caught my eye is that it’s based on a series of Choose Your Own Adventure books, and who didn’t like those?
America’s Army 3 – I actually meant to include AA in my list of freeware games and completely forgot about it, as it is a really high quality shooter. I also liked that you have to earn your classes. Wanna be a sniper? Pass sharpshooter training. Wanna be a medic? Pass that training. Wanna be a driver? Ditto. Besides, it’s still going to be free. I don’t know why this is 3 though, since I don’t remember a 2 existing.
Mafia 2 – Mafia has a reputation of being a fantastic game. I don’t know…I suppose I should try the damn thing. This is basically here because I fear if some serious gamer happens across this post and notices it’s missing, he’ll track me down and kill me.
The Lord of the Rings : Conquest – The Star Wars Battlefront games were decently fun shooters set in that universe…this is the same action-y treatment for LOTR. Unfortunately, Pandemic also equals EA…see Dragon Age.
Operation Flashpoint 2 – Having finally gotten the first game (another one available on GOG), I can now say it’s damn good, and the sequel looks to be much improved. Hopefully the AI’s a little more even…some missions in 1 are damn near impossible, in others the enemy army seems to consist of clones of Barney Fife.
F.E.A.R. 2 : Project Origin – First game was a great shooter (another freeware item I forgot to list is the multiplayer portion of F.E.A.R.). Guaranteed to be SecuROM’d, so it’ll be another used buy.
Duke Nukem Forever – Only reason I’m even listing this is because it’s hilarious. This game has been ‘Coming Soon’ for so long it’s become the gaming world version of Chinese Democracy.
Sky Gods – I like me some military sim with co-op as it’s basis. Unfortunately, because that means you’ll be at the whims of a squad of one other serious guy, 2 guys so twitchy their soldiers might as well have Cerebral Palsy, and 4 15 year olds who will spend the entire game calling anyone who shoots them a cheating nigger, it’s probably going to crash and burn.
Godfather 2 – Played the original on my 360. Good game concept, sort of running as a side story to the movie. Unfortunately, it got repetitive. If they can add some variety to it, this could be a winner.
Wolfenstein – It’s Wolfenstein! Return to Wolfenstein was an absolutely crazy game. For about 10 levels, it’s a WW2 shooter. Then the occult comes in…suddenly, you’re mixing between fighting Waffen SS, demons from other dimensions, robot soldiers and bizarre human/tech cyborgs (actually, some of you may remember waaayyyyyy back when I introduced the concept of a hover waist? I have actually just remembered that I first encountered this concept in RTW, so the credit goes to them). This one seems to mess with energy weapons and time travel, an alternate dimension that can be entered at any time, more Nazis, and a completely dynamic level structure where you have total control over your path. All this game needs is one appearance by a ninja and it’s man’s greatest invention.
Deus Ex 3 – If you have not played Deus Ex, you need to. Well, not right now…finish reading this. I have some level of pride, you know, so at least PRETEND to be interested. Anyway…yeah, Deus Ex. Completely customizable character development and storyline and huge selection of missions like an RPG in a FPS. Actually, you could apparently finish the game without shooting anyone, though I don’t know what pathetic loser tried it that way.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.