Strategy

At GameSquad, we are science fiction fanatics.   Movies, books, games…it doesn’t matter, we love it all. 

But especially the games.

4X games in particular give us the greatest light speed rush.  Whenever we hear about a new game that allows us to assume the throne of a galactic emperor, well…it is a thrill that makes us squeal like green Martian girls.  Okay maybe it’s just me squealing like a Martian girl, but that's besides the point. 

Right now there is a trinity of superior 4X games to choose from:  Stardock’s classic Galactic Civilizations II, Ironclad’s Sins of a Solar Empire, and Kerberos Studios’ Sword of the Stars.   All three have succeeded in developing a cult-like following by offering a unique take on interstellar mayhem.  For example, GalCiv II offers a superior planetary development model, while SotS has a wonderful tech tree.  And, of course, Sins is set in a unique RTS environment. 

Newsflash: the world can be unfair. Okay, most of us knew that already, but it still rankles my sensibilities, especially when it applies to the world of gaming. Case in point:

When Creative Assembly’s Empire: Total War sailed into port, a lot of people were wowed by its snazzy new naval battle engine…and rightly so. At long last, fans of the TW series could see naval battles brought to life in the same stunning detail that they had grown accustomed to seeing during land battles. Unfortunately, I believe that was the only truly worthwhile aspect of E:TW and even then, it was far from perfect.

While E:TW was basking in the limelight, another game featuring tall ships and cannonballs also arrived on the scene. It was Nitro Games’ East India Company. Like Empire, East India Company had a very immersive naval battle component, one I believe actually surpassed Empire in that it gave the player the ability to command a vessel from a first person perspective. Let me assure you that while it is fun to command naval vessels from the third person, it is nothing to actually standing on a pitching deck and watching cannonballs fly over your head and tear into your sails!

Bohemia Interactive has released a video introducing the Army of Takistan, the second faction in the forthcoming standalone expansion pack, Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead.

According to the press release, the Takistani Army is equipped with a mixture of Cold-War-era equipment of both Eastern and Western bloc origin, supplied during the interregnum of 1988-91. Local or supreme warlords command and control military manpower across local tribal forces. Several main factions control military vehicles and aircraft either stolen from or supplied by the Soviets; however, their numbers and capabilities are limited.

"Armed with FN FALs, AKS-74s rifles, PKMs and other personal weapons, soldiers usually wear distinct steel helmets and khaki or lizard-patterned uniforms; special military police forces also wear black turbans. The Takistan army chiefly employs Soviet Cold-War era vehicles: T-34, T-55 and T-72 tanks, BRDM-2 personnel carriers, UAZ cars and V3S trucks. Military vehicles are painted in irregular amorphous-shaped fields of desert yellow and dark green."