CB Games coming out of the Doldrums

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[MaxKos]

   For most of this year the new releases have focussed on mindless FPS and RPG titles (I like RPG in moderation but they become repetitive, just in different surroundings) but in the last month or so there seems to be a flicker of life in our genre, reading through the posts there is some interesting stuff going on. The news on "From Dust" sounds especially tasty, will definitely give that a whirl and have a look at "Haven and Hearth" and "Xemerys" too.

In September I got into Age of Empires 3 and the expansion and really enjoyed it (Missed it the first time round thinking it was one of those rapid age up and fight games like Empire Earth 2 which to my mind are too unrealistic to make sense.) Reloaded - Earth 2160 which is space station building and waging war on various planets, (good graphics for 2006) got Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity Edition but haven't committted to it yet and Rise & Fall Civilizations at War - good graphics, nice gameplay. Then out of curiosity loaded Settlers 7 ( I gave up in May because it wouldn't play through the router, just the modem, leaving the rest of the network twiddling its thumbs) and low and behold patched to v1.10 and straight in, no messing around - someone at Ubi has waved the magic wand and server/network problems seem to have been fixed, that and far fewer people playing. After playing the campaign and some Skirmish games can't help feeling its hard work, its like 3D Chess not really relaxing because what with Victory Points and keeping an eye on production lines, there's little time to enjoy it. I'm still waiting for a really in depth Medieval City Building Game where free build, lines of production, trade, agriculture, metal working, road making et al are incooperated. I'm cogitating over Patrician 1V because I remember Port Royale 2 which I didn't enjoy and after reading lacklustre reviews on East India Company which is similar to Pat 1V is on hold at the moment

Good news about Stronghold 3 - better 3D and graphics and free placement of buildings looks good. Dungeons which is a modern take on Dungeon Master in 3D with a twist looks like fun ( I wish they would realise that adults play games too and allow some adult humour to enter the game environment) Dawn of Fantasy is progressing nicely, its going to involve a serious full on city builder offline and when the player is ready can be taken online to battle at will, fingers crossed, too many false Dawns in the past! Its been in development since circa 2004.

Well that's all folks

Mac                      

[wizaerd]

There was a posting a while ago on the Dawn of Fantasy official forums that the single player aspect of the game will not feature the full on city builder or empire management, that it was going to be nothing more than skirmishes (different types or modes of skirmishes, but still only skirmishes), in which case I lost interest in it.  Although, I am still a bit excited about their editor.  But the focus of the game is the MMORTS online kingdom/empire management, of which I have little to no interest in myself.

[EDIT]
Found the posting: http://www.reverieworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1433

"Essentially, Kingdom Wars is a Risk-style map with a mix of Skirmish and MMORTS gameplay elements to create a new, action-packed experience. We've taken the epic siege warfare, continuous army progression, army construction, and World Map from the Online Kingdom mode and paired it with an intelligent AI, while leaving out city construction, economic management, questing, and field combat to promote fast-paced action at every turn."

[MaxKos]

Ah! Thanks for that Wizaerd

That diminishes my interest in it also as it was the city building side of things that I was interested in (building a fortified town with production lines) then taking it online if and when the player was ready. its been in development for ages and although they are in discussion with a producer nothing announced as yet. The producer has probably told them to prune it down a bit to make it viable because I always thought they were being over ambitious. I'll get the new LionHeart game by Neocore when the price drops a bit, set in the Crusades with castle sieging and economy and nice graphics.

Oh that reminds me Q1 2011 The Sims Medieval is coming out and although I'm not a Sims fan this one is different with building, economy and improving one's lot in life, caught a glimpse on Gamespot looks interesting.

Took a punt on East India Company last night(Only £3.49 on Amazon) because Gamespot had updated their review, with the new patches and free Director's cut extra content makes for a better game, plus need this for the expansion - Privateer which really puts some zing into this trading game.

Well with a bit of rooting around it looks like we will all find something to keep us out of mischief

Regaards

Mac 

[wizaerd]

I hadn't looked into Simes Medievil to much, but I thought I had heard there was no building in it, that the castles were pre built.  You could decorate them however you wanted, but there was no "build" mode, although I could be mistaken.  I'll take a look around and see what I can find...

[EDIT]
Found it:  http://kotaku.com/5617022/sims-medieval-doesnt-stray-far-from-its-roots

"As with The Sims 3, players will be able to customize the objects and items in the game. They won't, however, be able to change the basic structure or shape of the buildings."

[MaxKos]

Not to worry, it looks interesting, will give it a try when it comes out. There was more information on the game "From Dust," the more I see of this title the more intrigued I've become, plenty of innovation, visuals look outstanding and the village life looks good. The thing that struck me on this GameFest 2010 was the amount of crap they were proudly proclaiming, will they never tire of hack n' slash or shoot em up. However you dress up FPS its the same old thing in a different stage setting ad infinitum, ad nausea.

[wizaerd]

Well then Max, I'm going to be looking for a review from you on it...     I just cannot fathom playing a Sims game without building.  Many people I know don't even "play" the Sims, but use it to build houses and decorate...  In fact I recently re-loaded Sims 3 on the PC, got the expansions, and waiting for one specific mod to get updated, Dexter - The Serial Killer mod, and then will start playing it again...

[City Builder]

I'm that way, I only play the sims to build buildings and decorate them.  For me the actual 'sim' is only a rag doll that I use as a tool to see the flow of the house and make sure that the sim can access everything.  I too couldn't even fathom a Sims game without being able to build, it just wouldn't interest me.

[Henry]

From Dust doesn't so much look like a city building game as a terrain building game.  I hope the villages are controlled by the player, I like the egg-huts.  I also hope they do something interesting with it, because I will get tired after 30 minutes of planting trees and then burning them with lava.