Warbanners – Welcome to Difficultville

This is a weird one. I do enjoy the basics of Warbanners, I find the graphics fine, and the mechanics for the most part intriguing, however, the difficulty is just out of this world. I can appreciate that fact to a certain degree, but the older I get, the less time I have to go full autismo mode like in my younger days. With this, I mean the time it takes for a game to go from challenging to tear-out-your-hair frustrating. This usually ends up with me banging my head against a wall, until the one and only perfect strategy forms. My tolerance for that kind of gameplay is almost gone nowadays. There is a subset of gamers that love this kind of Stalingrad -esque difficulty in their games, and I salute them. Crasleen Games surely has made something for them to dig into, but for the rest of us mere mortals…

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USC: Counterforce – Demo Impressions

There is always one guy without a helmet

USC: Counterforce looks like a game that could be made for me considering its theme – space marines fighting aliens in space. Unfortunately, it is not, and left me rather unimpressed. The demo starts with a tutorial that explains one million and a half things, and it all seems rather complex, however, as soon as you know the controls it’s rather basic. You can argue that the classic X-com game is also rather basic, but what that game does that is missing from USC: Counterforce is simulated systems – like weapon projectiles. This makes Counterforce have more in common with the modern iteration of X-com than the original, which is disappointing and makes for pretty boring gameplay.

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SpellForce: Conquest of Eo – First Impressions

Conquest of Eo is a 4X spinoff of the SpellForce series, and initially, my impression was great. But as it turns out, the game seems to have some serious problems in form of difficulty. The first few hours were awesome. It felt like a nice mix between Age of Wonders and Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes. I was happily building up my heroes and doing some general adventuring when something foul and smelly revealed its head. As it turns out, the circle mages, which are powerful opponents, don’t play by the same rules.

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Infested Fortress – Demo Impressions

Tried out Infested Fortress by Bitm e n Studios, and it’s a hybrid of X-com and Dungeon Keeper, set in a medieval fantasy setting. It is similar to their previous game The Storm Guard: Darkness is Coming, but a lot more advanced. While it ticks a lot of my gaming boxes, it comes with a serious problem… just like Storm Guard to be frank. The problem is that it’s way too hard on normal!

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Xenonauts – Illegal Aliens

If I have to pick, I go with the guy with the moustache

I decided to replay Xenonauts in the wait for Xenonauts 2, and I can’t say I regret my time spent. The game, which I think copies a little too much from X-com to a fault, still provides a grand old time for X-com aficionados like me. The main standout is the time period. The 80s iron curtain setting is a phenomenal pick for the backdrop and makes the game ooze with atmosphere. It just feels right, story, setting, and weapons/tech. And with the provided prequel novel Crimson Dagger that set the stakes, you just can’t go wrong here. Xenonauts is made by Goldhawk Interactive, and currently, they are busily working on a sequel.

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