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26
Jan

BPGE #35 – Baldur’s Gate

Our last fantasy RPG was way back at episode 11 where we played Ultima. Lucky for us we break out of the typical shooters from the past few weeks with another RPG called Baldur’s Gate. The game is based on an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ruleset like the majority of role-playing games at the time. What made the game different from others was the strong emphasis on story and dialogue with other characters. Not only was this well done, BioWare handled it in such a way that you can see a direct evolution from Baldur’s Gate in their latest titles like Mass Effect 2.

25
Jan

BPGE #34 – Total Annihilation

Like most of the games on this list, Total Annihilation did something special compared to every other real-time strategy at the time. One of the most obvious would be the massive scale battles where you could have up to 5,000 units on the map at the same time. Another neat thing was how the resources where handled in this game. Instead of having harvesters going to work, Total Annihilation depends on structures which provide a steady stream of metal and energy. What makes this mechanic interesting and complex is the fact that different structures and building units will have different rates at which they consume both resources. Overall, what do I think about this game after all these years? While there is a definite nostalgia factor, I would have to recommend the much more modern Supreme Commander.

20
Jan

BPGE #33 – Fallout 2

As usual, today is the third and final video of the week. Today’s game is an open world RPG called Fallout 2. The game is based on an alternative history which started around 1950. With a scare in resources, almost all technology ground to a halt as nuclear power was needed for survival. This scare in resources would eventually lead to all out nuclear wars in the 2070’s where most of the United-States became a barren wasteland. You begin your quest in this post-apocalyptic world about 150 years later where the effects have only just started to settle down.
19
Jan

BPGE #32 – Dungeon Keeper

Dungeon Keeper is quite the interesting real-time strategy. It features all the mechanics from your typical RTS, but the way those mechanics are packaged and presented is totally unique. I really enjoyed playing this game, and it is quite easy to pickup too. As this is a video series, I will let the visuals do the explanation.
18
Jan

BPGE #31 – Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far

Continuing our weekly series, we kick off this week with Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far. The game is a real-time strategy which focuses heavily on squad based tactics. To focus on the tactical aspect the game is paced very slow, so much that your patience will be tested several times. Close Combat does have several other tactical elements such as stealth and line of sight which will hide enemy units until they come into vision. The art style does help hide units in the environment which can make them very difficult to see. Overall the game does have several neat ideas, however it’s pacing and heavy focus on slow and long-term strategy is not my kind of game.
13
Jan

BPGE #30 – Blade Runner

We wrap up the week with today’s video on Blade Runner. The game is a point-and-click adventure game that heavily relies on your detective work. Your first task is to investigate a pet store where several animal where murdered. Due to the rarity of real animals in this universe, the crime would almost equate to killing a human. Within minutes of playing around, I got sucked into the game and it’s universe. The sharp art style, the fitting atmosphere and some communicative story telling made Blade Runner massively attracting. The game may not be flawless, but an excellent all around execution revealed a previously unknown gem of a game.

12
Jan

BPGE #29 – Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri

In a time where we had classic shooters like Quake release, there where other great games that seemingly flew under the radar. This sci-fi tactical first person shooter was quite different to most games back in the day. It was part of the first generation of true 3D games, but it also was unique as it featured proper open outdoor environments. Despite being well received at the time, Terra Nova was considered a failure. The game went through a long development cycle and in the end it was never able to recover all of it’s costs. While this did not directly result in the company going out of business, it was the beginning of several compounding events which would lead to their demise.

11
Jan

BPGE #28 – Civilization II

And here we are with another week of the best PC games ever. Today we kick things off with a turn based strategy game called Sid Meier’s Civilization II. As you can imagine, the first game in the series had enjoyed moderate success. It’s sequel brought in many new features and improvements which addressed many complaints with the first game which made a great overall game. However being a more recent player of the series, more specifically a Civilization IV and V player, I found myself having issues finding any reason to recommend this game to others. The problem is that while the core mechanics are good, the rest of the game doesn’t really hold up too well these days. In a way that isn’t a bad thing either, it just goes to show how much the improve every new title. In the end if I had to recommend this game I would point you to the latest release, Civilization V.

7
Jan

BPGE #27 – Quake

We end the week with one of the top 3 most important first-person shooters of all time, Quake. Like Doom, iD Software continued to evolve the FPS genre with many new features. It was considered the first full 3D FPS since Descent is arguably more of a flight combat sim than a first-person shooter. They also developed a full TCP/IP network stack for the engine which allowed for easy multiplayer gaming. Best of all was the modding community behind this game.  Before releasing the demo, iD had released something called QTest which was aimed as a tech demo of the upcoming game. Literally overnight there where servers already online and simple mods already uploaded for this tech demo. With that kind of dedication, you can imagine the game was quite a success when released.

If you want to give the game a try, I suggest picking it up on Steam : http://store.steampowered.com/app/2310/

6
Jan

BPGE #26 – MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat

Today on BPGE we get to engage in some mech combat in MechWarrior 2. For starters unless you truly enjoy mech games this is not likely your game. Especially due to it’s age, unless you have a joystick or controller configured you will be in for a surprise with all the controls available to you. Unfortunately time was not kind to the gameplay either, the game feels dated and it doesn’t bring out the fun like it used to. Fortunately for us there is a new MechWarrior in development and if that wasn’t enough, Armored Core V is also in the works.

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