I NEED to get a good sim game.
I don't think my Mac would run one well and I actually prefer them on consoles.
Although they are slightly dumbed down from the PC versions, I prefer controllers and the comfort of my Television rather than a keyboard/touch pad and a laptop screen.
Nice idea for a thread. Let's all join in and discuss games in those genres which we're either playing, or considering etc. like strategy games which generally feel somewhat "light" or user-friendly even if there is a decent level of challenge and a good bit of strategy required. Right now playing Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. And also got into a bit of Plants vs Zombies on the PC.
I can't really get into sim games, nor into city building/management games. The only one I'm considering trying is Anno on the Wii as that one looks kind of streamlined and more suitable for my taste. RTS is another genre I tend to steer clear of nowadays even though I did really enjoy the single player campaigns of WC2/SC/WC3 ... they seemed to be the exceptions for me.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
I remember playing the GBA title. I got pretty far in it, until I reached the final stage (I think). Can't remember why I never finished it. Is this title similar to that one?
My favorite still has to be the Sim City games especially Sim City 4.
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns
ASK_Story said:My favorite still has to be the Sim City games especially Sim City 4.
BTW I tried out SC4 for a couple hours at my inlaws' home, and I was completely hooked. You can drive the tiny cars for fuck's sake! 
I haven't played enough of it to properly feel the vibe of the game, but the little I've played of it has not disappointed me.
SteelAttack said:BTW I tried out SC4 for a couple hours at my inlaws' home, and I was completely hooked. You can drive the tiny cars for fuck's sake!
I was hooked on the series ever since I played the SNES version as a kid. I love SimCity 4 because it's one of those games I can play while I'm working at my desk!
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns
Yep Steel, there are four games (there are more, but four have been translated and got a NA/EU release), two on GBA and two on DS. The basic idea is the same behind all of them, turn based strategy on a grid. There are some variations in the unit sets in each game and there are obviously new maps and scenaria but they play similarly. This is my least favourite out of all four of them mainly because I don't think the darker tone suits the game well. The battles are still fun and engaging but I can't get into the game and take my time to play around and get the most of it like I did with the previous three. I skip all the briefings and all the dialogue so I lose any tips on the strengths/weaknesses of specific units or of each army. You also don't seem to choose COs in this game, nor are there CO powers etc. It's a great series and I highly recommend it if you'd like to play a handheld strategy game but the first three games (Advance Wars, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising and Advance Wars: Dual Strike) are much better than this one.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
I've been slowly chipping away at CivCity's story mode. Right now, I'm busy with my first military assignment. Fending off invaders isn't hard to do, but one of the mission objectives is to have 5 or 6 insulas (upgraded households), and I still can't plant wheat, so I have to import it. That requires building a trade port and a dock, then waiting for like forever to get back a measly amount of wheat for the mills and bakeries. Fortunately, I stopped caring about my vagrants anymore, which allows me to let my city grow at the pace I see fit, instead of trying to acommodate an ever-growing hungry mob. I'm about 8-9 hours in.
Stopped playing CivCity when i started beating games consistently. I'll be back to it soon, but I kinda got discouraged by one military assignment at Saguntum. Damn Hannibal keeps killing my women and raping my men.
However, after playing a few laid back games such as Braid and Broken Sword, I felt like ramping things up a notch and finally started Company of Heroes.
CoH is an RTS game developed by Relic. It does away with most common staples of the genre such as arduous base building, resource hogging and micromanagement at a base level, and favors a dynamic approach that lends itself perfectly for fast paced battles and ever evolving battlefield tactics. I just finished the tutorials, and am about to start the first campaign mission at (where else?) Omaha beach.
Stay tuned.
I bought company of heroes and the first expansion during the steam sale around christmas. i heard so much high praise for this game. i may install it, i've done all one can do on plants vs zombies ... several times over so i should move on i think.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
I'm a good 3 missions in. One thing that stands out from the beginning is how intense this game is. By casting aside the usual "sim city" gameplay that other RTS games tend to have in regards to base and resource management, most of your time is spent on doing battle. Battles are always hard fought, and every road, building or chokepoint is fiercely defended by the AI, in a back and forth struggle that ensures every bit of territory gained makes you feel proud. There is some good variety in units, even at this early stage. Paratroopers, snipers, mortar and machine gun teams are at your disposal to approach every situation in any way you deem fit.
Oh shit. I just survived the Carentan counterattack on CoH. Got cornered on my last building with more than 3 minutes to go before reinforcements arrived. My men fought harder than ever, and Able company arrived with like 3 Shermans in the nick of time, just as the german engie teams started to lay waste on the church I was hiding into using flamethrowers. Then we kicked their asses all the way back to the river.
The game keeps getting harder. But so do I. This is me showing the germans the meaning of hell.
Holy shit this game is kicking my ass. I've restarted mission 8 about three or four times now. I can't keep the strategic point in the middle of a shitty square of a shitty town.
And it's finally finished. The german forces are defeated, and the europan campaign of WWII has been won. Pretty hectic action at times, the game sure kept me on my toes all the way through. Even the last mission ended amidst chaos. I might get back to CivCity, or maybe get some time off strat games for a while.
Well, after installing Children of the Nile (egyptian themed city building game) and considering getting back to CivCity Rome, I started playing Defense Grid: Awakening. DG is a tower defense game, I think I've talked about it before here. You place towers to wipe out aliens an prevent them from stealing your energy cores. It has a good tower and enemy variety, and a few levels in, gameplay really opens up because of the ability to shape up with your towers the paths the aliens are forced to take.
I'm about halfway through the main campaign of Defense Grid. I can't find any faults within this game so far. 10 stages in and I'm still finding new tower designs and enemies. You really have to mix things up with your tower placement unless you want to be caught with your pants down by a swarm of aliens your weapons cannot attack or destroy.
Man, the game really can bitchslap you from time to time. At any rate, I finally beat the main story mode. I fully recommend this game to anyone regardless of prior strategy games background/experience. It is that good.
I'm a little over half way through Defense Grid. Finding it a bit on the hard side. I don't like how you are not allowed any flexibility over your tactics. You need to know the basic strategy you will implement right from the beginning and you are forced to stick to it pretty rigidly and just build on it with minor fine tuning. You are forced to go all in right from the get go without knowing anything about a level except the landscape in front of you. This forces one to retry levels (sometimes many times) using knowledge gained in previous attempts.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Throughout the upcoming year, I plan to finally play a good number of strategy/simulation games I have on my Steam backlog. Said backlog includes games ranging from Sim City 4 to Rome: Total War. this thread will be an attempt to record my impressions as I (hopefully) progress through those games. I intend to play one game to completion before moving onto another one, but I can't really say I'm going to follow that self-imposed rule for sure. At any rate, I'm going to kickstart the thread with my latest addition: CivCity Rome.
CivCity Rome is a city building sim game released on 2006. Developed by Firaxis and Firefly, and published by 2K games. It never really lit the charts on fire, nor garnered critical accolades (maybe rightly so), however, it's a great point of entry for a somewhat complex and sometimes convoluted genre. It has watered down versions of the Civilopedia and tech trees found in the Civilization series, and missions seem to be (so far) pretty simple tasks that give you plenty of breathing room and avoid feeling overwhelmed.
The game's not easy on the eyes, even for 2006 standards. However, it can run on pretty much anything.