Battle Bugs
Game of my childhood. Still very good in 2021, a bit too easy, but super fun to play. And the idea of you being a general of an army of insects fighting another army of insects for cakes and pizza that some guy forgot on his dining table is very cool.
Game is made with a lot of attention to details wchich is common for 90’s games. Every insect has it’s own abilities and powers but also it’s own animations for moving, attacking, dying etc. There is plenty of humor here, it is not the top class humor, but it’s okay considering how old the game is. Overall very addictive and fun, I am so happy to play it again. If you are an old gamer and want to show somebody what games looked like in 90-s this is a good example of it.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best RTS Pixel Graphics Games.
Definitely bought this for the nostalgia. Its a great game though. Starts out really easy so you can understand the basic concepts then starts to get more challenging. Good game for a child to get an idea of how older games used to be. Its got childish humor and cartoon graphics and it will help build critical thinking skills without being overly complicated. You have to use the manual in additional content section in steam to get past the start screen guard rhinobugs.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
XO
(I backed this game on Kickstarter, and helped out with alpha and beta testing…)
XO has a lovely mix of tactics and strategy within a relatively short three to five hour game run. But learning XO well enough to survive that final run will take you much longer. It’s a game to be played many times as you learn more about the ships, the factions, the enemies, weapons and circumstances. Each time you’ll learn how to survive longer, how to make better use of the ships, systems and resources you encountered, and how to better choose through the event paths in order to win faction allies as you go.
– Real player with 89.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best RTS Roguelite Games.
I’ll split this review to what I enjoyed and what I did not.
What I enjoyed
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You really get the feeling of trying to build together a rag-tag fleet of military and civilian ships, fleeing away from a seemingly unstoppable enemy while building up your arsenal, firepower and the capacity to support your fleet. Awesome feeling. :)
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Lots of interesting concepts, boarding, resource harvesting, different kinds of weapons to counter different enemies. Really enjoyed different weapons, upgrades, ship types, keeping civilians in cargo holds (then performing a crew transfer to abandoned/disabled ships) and the ability build up my fleet. :D
– Real player with 51.9 hrs in game
Original War
Brilliant game! Really well done RTS with RPG elements, with similarities to the Jagged Alliance or Commandos series. It felt a little slow paced and odd initially, but it quickly grew on me.
Instead of “building” infantry units in barracks like most other RTS games you have to work with the units you have. You’re always outnumbered, and to make up for it you must focus on resource management (gathering crates and building oil and siberite refineries), research and upgrades, and of course you have to plan your attacks so that you don’t lose units. It makes the game more exciting, involving and harder, and for people like me it adds a ton of replay value, since I wanted to beat the game with no characters losses. They won’t “resurrect”, so if you lose an important character you will miss out of dialogue, and you have to pick a weaker generic character and train it.
– Real player with 148.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best RTS Singleplayer Games.
One of the most fun and conceptually interesting RTS games I’ve ever played. It’s an Original War in more than name.
The Good Things:
Good mix of RTS and RPG mechanics. Humans are a limited resource, they do not respawn and you do not receive more than you start with. Each character can gain experience in 4 classes and can change between classes at any time in the appropriate building, retaining his experience. Some things (construction, vehicles, turrets) can be automated, removing the need for a human pilot, but computer-controlled entities are slower, shabbier and do a lot less damage than those controlled by a skilled human operator. You must always find a balance between risking irrepleaceable human staff and wasting resources on suboptimal AI control.
– Real player with 139.2 hrs in game
Supreme Commander
Imagine a 6 year old boy just learning how play video games being sat down and shown this game. giant robots, lasers, cannons, etc… It boggled my 6 year old mind. I spent much of my early childhood playing this game on my brothers steam account. of course as i got older i moved onto other things such as minecraft because i had no friends my age who played strategy games like i did. as time went on i eased back into strategy games such as Civ 5, hearts of iron, men of war, planetary anhilliation. Then i met a friend in 7th grade that had the same love of strategy games like i did. He had just moved from florida to wisconsin and i was the first friend he had at school. Him and i were sort of bullied and we grew very close. I later learnt that he loved the game supreme commander as i did. i bought the game for my own steam account and the game that fostered my love of video games and strategy was soon remembered. He and i spent hours going home after school and playing this game. unfortunetly as i graduated i moved to california and he moved to virginia. Me and my friend slowly stopped playing video games as my friend had started switching to consul games. by the time i was in california i had stopped playing supreme commander again and played other games. then about 1 month ago i saw my supreme commander game in the top left corner of the screen. i clicked on it and the nostalgia came flooding in. this game helped me evolve into what i am today. I sat there thinking back to playing this game when i was little but sucking at it, but i remember having a blast. then i remembered my friend from middle school, how we came so close, the drifted so far away. I will always cherish this game, i will always remember this game for the true joy it gave me. i dont know if anyone will read this review considering it is 2019 now, but if there is someone out there who reads this, just know that this game is special and i want you and everyone else to experience it. if you want to play against me sometime add me on steam and send me a message or on discord Bashar al-Assad#8760
– Real player with 253.9 hrs in game
The spiritual successor to Total Annihilation. If you loved playing T.A. back in the day, then you’ll feel right at home.
9 out of 10 - A phenomenal RTS game that, in my opinion, is far better than other titans in the genre. It may not have the graphics or popularity that Starcraft does, but the overall mechanics, maps, economy, and general gameplay feel much more polished (please don’t @ me). Who wouldn’t want to watch 250+ tanks, submarines, gunships, bombers, assault bots, and warships obliterate each other in a tremendously satisfying fashion? Seriously, maybe check out a random ‘Let’s Play’ video on YouTube if you’re interested.
– Real player with 80.7 hrs in game
Creeper World 2: Anniversary Edition
Another classic I played many times on Kongregate.com. This takes the concept from the first game and gives you a sideview perspective rather than a top down, and it also adds new toys to destroy Creeper with. The missions get progressively harder as you go on and you aren’t always allowed the luxury of consolidating your power before going on the offensive. It’s a tactical and strategic masterpiece of a game wherein it seems simple on the surface but becomes very complex as the game goes on. Furthermore you learn to anticipate the unexpected and make ready for it. You also learn to restrain your desire to build everything at once and maximize your energy usage to build more efficiently to deal with rampages, particularly the drones that spawn on the later maps. Probably one of the best additions to the game that wasn’t present in the original was the inclusion of conversion bombs, which allow you to turn pools of creeper into your own anti-creeper lakes. This can come in extraordinarily handy at times, though the missions that this wonderful tool exists are counted on the fingers of one hand. Still, the thing that really made this game different from the first other than the perspective was the inclusion of the Nullifier weapon which lets you destroy the Creeper Emitters and spawn-gates for the drones and phantoms. No longer do you just have to perform lockdown, now you can actually destroy the sources directly.
– Real player with 117.2 hrs in game
Have you played any of the Creeper World games? Do you like Tower Defense, RTS or Puzzle games? Do you like games that are easy to pick up, but have a difficulty curve that can ramp up to 11? Then the odds are you will like this game.
If you haven’t played any of the other Creeper World games, the main premise is that there is Creeper (purple goo) that wants to destroy everything. It flows like water, seeping in and punishing you for not paying attention to what seems like a few pixels that you thought wouldn’t be a problem. You have to protect a base, make buildings to produce energy and then make weapons to destroy the Creeper.
– Real player with 73.5 hrs in game
Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece
Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece Review
Nostalgia Goggles Factor: Very Low
Bug Factor: Low
Crash Factor: Crashless
Replay Factor: Low
Developed by only a handful of people, Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece is a pausable RTS game and logistics food management simulator set in the age of the destructive Peloponnesian war and the rise of Philip II’s Kingdom of Macedon. Wonderful game for any history buffs out there.
The Good
- Three scenarios; Philip II of Macedon, which is also the tutorial, the Archidamian War and the Ionian War.
– Real player with 191.0 hrs in game
I bought this during the summer sale but it well worth the standard price. Its a simple concept (raise troops, pay them, feed them, attack your neighbors) but finding the right balence makes it much more complex than you might think. Definitely a different spin than any of the other strategy games you might also be playing, EUIV, Total War, CKII.
- Supply Lines/Logistics- Your cities each have a predetermined number of trade routes based on the economic power of that city. Some have 2, some have 16. These can connect to farms (which produce food, with varying amounts for each season), mines (which produce gold when worked by workers or slaves captured in battle), and they connect to other cities. Food moves along these routes with different capacities based on how long it is. Some routes that are very close (like a city to the farm next to it) can carry up to 100 a week and longer routes usually start at a base level of 15 per week, but can be upgraded by paying gold. Your units replentish their losses only if they are on one of these supply lines.
– Real player with 138.9 hrs in game
ShemHaMephorash
A historical low fantasy strategy game surrounding the Great Game and Golem technology at the end of the 19th century
Long ago, humankind received special grace in the form of “words.”
“ShemHaMephorash”, which moves clay dolls and gives them miracles, supported civilization.
In addition, the world called and praised the people who manipulated that special power as “Scribe (Rabbi).”
Over the years, humankind has been devoted to battle, just like historical facts, and rabbis has been deeply involved in battle.
That didn’t change during the 1878 Afghanistan’s war and The Anglo-Russian Great Game.
Now, at the crossroads of civilization,
lead your chosen nation to victory and unravel the mystery hidden in the miraculous language “ShemHaMephorash” while following the stories of the rabbis.
■ Game system
This game is a derivative of the strategy game “Vahrentuga”, which consists of a turn-based strategy phase and an RTS-style tactical phase set in the Second Anglo-Afghan War that broke out in 1878.
The purpose of the basic game is to expand your territory and use the income from that territory to take advantage of the battle and keep your army alive until the end of the story.
In addition, you must achieve the victory conditions set for each story.
- At the lowest difficulty level, you can ignore this victory condition.
■ Strategy phase
In the Strategic Phase, you can hire soldiers, select territories to attack, deploy defense forces, and improve territories as use special compartments.
The most important thing in battle is a stable logistics.
Let’s prepare the military and domestic affairs suitable for the war situation and steadily grow the power.
■ Tactical phase
In the tactical phase, RTS-style battles that mainly combine four types of infantry, artillery, cavalry, and rabbi are fought.
Your tactics can easily overturn sometimes inferior situations.
■ About operability
Basic operations can be performed with just the mouse and space key,
and in the tactical phase, you can operate each unit while pausing the game at any time.
Victory At Sea Pacific
Dev activity
They’re quite active. They reply promptly to direct contact on the Discord and are equally ready to implement suggestions into the game. Most notably when it comes to expanding modding support. Some reviews claim the game is dead or the devs have run off so the patch history follows.
9-14-2018 Public release, 9-19-2018 Patch 1.0.4, 9-20-2018 Patch 1.0.5, 9-25-2018 Patch 1.0.6, 9-28-2018 Patch 1.0.7, 10-5-2018 Patch 1.1, 10-11-2018 Patch 1.1.1, 10-18-2018 Patch 1.1.2, 10-26-2018 Patch 1.1.3, 10-30-2018 Patch 1.1.4, 11-8-2018 Patch 1.1.5, 11-23-2018 Patch 1.2 (introduced modding), 11-26-2018 Patch 1.2.0p2, 11-27-2018 Patch 1.2.0p3, 12-17-2018 Patch 1.2.1, 12-20-2018 Patch 1.2.1p3, 12-21-2018 Patch 1.2.1p4, 1-9-2019 Patch 1.2.2, 1-11-2019 Patch 1.2.2p1, 1-23-2019 Patch 1.2.3, 3-4-2019 Patch 1.3.1 Royal Navy added, 4-2-2019 Patch 1.4 Custom battles, 6-19-2019 Patch 1.5 Minor factions, 10-30-2019 Patch 1.6, 11-4-2019 Patch 1.6.1, 11-13-2019 Patch 1.6.2, 2-6-2020 Patch 1.7, 2-7-2020 Patch 1.7.0p1, 2-26-2020 Patch 1.7.1
– Real player with 181.7 hrs in game
As someone who really want’s to like this game, and I truly do want to like it, I’m sorry to say that I can’t really recommend this game in it’s current state. The gameplay is fine and can be fun, specifically when your right up in the action having the ship maneuver to avoid torpedoes and air attacks, and launching submarine attacks on convoys and task forces.
But while the core gameplay is really solid, the fact that it is so filled with bugs and glitches makes it really difficult to enjoy what’s there. Ships can just disappear from a taskforce, even though it is possible to find their models and still click and control them manually. I’ve had a case where I lost an entire taskforce of submarines to limbo because of a glitch despite the fact I was able to use said submarines to sink a flotilla’s worth of destroyers. I’ve had a similar case where I lost three battleships to limbo when I tried to control them manually.
– Real player with 133.5 hrs in game
Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal
Creeper World is technically a tower defence game, but unlike any other you’ve played before.
In a normal tower defence game (and even abnormal awesome ones like Defender’s Quest ) you’ll have enemies coming towards a point or object you’re defending and you’re tasked with fending them off by placing towers either along a pre-defined path or by creating that path using walls or the towers themselves (this is known as ‘mazing’).
– Real player with 126.8 hrs in game
At the Time of Writing
Game: Creeper World III
Price: $16.99*
Genre: Tower Defence/Strategy
Time Played: 2 hours
Personal Enjoyment Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ (out of 5)
Links I Found Helpful**
Game maker (Knuckle Cracker) website has demo downloads. http://knucklecracker.com/common/demo.php
A Youtube review by quill18http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlJ5FmjL_7g
– Real player with 78.1 hrs in game
Particle Fleet: Emergence
TLDR; Awesome game…get it!
I first discovered the KnuckleCracker games with CreeperWorld 1 on some flash games site. At first the game looked pretty basic and simplistic, but I soon found out that was far from correct. Fast forward a few more years to Creeper World 3 (CW3) and I was stunned not just by the game itself, but by the community of map builders. Virgil (the developer of the games) had introduced a scripting language to allow players to create practically anything they could imagine within the world.
– Real player with 201.0 hrs in game
TL;DR. A nice RTS, in the mold of previous games from the same developer, but different enough that you won’t feel you’ve paid twice for the same product.
If you were a fan of Creeper World (any one of the 3), you may be disappointed. There is no Creeper in this game. “Wot?”, I hear you say, “A Knuckle Cracker game with no Creeper? That’s an abomination!”
Maybe so. But remember there was not always Creeper, and maybe there will not be always Creeper - in the CW3 story, there were references to other, long-forgotten races, the Ticon and the Seloi. Maybe they too have stories. Maybe there was (or will be, or always has been) things that were not Creeper and that were hostile. Maybe they were not explicitly hostile - after all, if we need a canoe, are we explicitly hostile to the entities that occupied the ecosystem of that tree that we need for the canoe?
– Real player with 172.9 hrs in game