Master of Magic Classic
The best game of my life came to Steam.
I’ve been playing Master of Magic since it first came out in ‘94. I was in middle school back then, I think my dad mail ordered the game for me and my brother as a gift. I played it over and over. I played it even after I got the Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, PS 2, 3, 4, signed up for WoW classic, BC, FT, got the Elder Scrolls series, and until last year, after I learned about the Caster of Magic mod.
I’ll just say that it fundamentally changed my life. I’ve developed a strong preference for fantasy themed games, novels and even board games and strategy games. I’ve read many fantasy novels and light novels, even wrote some, and went on to play fantasy-themed RPG’s and simulations like HOMM series and Baldur’s Gate series. But still, even after literally 25 years of challenge, Master of Magic is still the best game ever for me.
– Real player with 425.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Fantasy Games.
Unfortunately there have been severe changes to the base game. I will detail the changes I think are not in keeping with the spirit of the original game.
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Very little reward from claiming towers etc. Now all you get is mainly mana, money and some rubbish item.
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The AI can see everything and exploits that advantage whereas the player has to actually scout the terrain. The AI uses its unfair sight advantage to hunt down your units that it couldn’t possibly be able to see if it wasn’t cheating.
– Real player with 330.0 hrs in game
X-COM: UFO Defense
Super game! One of the true classics, and - according to me - one of the best games still in modern times!
Note: A patch openxcom.org fixes pretty much all of the bad usability issues in the original game. This is probably a must-have if you are going to enjoy the game today.
This game is super for people who likes strategy and management. Unlike the later series of X-Com (partly but mainly after Apocalypse (game #3)), the features of the game has been overly simplified to make the game suit a much wider audience. This game, however, is the real deal… superb for those who like a good challenge and the management involved.
– Real player with 177.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Sci-fi Games.
There are games that are good. There are games that make you addicted. Then there is XCOM…
It’s the end of the 20th century. In response to growing alien threat, few governments decide to fund and XCOM organisation, solely dedicated to neutralising forementioned threat. Player becomes Commander of the force.
Game consists of two levels. On the Geoscape, you manage bases, research (come on, all this sweet loot left by deceased gray cabbage. I know you want it.), manufacture and more. Starting with single base (preferably western europe, you have radar coverage over whole Europe, part of Russia and Northen Afrcia), few soldiers and fighters equipped with conventional terrestial weapons. It is sufficient for the first few weeks, but after recovering UFOs and aliens, both dead and in custody, you will get better equipment: Laser weapons with unlimited ammo, powerful plasma-based armament, durable armors, UFO-looking fighters or even possibility to make your soldiers use their Psionical abilities against aliens. But to get this, you need to get some UFOs down. Send an Interceptor, and use his persuasive rockets to make aliens crash. Then, Tactical level starts.
– Real player with 154.3 hrs in game
Cossacks: Back to War
I still remember when I got the game, it was an accident…
My friend gave me a demo cd with a bunch of games on it and cossacks: back to war was one of em.
I kept play that one demo mission again and again…
I think STILL this is the best strategy game of all time, it amazes me how you can control thousands, big cities and navy fleets.
And it takes hundreds of hours to finish the game because there is so much missions in it and of course an editor too.
And this strategy game is unique because the game mechanics are so different than most of the other strategy games, you dont have to rush for resources, there is always a few mine places around you where you can get the resources from.
– Real player with 260.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy RTS Games.
12 years ago, I had an interesting 2v2 battle (online PVP).
It lasted 9 hours.
9 FRICKING HOURS.
Had to call in sick just to finish the game.
–– EDITED + CONTINUATION STORY, 10 Sept 2019 —-
So what happened?
Well, in that particular PVP match, my friend and I had lost a large-scale engagement after a mis-timed assault, resulting in me losing most of my infantry, mercenaries, and cavalry.
Sensing the end the match, our opponents gleefully taunted us (in-game text chat) and relentlessly fobbed themselves over an easy victory.
– Real player with 184.5 hrs in game
Worms
There are so many versions of Worms out there but the original is the one with–-
*Less cartoony graphics - pixel art here instead of smooth cartoons.
*Fewer items - you have a good selection of weapons, but the most exotic items are the exploding sheep and banana bomb - no Holy Hand Grenade, Carpet Bomb or jet pack in this version.
*Less polish - sound effects are fuzzy and the menus are a bit unwieldy.
*Worse AI - computer characters never use ropes, spam the teleport awkwardly, get stuck behind cover and never ever miss with ranged weapons.
– Real player with 18.5 hrs in game
i love womes and have been playing since i had it on my sega mega drive (similar to this version), while i have not played much of the newer ones - this version is simple at it’s best:
quick to start a game
no long loading times
fun short sharp matches
pleanty of weapons (not as much as later games of course)
pleanty of fun teams including teedies and waterloo (based on abba)
i really love this game - and i know some people might not like using the dosbox emulator - but for me (windows 7) works very nicely, with minimum errors
– Real player with 13.9 hrs in game
Heroes® of Might & Magic® III - HD Edition
Just get the original and the free 3rd party patch that ups it to HD. Then you can have all the maps, all the expansions and all the 3rd party mods. If you get back into this great game you’ll regret wasting the money on this version. It wouldn’t be so bad if they came out with the expansions already but my understanding this was a slighty rebrushing of the original w/o the expacs available. You can get all the expac maps converted to this edition but many of them also have bugs (i’m guessing when an expac item or monster you run into causes a total crash, which you can go in and delete but then you got to start the map over, not great for multiplayer).
– Real player with 341.4 hrs in game
Not worth paying for it.
The achievement list is kind of cool, but who really wants to play 10 maps on every difficulty.
When you can buy H3 Complete on GoG and get the HD Mod instead, why bother just playing Restoration of Erathia.
I wish I never paid for this.
– Real player with 111.1 hrs in game
Z
I recommend the original Z, as far as I’m concerned it is the father of COH games, so it must work and the original works VERY WELL. If you have the original Z CD, do yourself a favour and keep it - you wont get a better Z experience.
This piece of junk works well at achieving what Z did and then BREAKS it further: it has numerous ' bugs’ or examples of things that are really frustrating I shall try to list them, but the problem is the design of the game as well as it’s workings.
-As an RTS, there are no key bindings other than the mouse buttons
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
“If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it’s run over by a car, you don’t want it.”
~ALF
First of all, what is Z? Well, let’s just say that when I was a kid, we didn’t have Company of Heroes. We had Z. Aside from the fact that Z takes a humorous approach and cutscenes here are some sort of mix between Ninja Turtles, ALF and Starcrash, heavily focused on robots, Z is pretty much it – an early game in Company of Heroes genre. You capture the flags, you produce units and you destroy enemy stronghold (tower) to win the level. Pretty basic, but addicting stuff. And like Company of Heroes, Z always looked good. Even though it was released only one year after legendary Command & Conquer, it looked way, way superior. Vehicles used to leave traces on the ground, your troops used to shoot some fauna for fun (a lot of funny effects included), there were funny animated portraits and heck, there were even destructible landscape elements! In other words, like I said, this game is pretty much Company of Heroes from 90s. In a comedy-oriented settings. And I sure have a lot of good memories about it. I mean, let’s just admit it – it was one of those games that every RTS fan had on his or her computer back in the days. So, what the heck with a thumb down review? Let me explain.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Annals of Rome
As with others here, I played this intensively when it originally came out. Back then the interface was nothing particularly unusual, and even today it isn’t difficult, just clumsy - it takes about 5 minutes to get used to it. There are certainly a few issues with it, primarily related to the display of information at appropriate times - it’s hard to play without making any separate notes (you pretty much have to keep track of the loyalty values of your available commanders, as that is only visible on the screen before you make decisions about who to assign where). But that isn’t anywhere near enough to outweigh the cleverness of the design and the fun value of trying to shepherd your Republic through dictatorship and the inevitable empire, trying to keep it alive through the ups and downs of barbarian migrations and rival nations waxing and waning. An amazing game considering the technical limitations it was created under.
– Real player with 51.7 hrs in game
Great classic game!
– Real player with 10.0 hrs in game
Deadlock II: Shrine Wars
I played this game a long time ago. My CD was defective so I never got to finish it. As years went bye I forgot almost all about it, even the name of the game, except for one thing: the diplomacy was just hilarious. Then I found the game here by chance and sure thing went ahead and got me a copy. The diplomacy, as I recalled, is hilarious indeed. But more than that, might be the best diplomacy feature I’ve ever seen. It’s not an afterthought as in many games or just something to declare war or peace or trade stuff as with many other games, there is an strategy you must understand for each thing and each race, so is complex. But the most enjoyable thing are the many choices to banter between you and the other aliens.
– Real player with 53.9 hrs in game
Edit: 6/15/17 - I have SUCCESSFULLY made this game work with windows 10 (this will require a patch) and played a multiplayer game between a windows 7 computer and a windows 10 computer (which may require a VPN). Instructions on both these items are below the review.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
This game has fantastic strategic depth, and is a very good single-player game. As far as mechanics, it is a 4x game where several alien species land on a single planet, and then battle it out for global domination. You build up your colony, expand and colonize additional areas, build an army and fight with your enemies. Fairly simple at its core, but what makes it special is that this basic formula is done just right.
– Real player with 42.7 hrs in game
Lords of the Realm
This is a gem from 1994. I point that out because games back then cared less about teaching you how to play in game and instead wanted you to figure things out by reading the manual. Watch a how to play video on youtube or something.
Starting this game can seem difficult with not fully understanding what to do. But once you figure it out and start your campaign the game is so rewarding. There is a large mix of gameplay that you can dive into. Given that a large portion of the game is focused on seige warfare and resource management it can sometimes feel like a slow grind but overall it’s a great game.
– Real player with 35.0 hrs in game
რამდენადაც ვიცი ეს Total War-ობდა სანამ Total War ი-Total War-ებდა (სამჯერ ჩქარა თქვი XD). ყოველშემთხვევაში, ყველა 90-ანელს აქვს თამაში რომელიც ნოსტალგიას იწვევს. ეს ის თამაში არაა, it’s a tribute. უფრო სწორად პირველი ნაწილი იმ თმაშის. ბავშვობაში არ ვიცოდი რა ერქვა და მე და ჩემი ძმა “ოჩესფუ”-ს ვეძახდით, ბრძოლისას არსებული უნიტების “Archers Pull (ან Full)” -ის გამოთქმების ბავშვური ინტერპრეტაცია. ბევრი ვეძებე ადრე მარა სახელის გარეშე გამიჭირდა პოვნა და ოი როგორ გამიხარდა სთიმზე რომ აღმოვაჩინე სრულიად შემთხვევით. XD ვიტყოდი რომ ერთ-ერთი რთული თამაშია რაც კი ოდისმე მითამაშია, უფრო სწორად რომ ვთქვათ სწავლაა ძნელი და გრძელი. მოკლედ შემდეგი მსხვერპლისაკენ.
– Real player with 29.1 hrs in game
Across the Rhine
This is an interesting one, i have a real fondness for this game, it was trying to be like Harpoon but for ww2 western front tank combat. unless you have a love for retro games and all the difficulties they present UI wise some of them, you wont like this one. It offers the option to play at just a platoon level up to companies and battalions - at the platoon level, there is no much you can do. You can deviate from teh rest of the company but if you do so you will likely be destroyed as soon as you come across the enemy. it offers a 3d sim window but it is a novelty at most- you wont be able to get close enough to see the enemy before they destroy you, so its better to leave gunnery up to the AI unless you are with alot of support.
– Real player with 33.1 hrs in game
I would definitely recommend this game it has come out before I was born. the depth and realism of it is great even tho its retro as long as you can get past the old old graphics I really do recommend this game
10/10
Would lose my whole platoon defending a point again!
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game