It is really tough to update a game classic such as Master of Orion 2. This is a noble attempt that almost, almost, captures the excitement and playability of the original. It plays almost like the original with updated graphics, more races, and more involved empire building. It look best if you play it on a large monitor because it requires more screen space than the original, but a 13" laptop will suffice. Some of the best changes to game play seem to have been borrowed from another of my favorite 4x games that is no longer available, 'Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain'. And one the worst ideas was that this new version concentrates more on space battles than the original. I really liked the idea that you could win the original MOO 2 with much less use of space combat. The new MOO is well worth your time but keep in mind the the original MOO 2 still works on most modern Macs, if you can find a copy, and if you don't mind the fuzzy graphics.
An interesting concept that quickly gets difficult as well as boring. The puzzles are often very hard to figure out because the 'clues' are obtuse and practically useless. I cannot see how you can complete this puzzle without some kind of help. This game was priced correctly. It was a freebee.
Europa Universalis IV, like most Paradox games, has a very steep learning curve. Dipping into the game requires a commitment of time and energy that is unlike other strategic games. It helps if you have a good understanding of history and if you are a history fanatic. If you are willing to spend the energy to learn this game system, you will be rewarded with what may be the best computer simulation of history available.
There are many DLCs for the game but you should not tackle them until you develop a good understanding of the game mechanics. Once you learn the game mechanics of this game you will easy transfer your knowledge to other Paradox games.
I don't particularly like real-time RPG and miss the old school turn-based RPG games such as Balder's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights. Older RPG allowed you to think about your actions before committing and to spend more time absorbing the background of the fantasy world you were playing in. Older RPG also let you become more involved in the characters you were playing and allowed you to feel like you knew them as real people. Luckily for us fans, some of the older RPG games have been updated to run on newer computers. Although these updates were great to see, we were still only replaying a game we played before. But now we have something completely new.
'Pillars of Eternity' is a return to old school RPG games and fans should be forever grateful. It is not the only turn-based RPG that has emerged recently (think the Shadowrun series) but it is certainly the most immersive RPG gaming experience you will have to play since the games of the old days.
The storyline is not the usual juvenile hack and slash formula. The characters you meet will tend to be memorable and the developer offers you a fully fleshed-out story that will remind you of a very good fantasy novel.
If you are a fan of the turn-based RPG, you should strongly consider this game. Highy recommended.
There are a number of other 'land the plane at the airport' games that are more fun then this tedious version. To summarize, you land aircraft and hope that they do not crash into each other. No cute graphics as in other games, no bouncy music, and certainly not even close to the reality of what air traffic control is actually like.
It took me a long time to get into this game and, after several days of play, eliminated it from my list of games worth playing. I was attracted to it at first because it was described as a 4X game of eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate which has always been my favorite sub-genre of computer games. The classic 4X game is Master of Orion 2. Other famous 4X games for the Mac are Civilization and Endless Space. Starbase Orion is another very good 4X game for the iPad and other mobile devices. Unfortunately, StarDrive 2 is more of a 1X game and concentrates more on the eXterminate mode more than the other three modes of game play. I like 4X games because the player does not have to rely exclusivey on combat to win the game. True 4X games can be won by economic, diplomatic, and technologic means as well as combat. The multiple paths to victory make 4X games enjoyable for many repeat plays and gives the game a sense of reality as opposed to simple slash and burn. In StarDrive 2, it is only combat that is important. It is a cruel universe out there and all other aliens are your enemies and they will destroy you if you do not kill them off first. With this in mind, the game plays very well as a combat simulator but not as a true 4X game. The heart of the game is actually the older StarDrive 1 in which you are tasked to design and build warships to fight and conquer every other alien species. This section is very good and relies on your abiiity to build combat worthy warships over the game's timeline. The other 3 'X's of this game are there but seems to have been tacked on to the basic game of build, hunt, and destroy. StarDrive 2 is a graphical outstanding game and will you will see quickly that it is an excellent graphic upgrade of Master of Orion. In fact several parts of the game will remind you so much of parts of Master of Orion, Galactic Civiizations, and Imperium Galactica, that you would swear that you played some of these sequences before in those older games which are no longer available or playable on modern computers.
A manual is included but it is not downloadable. The included game tutorial is very good though often hides the game screen beneath it. Luckily the tutorial window can be moved which you will do often. Also, the instructions on game play is incomplete. Nowhere in the manual will you find out how to set the game play computer settings. One setting option that is critical is screen size. The game sets the screen to '1080p'. This is not an option for Mac users and it makes the game unplayable. However all you need to do is press the 'option' key on your keyboard when you start the game to bring up important setting options such as screen display sizes and mouse controls. You may have to fiddle around wih the settings to find the right ones for your Mac.
'Breach and Clear' seems to be part of an unfinished game and not a complete game.
The basic game is an exercise in getting your team to breach a doorway and cleafr the area or rooms of all bad guys. The game is turn based. You are given the task of forming a team of 4 special forces operatives. You choose each member's speciality and individual characteristics like traditional role playing games. When you complete each scenario, the user gets points and cash which can be used to upgrade your characters and purchase new and better equipment. You are also given the option to play with 'real death' of your characters which means that once they are killed, they are gone,
The operation of each character in each mission is a bit tricky. Although you can direct each character's movements, you do not have control over each characters combat actions.
There is no plot or motivation for your assigned missions. There are no instructions or manual. Most operations will be obvious during game play but some ction choices are either missing or hidden within the game. For example, you will search a long time to try to figure out how you take back a movement you have given to your characters. The game is also buggy. When you quit the game, your progress and equipment purchases will often have disappeared when you re-start. Worse, your entire team may also vanish forcing you to create a new team.
This is not a good game. It appears to be incomplete and I suggest that you avoid it. I am no longer listed as a purchaser because I returned the game to the MacGameStore.
'The Promied Land' is a simply enjoyable game in the mold of Virtual Village style games but a lot more fun and less difficult. It is ideal if you want a simple break or want to introduce the young ones to something more complex than Angry Birds. Your colonists arrive in a new land and must build houses, farms, and other constructions. You must find items you need to progress your tiny settlement into a larger one and build up a larger population. Along the way you meet natives, trade with the motherland, and battle pirates. The only negative point I have is that the game has not been updated to run under newer Mac OSes. If you use anything above OS 10.10, you are out of luck.
To be clear, 'Tales From the Borderlands' is like other Telltale games in that it is not a traditional 'game'. it is not likely to attract hardcore gamers who like to shoot things. Borderlands is a animated graphic novel that allows the user to interact with the plot and make choices that are later compared to the choices made by other users. Nothing you do will actually effect the final outcome because, like other Telltale products, the storyline is pre-determined and linear. This does not mean that is not a great deal of fun. 'Borderlands' is very well written and voice acted. It is superior to Telltales more popular "Game of Thrones'. Credit for this needs to be given to the great scripting of the writers who unleash their imagination with wit and humor. The action sequences, of which there are many, are superior to all other Telltale products released so far. If you like the interactive book format, you need to get this. It is Telltales' best story game yet.
Starships is a simplified but enjoyable 4x game in the mold of Master of Orion II, the gold standard of space 4x games. Although it appears incomplete, it is still an enjoyable game of exploration, expansion, economic development, and combat. It's appeal rests primarily in its clean game play with little complexity or a long lisf of things you need to remember that has made other games of this type such a dreary exercise of game play. There are other 4x games that play much better, such as Starbase Orion, but few that are as relaxing as this non-real-time turn-based game. It needs many improvements though. 1) The little triangle you need to click on to sell goods at the market to speed up sales is easy to miss 2) Your game progress and the progress of the other civilizations are not displayed very well which makes it difficult to make decisions. (3) The ending of the game is too abrupt and unexplained. (4)The game seems to be incomplete as well- the mechanics work well but the deeper elements that are needed for this type of game appear to be missing. The game is also overpriced at its $15.00 sell point.
How do you top The Walking Dead Season 1? With The Walking Dead Season 2! Another great example of a graphic novel brought to a computer platform. Fans of 'Point and Shoot' games will be disappointed but if you like interactive storytelling, you must buy this game.
Torchlight II is a great update to a fun and easy to play game that requires little user thought. Just hack and slash. The intuitive play is a perfect remedy if you are tired of trying to figure out the large number of overly complex games that require hours of study.
Telltale tackles the massive Game of Thrones universe with a worthy attempt at a concurrent story of a new noble family, House Forester. This is not an easy task. The complexity of GOT's Westeros was difficult for the HBO writers. Telltales attempt is even more complex. The first 2 episodes are well worth the time if you like the storytelling mode of Telltale games. The entire 6 episode series looks promising but I am not expecting as satisfying an experience as with Telltale's other graphic novel orienated games.
Telltale has experienced problems with the Mac version of GOT which seems not to have been resolved. I believe that the reason was the result of growing pains as Telltale has expanded its businss faster than it could handle. My copy of GOT does not update, does not install, and does not download and I am tired of dealing with this game's faults. Visit the Telltale community forums for instructions if you have update problems and are looking for a fix. Mine have become too frustrating to continue with Telltale Games. I have not experienced these problems with any other Telltale game on Mac or IOS platforms.
An Update: The fix didn't quite fix the problems for me. After continuous frustrations and getting through chapter two and seeing it totally wiped out, I stepped back and eliminated the ENTIRE game, including everyting in the hidden Library/Application support/Telltale games/Game of Thrones folder. I then reinstalled the game from Telltales' website, not from the MGS, and went through the laborious process of downloading the first 3 chapters. So far I have replayed chapters 1 & 2 without a glitch - no lost chapters or missing save files. I won't be holding my breath though and still recommend waiting to buy until after the entire game is avaiable.
The Last Update ( I hope!): Telltale seems to have fixed the glitches in the update procedures for the Mac version of GOT. No problems so far thru Episode 4 tho the download still quits a bit too often. The story subset of this GOTs is very good however and highly recommended.
'This War of Mine' is not really a game but a simulation of survival - what it is like to be the victim of warfare. Loosely based on the war in Bosnia you play 3 male characters struggling to survive in a war-torn urban landscape. You must contend with hunger, injury, sleep deprivation and death I don't know if a character ever wins because the odds of your survival are definitely slim and I've never reached a satisfactory conclusion. The game is drawn in bleak atmospheric black, grey, and white shadows and the destroyed city landscape is bleak. The characters are silhouettes that are often in shadow and dimly lit. 'This War of Mind' is an eye-opening experience for those used to games such as 'Call of Duty' and other shooters like it. Here you play the victim caught between deadly forces. Your character must daily choose between difficult moral choices in order to survive. The player must often make choices of life and death, your life and well as others. There are no correct decisions and every decision has a consequence. You eventually end up realizing that you never had real good choices in the first place.
As grim as real war, this simulation will be an eye-opener for those who have never experienced it. The developers wisely limited the reality of warfare in order to make the game playable without turning users away. It is clear that the underlining message is that warfare has many many victims but some victims are missing from gameplay. Other real victims of war such as women and children are not in the game. Adding this reality or war victimhood would probably have been too much for players to take.
The game has 2 major problems which, when fixed, will make this a 5 star game. The first problem is that the darkness of the screen and size of the text makes the game difficult to play on a small screen. My 13" MacBook screen was almost too small to play it on. My much larger iMac would have been ideal but I could not play it on my older iMac because there was not enough graphic RAM. This problem was not disclosed on all potential purchase sites. There is supposed to be a fix for this problem with the release of version 1.2 but that version is not available via the Mac App Store (version 1.02), version numbers are not given on the Mac Game Store, and the Mac Steam version is 1.22.
'This War of Mine' is highly recommended. But be careful of graphic requirements. My original purchase of this game was from the Mac App Store.
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