Tag: Gaming

2017 In Gaming Xbox One

Gaming in 2017 – XBOX ONE

To be honest I don’t buy a whole lot of Xbox One titles, but there were a few this past year.

Here is the list :

  • Halo Wars 2
  • Fifa 18
  • Forza 7
  • Assassin’ Creed

The main reason I boot up the Xbone One is to play a few rounds of Fifa 18 FUT. I play if on a somewhat low level but for some reason it’s great fun to play a few games a few times a week and get the weekly reward, a few gold packs and a stack of coins. I think I only spent real money at the start, and bought some packs to get started. I made a premier league based team and a spanish one. It’s quite fun to see it improve over time.

Halo Wars 2 was released earlier in the year, now almost a year ago already. Haven’t seen it mentioned much, and it wasn’t played much on Twitch either. It’s a very decent strategy title though, great controls for the controller as well. The story is enjoyable as well, and it’s gotten some DLC over the course of the year. You can also play it on Windows 10, but I found it more convenient to play it on the XBOX.

I didn’t really plan to get Forza 7, but it was pretty cheap around Xmas I think, so I picked it up then. It’s got a lot of tracks and different types of contests, but it feels a bit too arcady. Maybe I should play around with the settings a bit, and make it slightly more realistic.

Asassin’s Creed Origins was the last purchase of the year, already reduced in price for 39,99. The game looks wonderful, has plenty to do and a decent story. If you’re looking for a vast, somewhat open world game, this one is pretty good.

That’s it for the Xbox for 2017, it’s a nice console, but I have to say that overall PS4 has more and better exclusives. Most of the Xbox One titles you can also get for PC, where they play usually better. The Xbox is in an odd spot in that regard. For convenience some titles are easier to play on the xbox. Just pop in the disc and off you go ;).

2016 The year of the turn based game

In an attempt to blog / write more, I figured I’d start with a ‘best games of 2016’ or more like ‘my fav games of 2016’. Since I don’t want to pretend I can decide for every one what’s the best game, nonetheless on a blog only a few people might read. As I was making the list, one thing struck me: there were an aweful lot of strategy games on it, which isn’t that surprising since I like the genre, but a lot of them are turn based. So let’s take look at that list :

– Xcom 2
– Darkest Dungeon
– Halcyon 6
– Steamworld Heist
– Civ 6
– Stellaris
– Master of Orion
– Mordheim: City of the damned
– Hearts of Iron IV
– Total war: WARHAMMER
Now I could be wrong and every year a whole bunch of turn based game come out, and I might have not noticed. In case I missed any good ones, let me know. Anyway, from that list I’d say XCOM 2 is my favorite. I even finished one game (which is rare for me ;)), loved most of the improvements from Xcom 1.
My number 2 would be darkest dungeon. Love the artstyle and the narrator. Unfortunately this one got a little spoiled for me, due to early access. Played it quite a lot when it just came out. Only just recently started a new run and a lot has been added since ! Halcyon 6 and Steamworld Heist, both indy games were surprisingly good. SW Heist has nice humor and a nice artstyle, the campaign lasts about 15 – 20 hrs, the game is / will be on sale often, so keep your eye out for this on. Halcyon 6 still gets great reviews on Steam, it’s a mix of FTL and Xcom with a 16bit like (pixel) art style. Fun game to play for sure.
Wish I played more of Civ 6, stellaris, HOI IV and total war(hammer). All good games that will only get better with DLC / expansions !  I have seen a lot of Mordheim on twitch by tornis (http://www.twitch.tv/tornis). Very extensive game with a long campaign with several faction, the strategy seems to be top notch. I only played the tutorials and that already took several hours ;). Something to keep in mind when you’re interested in this one.

FTL – Faster than light

Have been playing quite a bit of this game again, ever since I started watching Lethalfrag on Twitch ! The advanced edition, released in April, added quite a bit to the game. I learned a lot from his stream, the game is not as impossible as I thought it was back in 2012 when I tried it first.

I made a video of my second victory, this time the Zoltan A ship. Since it’s rather boring to just watch it, I recorded some commentary. For the very first time. It’s rather weird to hear your own voice back and there are some odd pauses in between words, where I try to come up with something.  Ah  well it’s not too bad I hope ;).

Civ IV: Beyond The Sword

The new civilization IV: Beyond the sword expansion is coming soon. In preparation I played a few games of Civ IV warlords again and I must say, it’s still very good. Beyond the swords will add a lot of nice new features. Especially the corporations and improved new AI sounds good. I preordered my copy from gameplay.co.uk, and it’s usually delivered around the official release date.

Civfanatics – Excellent site with a load of information and a great forum
Beyond the sword – Official site
** UPDATE **
A very nice history and an interview can be found at Gamasutra