Note to self: Avoid Saboteur.


Quote Originally Posted by frogbeastegg View Post
I also played the Bayonetta demo today. That wins the 'staring in stunned incomprehension at the screen' award hands down, and takes silver and bronze too! Insanity is entirely inadequate to describe it; it reaches new heights of Japanese crazy-game and then builds a skyscraper on them, stands at the very top, and stretches onto tip-toes.


If it wasn't so (relatively) lengthy, I would incorporate that entire quote into my sig. Truly, a brilliantly hilarious metaphor.



As for myself, I'm still playing Armada 2526 when I can.

It's been a decent 4x space strategy game so far, if a bit "cold". The overall mechanics and (especially) AI are solid, but the various alien races are a little thin on flavor and personality. Gameplay-wise, the combat remains the main weak point for me -- numbers seem to be more important than tactics, and the battle timer is just way too short (and cannot be modded to be longer, to my dismay). Colony and fleet management is fairly easy & straightforward, however, and the UI is intuitive enough that one can pick up how to do things relatively quickly.

One of the biggest (and most pleasant) surprises is that engaging in diplomacy is usually a worthwhile endeavor; similarly, the strategic AI is easily among the best I've ever seen in a strategy game. It's not the "best" as in "able to conquer the world" per se, but as in "human-like". The computer-controlled races aren't overly myopic (for instance, they're generally smart enough to know that just because you have a lightly-defended colony close to their borders, it doesn't mean it's a good idea to attack it), plus they seem to have a pretty good sense of their strategic situation (e.g., if they're clearly losing a war, they won't stubbornly fight on for no good reason -- they *will* sue for peace....and they'll be quick about it, too).


So thus far, my experience continues to be generally positive. Another patch is due to be released soon, probably/hopefully in the next week or two, and is supposed to fix/improve a number of things, including the automation of moving population between colonies (the micromanaging of which, currently, can admittedly be something of a chore). I don't know that Armada would make my all-time favorites list -- at least not yet -- but I definitely don't regret spending my money on it.