Reviews

Our review system is here to let you know whats hot and whats not.

You can be sure that all reviewers are specialists in their genre (Medieval RTS, WW2 RTS etc.) and generally enjoy them.

Our reviewers have deliberately average PC's to show up any excess system demand. If there is, we will let you know.

Scoring System

All games will be reviewed in the following way:

1. The Factfile: Tells you what type of game it is, who made it, how much it costs, minimum specs and much more!
2. The Review: Contains a brief overview of the game as well as an in-depth look at some of the better and worse aspects of the game. Also contains plenty of screens
3. The Scores: All games will given an overall percentage based on scores in these five areas:

• Playability (Worth 35%) Generally how much fun we had playing the game. This is the most important area, hence the rather large segmant of marks!
• Perfomance (Worth 22%) Does the game flow like a river, or was a dam built? (How often does it crash etc?) If it doesn't work, then it won't score highly at all.
• Graphics (Worth 20%) How good the game looks. Do the units make us cry with happiness, or are they just tears of pain!
• Editor (Worth 18%) Any decent RTS has an editor. An editor dramaticaly increases the lifespan of the game. The editor must be easy to use, but also flexible. In our experience, games designers usually get this wrong!
• Sound (Worth 5%) Beethovens symphony or fingers on a blackboard. (Does the music bug us so much we have to turn it off?)

    4.  The game will be given its final percentage, along with an overall comment. The reviewers name can be found at the bottom.

This system is different from other reviewing sites as it takes into account other things such as online communities which really improve the lifespan and playability of a game. This is also the only site (that we know of) that takes into account performance and map editors in the final score. Two extremely important aspects of a game.

Age of Empires II

Factfile: Historic RTS (Medieval), Price £10, Microsoft. 166MHz, 32 Mb RAM, 2MB Graphics. Released: Pre 2000

This is the game that took RTSs into the 21st centuary. Everything is here, spears, swords, elephants! The player controls one of 13 civilisations and tries to take over the world, just after the fall of Rome. It has 5 full campaigns following leaders of the time such as Joan of Arc and Gengis Kahn. Also all civs have a unique unit and have unique tech trees.

Playability: Very, very good!     33/35

Performance: No bad points; never crashed or slowed down!     22/22

Graphics : 2D but still very good!  It's got elephents!     18/20

Editor: One of the better ones; easy to use but not as flexible as possible.     16/18

Sound: It's good, but not a classic. Some songs get on my nerves as soon as they start.     3/5

TOTAL: 92%  Excellent game in general, with great improvments from its predecesor. Note: Any game with elephents must be good!

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Reach268

Command And Conquer Generals

Factfile: Modern RTS, £20, EA Games. 800 MHz, 128 RAM, 32 Graphics. Released 2002

Command and Conquer Generals provides hours of fun.  It contains a good story plot and the usual skirmish and multiplayer extras.  This game is a mixture of combat and strategy, as you are required to collect resources to accomplish anything in the game.  A carefull control of funds between resource gathering and combat units is required or else you will not get very far with the game at all.

"Going out with a bang!"

The games 15 story missions are relativly well thought out and will provide many hours of fun.  The games expansion, Zero Hour, also adds extra missions this.

"Look at me! I can fly!"

The only major complaints on this game is that it has a small tech tree and no tech tree editor.

Scores

Playability: Very easy to play and an OK campaign story.  It will keep you interested for a very long time and is good fun to play.  It will be very easy to get into this game because of its simplicity in learning how to use it.  28/35

Performance: It runs relativly smoothly although it does suffer some occasional crashes resulting in a complete loss of what ever you are doing if you haven't saved it.  With a good system it will run relativley well and smoothly.  12/22

Graphics: The graphics are well designed and the zoom in feature included gives the battle a different perspective, although image quality is lost slightly.  18/20

Editor: It has a really good editor which goes into lots of detail but is quite difficult to use. 15/18

Sound:  All the sound in this game is excelent and cannot really be critisced.  5/5

TOTAL: 78% This game is very good and worth buying.  Anyone thinking of buying this game should think of getting its expansion with it.

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Xalphos

Medieval: Total War

Factfile: Historic RTS (Medieval), Price £20, Activision. 350MHz, 128RAM, 16Mb Graphics. Released: 2002

With Rome: Total War marching towards us, you'll probably want to put in a few hours parctice so you can show that cocky, god damned, son of a neighbour whose boss! Medieval: Total War doesn't dissapoint. Basics are pretty straight forward, which leaves you with plenty of time to have fun.

"Ready, Steady, FIGHT!"

Medieval: Total War focuses more on combat than resource collecting and building. Players need to work hard with their troops to win the battle. At the start of the battle troops can be deployed. Deployment is especially important when defending as you always need to try and hold the high ground. Troops can be grouped together for easier selecting and there are a number of different formations that can be used. For example the wedge formation is effective with charging cavalry, but not with spearmen.

"King of the Castle?"

Sieges of castles are also possible with this game. Castles can either be attacked or defended (the former being more common). There is a variety of siege weapons that can be used, from trebuchets to culverins. If all else fails, troops can attack the gate, but expect heavy losses because of the boiling oil!

"Nice County...I'll take it!"

The campaign can be played as any major faction; from the Arabs to the Turks. Unlike the battles, the campaign is turn based. This is clumsy, but effective.

The map of Europe is divided into provinces. All provinces have to be conquored to win the game. Buildings take too long in my opinion, but its all historical accuracy. You can't build cities in a day!

Battles fought in the campaign mode can either resolved automaticly (save you getting slaughtered!) or fought personally. If you choose to fight them, then the fight is pretty much as above. (And as below too! ;)

"COME BACK HERE YOU COWARDS...(So I can slaughter you and claim the glory!)"

Scores:

Playability: Excellent! Extremely fun battles, and an incredably addictive campaign mode. Thouroughly deserves 35/35!

Perfomance: Possibly the weakest area of this game. Do not attempt to play on minimum spec whatsoever. Expect trouble during big battles, no matter how powerful your computer. Campaign mode fine though. 10/22

Graphics: 3D editors can't be given the same finish as 2D without seriously affecting performance, which is why this game does not have the same shine as AOE II, but you get a fully rotational camera, so... 18/20

Editor: Another extremely weak area for this game. It has one, probably very flexible too...I haven't got a clue how it works, and no-one else seems to, too...So we'll leave this for Mr. Programmer. 6/18

Sound: Got some good sounds and music. Its not bad...just average 3/5

TOTAL: 72% Not such a fair assessment of this game, but the editor and perfomance are serious flaws. Based on playability, this is an EXCELLENT game. Its just unfair to score by a different scheme. Rome: Total War will have a much better editor, and uses a much better engine to enhance the performance. I look forward to playing it, and we expect a very high score from it. AOE II... Watch your back!

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Zebas

Stronghold

Factfile: Historic RTS (Medieval), Price £10, Firefly Studios. 300MHz, 64RAM, 4MB Graphics. Released: 2001

Stronghold - A game that promises to be full of "lots of fortified goodness" with the "world's most amazing castle construction set." Well, that’s what PCGamer and GameSpy said about it, but what is it like?

"A landmark on your doorstep"

On the whole Stronghold is a good castle RTS. The player is a feudal Lord fighting to reclaim the country from the Warlords, who have taken it over and murdered their father.

Players can choose either the military or the economic aspects of the game, however the game is weighted towards military. The 21-mission campaign has an excellent story and is very playable.

There are many pre-built historical castles that can be defended or laid siege to. There are only a small number of troops to choose from but this makes it, if anything, more playable, as it is strategy that is important, not the different troops.

"They don't make 'em like they used to" 

It is the map editor which gives this game a place in one of the greatest RTSs. Easy to use, even the most inexperienced gamer can make scenarios which rival some of the campaign ones. Ease of use does limit the possibilities though.

"What happened here?"

If you are worried about the life span of this game, think again. Stronghold Heaven (See Links) has over 1,000 maps made by other designers (some rival Firefly Studio's own maps!) that are free to download. This is a major bonus to the game which other reviews often overlook.

Definitely full of fortified goodness! Highly Recommended!

Scores:

Playability: Very fun sieges and Castle Building. Dropping burning pitch on the heads of pesky enemies hammering at your door is so satisfying! 28/35

Performance: Anyone with an average modern machine will have no problem whatsoever playing this game. Perhaps the odd stall with the custom map, but that's not the games fault is it ;) 22/22

Graphics: 2D like AOE II. This is just slightly better - but not 19! 18+/20

Editor: This is the best editor known to the RTS world. Extremely simple (If you can play Stronghold, you can make maps!). Though lacking somewhat in flexibility, the simpleness of it shines through: 17/18

Sound: This is a very good point of the game. Stronghold put a lot of work into the music and sound, even giving the music its own AI, so if you're losing sad music plays, and if you're winning happy music plays. A renowned composer was employed for this work. For the pioneering technology this is a definite 5/5

TOTAL 90% An excellent game. The superb map editor and the massive online community makes this game a must have. A strong contender for the best medieval RTS of all time, but not quite AOE standard!

"Defeat Imminent, Defeat Imminent, Defeat..."

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Zebas

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