Attention: Crusader Kings II beta sign up applications open!
Beta sign ups for Crusader Kings II are open once again. You can send in your application until October 17th. You will be notified if you're accepted into the beta on October 24th.
Just a little note: the beta isn't a way to get early access to the game. You will be expected to actually find bugs and report them. Playing an unfinished game isn't as fun as it may sound. So make sure you're committed to it before you sign up.
You can sign up here: http://beta.paradoxplaza.com
Deus Ex Human Revolution — Awesome
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is available at Gamersgate
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I just want to say I had a great time playing the most recent installment of the Deus Ex series. The game is based in a, not-too-far-ahead, dystopian future. In this world large corporations have all the power and fight each other, sometimes in a violent way, to gain even more power. And there are also secret conspiracies of people who secretly control the world. One of the central topics in this society are augmentations that people can use to improve themselves. Everything from increasing their strength to increasing their mental capacities can be done. This creates a rift between the people who can afford to buy and maintain these augmentations and those who can't.
You're head of security for one of the corporations developing these augmentations. You get involved in corporate warfare and as you play the game a dark plot unravels. While you follow the main quest you also encounter people in the streets of the cities you walk around in who give you side quests for some extra experience points.
I've only played the game once but the game is definitely repayable. Each mission has several ways to complete your goal, you can around shooting everyone you see, you can go in and kill everyone silently or you can even complete most (if not all) main story line missions without killing anyone. And every level has several routes to completion. I think this game has the best level design in a long time, if not ever. You'll have to check out the game itself, or youtube video's of it, to really see how many different approaches you can use in every map.
I do have one complaint: the boss fights. If you're being a ninja and ghosting through all your missions it sucks that there are boss fights you're forced to play out violently. But I think there is one big redeeming factor: you can take out the bosses using several different tactics. Even though you're forced into combat they don't force you to kill the bosses in a single way.
I highly recommend this game to people who like RPG's and even story driven shooters. I give the game 4 out of 5 fridges (inside joke).
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad – Review
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is available now on Steam and Gamersgate: Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad and Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad Digital Deluxe Edition
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The Red Orchestra series has a fairly long history built up already. It started out on the Unreal Tournament 2003 engine but has come a long way since then. Red Orchestra 2 is a realistic team based shooter based on the German eastern front, Stalingrad specifically, during World War II.
The charm of RO2 is the realistic and gritty feeling. Bombed out cities, no cross hairs and most hits are fatal. If people are shooting at you there is a suppression effect which blurs and shakes your screen.
I've played the game a lot and I've a great time. There are some flaws like the AI/aimbot machine gunner in tanks but overall I would say it's great. If you're into playing realistic World War 2 shooters I definitely suggest Red Orchestra 2. Although I'm positive I'd like to point out that there has been some heavy criticism and whining on the Tripwire forums. I don't recognize the criticism but I do want to point it out.
I give Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad 4 out of 5 foxholes.
Damaged my Asus Eee PC 1001 PX
I've owned an 1001 PX for over a year now. It's a great and small netbook to browse the internet, e-mail and to write on. It's very light and the battery has a long life. Just don't run Windows on it or the performance will come to a screeching halt.
But sadly enough I dropped it from my nightstand two days ago. The right part of the screen stopped working. I took it apart and I can't find any loose cables or a damaged motherboard (although the damage might not be visible) so I have come to the conclusions that it's very likely that my screen is dead. I'm really bummed out by this because I really loved this netbook.
Yesterday I've ordered the 1001 PXD and I'm instaling Ubuntu on it right now. I've ordered this netbook without much research. It's cheap and it has the same seashell design as my old netbook. If I could I would've bought the same netbook again, I'm that happy with it. Oh, and I've found someone selling his old 1001 PX screen and I'm negotiating a price right now, so in the end I might still be able to revive my old machine!
King Arthur: Fallen Champions — Review
King Arthur: Fallen Champions is a fantasy strategy game and it will be released on the 25th of August.
Before I can talk about the game I first have to say I have never played the original King Arthur game or its add-ons. This is probably a bad thing because I heard a lot of great things about it, I just never got around to playing it.
Fallen Champions is a short linear story based game. Â You play as one of the three heroes and follow his story to get to the final epic battle. On your way you will find text based quests and real time strategy battles. The quests are fun, but simple, and have some influence on the coming battle. The battles itself will remind a lot of people to the Total War series but this time we have mythical units and magic at our disposal. In my opinion the camera is a little clunky to control but it's something you will get used to. And although the battles sequence doesn't look as refined as the Total War games the mythical units and the magic definitely adds a lot to the enjoyment.
Personally, I think I would let this game pass under my radar simply because of the shortness. But it has one redeeming factor: it's only $9.99 making it a definite purchase for fans of the original King Arthur waiting for the sequel.
King Arthur: Fallen Champions will be available for digital download on the 25th of August. I give the game 3 out of 5 Excaliburs. Â The original is available at Gamersgate.
Tropico 4 Demo — A first look and review
Tropico 4 will be released on September 1 and is available for preorder at Gamersgate right now.
Tropico has always been one of my favorite game series. You're a Caribbean ruler with a mission to stay in power long enough to fill your Swiss bank account. Your island nation makes money through farming, logging, mining, manufacturing and tourism. But the most important resource your island has are its inhabitants. They do all the work for you. You will need to feed them and build a bunch of buildings, like medical clinics, housing and entertainment, to keep them happy. But if all else fails you can oppress them with your military, just make sure you keep the people with guns happy.
Tropico 4 builds on the Tropico 3 engine and features. If you liked Tropico 3 you will probably like 4. There are some added buildings like the ministry. To unlock all the edicts you will need to hire ministers for each department of your government (defence, interior, foreign affairs, etc). The people you hire need to expert at certain fields. The education minister needs to be a teacher or professor and the defence minister needs to be a soldier or general with enough experience in his field. When selecting your minister you will be shown a list of possible candidates and their stats (intelligence, leadership and courage). I guess intelligence determines their effectiveness and leadership and courage determine how likely they are to rise up against your and how well they will do it. Although I'm not sure about this because they don't explain it in the campaign mission.
This time around you also get missions, which you can accept or decline. These missions pop up on the map and if you click of them you can accept or decline them. The religious faction could ask you to build a church for them or the Middle East can ask you for weapon shipments. I think this is a great added feature because it gives you more side missions to work on.
Another big change is the possibility of imports. In previous versions if your raw materials (like gold or oil) ran out you're out of luck and you will have to demolish all associated buildings, now the cigar factory can buy its tobacco from overseas. It's also possible to import the food your people eat. Although I'm not sure how well that works and if it's worth it to build cash crops where your corn farms used to be. It could be very interesting to build a highly industrialized nation that imports all its resources.
I think Tropico 4 is going to be a great game. But I do think the game is overpriced. I think they should have made this a stand alone add-on for Tropico 3 instead of releasing it as a full game. Nonetheless I do think I will play this one a lot because it's going to be fun!
The demo is available for download on Steam.
The Best Strategy Games by Paradox Interactive
I've compiled a list of my favorite Paradox Interactive strategy games. The only criteria I use to judge the games is how much fun I had when playing them. I think that's fair because some of these games are old but still enjoyable. The link leads you to their Gamersgate pages.
Europa Universalis III Chronicles
The strength of Europa Universalis III comes mainly from its expansions. It received 2 expansions before Paradox released their Complete version, containing everything for a great price. After a short while they couldn't leave the game alone anymore and they released two more expansions and the bundle Chronicles, after which they promised to never call anything 'Complete' again, a promise they broke with Hearts of Iron Complete.
The original EUIII was fairly bland. There was not much to do and it felt like a dumbed down version of EUII. But they definitely improved the game dramatically with the expansions. If you're going to start with Paradox Interactive games I'd definitely get EUIII Chronicles!
Hearts of Iron 2 Complete
Maybe surprising to some but I like Hearts of Iron 2 more than part 3. Maybe it's nostalgia or the fact that I never reached the expert level for part 3. With all the expansions HoI2 feels great and like a polished game. This is definitely one of the first games you should try, and learn, if you want to play Paradox games. Possible the only downside is that once you get to know it well it will become too easy. I think is one of the best, if not the best, world war 2 strategy games ever made.  Every strategy enthusiast should have this one in his collection.
Victoria 2
Victoria 2 is a really great strategy game. It's one of the first Paradox games that plays really well even though it's very complex. They did a great job making this one accessible to most gamers. The game definitely has a few problems but they have been patching it regularly and there is even an expansion coming. I had an incredible amount of fun colonizing Africa as Oranje. Now that I'm writing this I'm even think that this game should be the first one on the list, but in the end it can't beat HoI2 or EUIII.
If you ever get Victoria 2 check the modding section on the Paradox forums. There are some real gems out there, ironing out most flaws the game has out of the box.
Crusader Kings Complete
Crusader Kings has always been one of my favorite games produced by Paradox Interactive. It's an unique game and the idea to have a strategy game about a person and his family instead of a country is revolutionary. I had a lot of fun with this game and I think I've played it more than Hearts of Iron 2. I also think that the only expansion for this game (Deus Vult) is the best expansion Paradox Interactive ever delivered. I just love how they stood by this game after an outside developer messed it up. It took them years but they definitely fixed it and made it a great game. I'm not sure if you should still buy this game because in a few months Crusader Kings 2 will be released, but I think most Paradox Interactive fans should try this one at least once.
Hearts of Iron 3 Collection
For some reason Hearts of Iron 3 never really got me excited. Out of the box it didn't run well and there were significant problems. Paradox Interactive never had a reputation for releasing stuff that's ready to be released but in my opinion the release of HoI3 was really bad. In the end they recognized the problems and they fixed most of them through patches and expansions. HoI3 shows the problems but also the benefits of Paradox Interactive: they're bound to release buggy games but in the end they fix everything.
If you've never played an Hearts of Iron games I'd go with this one, don't forget to download the latest patches and expansions. If you already own Hearts of Iron 2 be ready for a big change in experience if you play this game.
Men of War: Assault Squad 50% off at Gamersgate
I just want to let you guys know that Assault Squad is on sale at Gamersgate and it can be found here: Men of War: Assault Squad
I did some video's previously and I really enjoyed it. I hope to get back into it. Here's my first video:
Pirates of Black Cove – How to capture a ship
I have been getting a lot of questions about boarding and capturing ships in Pirates of Black Cove. Apparently the game isn't completely clear about it.
You need the Human Catapult (a special weapon) and you fire it with the space bar. If you fire it a little pirate will be launched into the enemy ship and a fight will break out. Sometimes you will need more than one shot to capture the enemy ship.
I hope this helps some people out. If you have any questions about the game leave a comment and I will try to answer the question as well as I can. Good luck capturing those ships!
Take The Money And Run — A Disaster?
Take the Money And Run is a new game show by ABC. A team of two 'criminals' receives a suitcase and they have an hour to hide it. A team of investigators gets 48 hours to interrogate the team of criminals and find the suitcase. If the investigators find the suitcase they receive $100 000, if they can't find it the suitcase the criminals receive the $100 000.
This sounds easy enough for the criminals, right? Just hide it somewhere random and give the investigators the impossible task to figure it out. The problem here is that the investigators get to interrogate you for 48 hours and the rules say you have to answer their questions, although you are allowed to lie, they get your phone records and the car you use will have a GPS bug. Sounds like a great concept for a thrilling series that will keep you at the edge of your seat. But sadly enough it isn't. Let me review the first episode (warning, spoilers ahead).
So the first episode features Paul and Raul. They're brothers and Paul is the loser and Raul is the semi-smart guy. They start with a brilliant plan: call random people asking to lie for them and drive around potential hiding spots to make the investigators waste time with their search. Eventually they hide it in a public park and are even smart enough to wash their hands clean after digging with them. They get their story straight and they're all set, right? No. The investigators identify Paul as the weak spot immediately, and they're right. While Raul knows what to say to mislead or confuse the investigators Paul basically tells them all they want to know. He was under no duress and he knew he would go home in a few hours a lot richer. But instead of lying or misdirecting his interrogators he told them the truth as if he didn't want to win the game anymore. And to add insult to injury Raul even compliments him at the very end for holding out this long.
This makes me wonder about the show. It's completely fake and the 'criminals' are actually acting actors and they don't really compete for the money, or ABC screens for mentally retarded contestants to avoid having to pay them the $100 000. But that would be a terrible thing to do and not something I can imagine them doing, so I'm going for the completely fake option. And that sucks because the show had some potential.
I will watch the second episode but if it's not a significant improvement (and if it still looks obviously fake) I will call it: Take the Money and Run is a disaster.