2005 Top 10 Games of the Year
2005
draws to a close with a look back at the many great games this year.
Independent gaming continues to grow each year offering game experiences that
you can't find anywhere else. However, that isn't the only thing Indies
have to offer. Often the game is just about having fun and Independent
developers have been offering up gobs of it for years. We're proud to
cover the games and to give you our 2005 list of the best games of the year.
Each is a winner in its own right. This is one top 10 list that is sure to
give you a different look at the world of gaming and to show you at least a game
or two that you'll find hard to put down, so turn the lights down and get your
reading eyes out, it's time to see what gaming is all about!
Number 10 - New Star Soccer 3
| Developer: New Star Games | Players: 1 | ||
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| System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, Direct X 7.0+ | |||
New
Star Soccer 3 isn't much to look at. The graphics don't match up well against
any Soccer game released this year, or even in the last 10 years. The pixelated
images that fill the screen don't do much to give life to the game being played
before you. However, players who take a look at the graphics and then walk away
assuming that this isn't a good game are wrong. Dead wrong.
New Star Soccer is an unconventional game. At first glance it looks more like a
soccer sim game than a typical action game. The game is filed with menus and
meters to track progress. The first big curveball comes in the fact that you
aren't controlling a soccer team in the game. Instead you are controlling a
single character on the team (playing whatever position you choose).
While
you are controlling a character, that doesn't mean you will actually be playing
in the games. This is where the real depth of this game starts coming out.
New
Star Soccer 3 you must earn your minutes. Skill will only get you so far. You
also have to balance your relationships with your team, your manager, your
family, the media, your friends and even your girlfriend if you happen to have
one. Where you spend your time and money will affect these relationships, often
in opposite ways. Going out gambling with your teammates may improve your
relationship with them while at the same time negatively impacting your
relationship with your family. Gambling itself may turn into a vice as you find
that the horse-racing simulator in the game is so fun that 30 minutes have
passed and all of your money is gone! This, of course, shows up in another
meter. Your addictions may include alcohol and gambling, which might make
you a media darling, but a lousy player. If your confidence takes too much of a
hit from your girlfriend dumping you, your player won't be on the pitch no
matter how good your skills are.
Another
great aspect of this game is the training. In training you undertake specific
tasks to improve your skills. However, unlike many games where your skills are
just increased, completing the training task in
New
Star Soccer 3 means developing a
real skill that you can use in the game such as heading the ball, kicking a
one-touch volley or dribbling back and forth between cones in a specific time.
In each case the additional skill won't just be an improvement in your player on
the field it will also improve the gaming skills that you as a player need to
succeed with New
Star Soccer 3.
All this then leads to the game itself where those pixelated bodies start
looking pretty good once you start taking on the persona of your character and
realizing just how much you can do in the game. If you are on a poor team you
can raise them through the ranks from secondary to primary leagues while at the
same time earning yourself a coveted position on the National team. Leagues from
all over the world are represented so you can put in for transfers as you wish
if you think your shoe contract and jersey sales show that your team isn't
giving you the proper respect. (Of course, as you age you may wish they
wouldn't give all the game time to those hot young prospects!)
As
a near-perfect blending of simulation and action, New
Star Soccer 3 gives the game of soccer
a treatment that all sport games deserve and a treat that real sport fans will
find themselves totally engrossed in. Those who walk away because of the
graphics are missing out on a great game that places among the best games
released this year, winning our Sports Game of the
Year Award in the process.
Number 9 - DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold
DROD
is a hard game to categorize. It feels something like a puzzle game, but more
along the lines of an RPG, but not really an RPG, it's a Rolepuzzling Hack &
Slash, but in the end we pegged it as a quest game. In Deadly Rooms of Death -
Journey to Rooted Hold, you play the role of Beethro, who appears to be a member
of a troll-like species, and whose job it is to get to the bottom of whatever
dungeon he enters while clearing the vermin out of all the rooms, and, of
course, he must do this without dying himself. You have a sword which always
points in the direction you last turned, marking a kill zone for Roaches,
Spiders, Wraithwings and other mobs you encounter in the dungeons.
Sometimes you
are accompanied by NPCs like your nephew Halph, who have special abilities and
behaviors that factor in as parts of the current puzzle's solution.
There is some kind of story line, with humorous voice-over dialogue, but, as you
are told in the tutorial, you can solve the game without listening to the
dialogue at all. However, the funny remarks and retorts the characters have in
store for each other make the game that much more entertaining.
Your movements are entirely turn-based, meaning that you can meticulously plan
your every move - and in fact, you must! In later levels, every step you take
must be a part of your solution unless you want to get eaten alive by a giant
cockroach - or worse.
Doors need to be triggered in time, your sword needs to be
sticking out in the right direction, and your NPC friends need to stay put or
follow you around at the right moments. The game is very challenging and
sometimes frustrating because of the high degree of precision and discipline it
demands from its players.
The (countless!) puzzles are interesting and usually offer two or more approaches, including rewarding ones for ponderous and creative players. Basically, there's something in it for everyone, especially with the free downloadable add-on dungeons, some of which aren't quite as difficult as the original Journey to Rooted Hold.
Deadly Rooms of Death -
Journey to Rooted Hold has a sizeable fan base, mostly since the DROD series
has already been around for a couple of years and because Caravel Games goes to
great lengths to please the community, and the community responded in voting
DROD as the Player's Choice Game of the Year. Thanks to this intimate relationship
between the community and the developers, and of course a great game that is
challenging and unique, the DROD fandom is flourishing.
Number 8 - Professor Fizzwizzle
| Developer: Grubby Games | Players: 1 | ||
|
Website |
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| System Requirements: Windows or Linux, Pentium 200MHz, 64MB RAM, 18MB Hard Disk Space; Mac OS X, G3 200MHz, 64MB RAM, 22MB Hard Disk Space | |||
In
a nutshell, Professor Fizzwizzle is a
charming puzzle game with sensibilities that hearken back to the good old
fashioned days of 8-bit gaming and graphics. A kid's game for all ages, Professor Fizzwizzle includes enough content to keep Junior interested and enough
challenge for Senior to start losing his hair prematurely.
Professor Fizzwizzle is a brilliant, diminutive scientist who built a legion of
robot helpers. One day, however, the Professor absentmindedly changed the
robots' setting from helpful to rageful and the robots kicked the professor out
of his laboratory. Now, in platform-puzzler style, the Prof needs to work his
way back to his beloved lab and you've got to help him get there.
Fizzwizzle features just a single gameplay mode, but has four different level
paths for gamers to explore. Two of these paths are for older gamers (Standard
and Advanced) and two are for younger gamers (Kids' and Alphabet). The Standard
and Advanced level sets feature the Professor navigating various scenarios,
trying to outmaneuver ragebots or the environment to get to his goal. Along the way, he'll employ
barrels, magnets, boxes, freeze guns and other devices to manipulate his
environments and forge a path home. In the Kids' and Alphabet levels the concept
is the same but levels are designed more for aesthetics than for
challenge. One level may be designed to look like a giraffe, another like a
giant koala. On these levels, Question Mark markers that the Professor gets to
will reveal some fun text for kids to read. The Alphabet levels feature tons of
alliterative text with words related to the featured letter for the level, and
the Kids' levels tend to feature a bit of quick learning about whatever object
or animal has been created for the level's layout.
Grubby Games
is to be commended for making a game that can truly be said to be for all ages.
A good number of standard level challenges are mind-bendingly difficult
(although the "Show Solution" option is never too far out of reach) and there
are a hefty number of levels overall, giving a certain degree of longevity to
the game. Wannabe stumpers, can break out the Level Editor and design their very
own puzzling scenarios for the Professor. In fact, hit up Grubby Games' website
to find over 100 user-made levels posted and sorted by difficulty. This is a game
that can appeal to an entire
family of gamers and will stump even the wiliest gamer at times.
Professor Fizzwizzle
is an outstanding puzzle game that can be picked up by parents and children
alike. It looks good and plays great and is guaranteed to leave gamers stumped
more than once. If you're tired of relying on your twitch reflexes to get you
through a gaming experience, warm up your cortex and pick up
Professor Fizzwizzle and get your brain a workout. The Professor brewed up
a fantastic game that was an easy pick as one of the best games this year after
winning our Casual Game of the Year award.
Number 7 - Darwinia
| Developer: Introversion Software | Players: 1 | ||
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Website |
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| System Requirements: Windows 98/XP/2000, 600Mhz, GeForce2 graphics card, 128mb RAM, DirectX 9+ (Mac and Linux versions available as well) | |||
Clearly
Darwinia's world is inspired by video games and the amazing promises of
computing from decades ago. The Darwinians themselves are stick figure
characters that would fit into old Atari 2600 games. The landscape is polygonal
yet modern and fits the theme well. You really need to see the game in action to
appreciate what would be considered "outdated" graphics in other games. In fact,
each character in the game seems inspired from classic games and movies, from
the â"Centipede' mutant virus to the â"Space Invader' airstrike squadrons. The
retro/polygonal graphics compliment the story, and you really feel like a part
of the world.
The back story is also great: Dr. Sepulveda, renowned game developer, created
the much-hyped Protologic 68000 in 1986. Unfortunately, the game console had
major flaws that weren't easy to fix, resulting in warehouses full of unsold and
returned machines. Sepulveda started to experiment with the machines, linking
them together in a quantum grid. He created a virtual world called
Darwinia
where each inhabitant has its own "spirit" that is released upon the
Darwinian's death. That spirit is then imprinted in a new Darwinian life, which
means that new Darwinians learn from their past.
Unfortunately, some of the "digital DNA" was corrupted, resulting in a
virus-like infection that spread using the same manner of evolution and
reproduction that originally helped the Darwinians. Dr. Sepulveda has attempted
to protect the Darwinians by isolating areas, but large portions of the world
have been overrun. You managed to hack your way into the network, which
surprises Dr. Sepulveda, but he is desperate and requires help. You must destroy
the viral infection and save the Darwinians.
Screenshots don't begin to convey how you'll feel when you play this game. You
really start to care about the Darwinians. Introversion Software apparently
worked with great care to create a living world. The Darwinians aren't just
sprites moving about in a 3D world. They wander, they work, and they even have
rituals! When Darwinian dies, it leaves behind a spirit. Any Darwinians in the
area will gather around the spirit and sway to and fro. Eventually a kite is
created which carries the spirit into the air. It's really a sight to behold. As
hard as it is to describe this game, it's likely that five to 10 years from now
people will reminisce about playing Darwinia much like people today talk about
playing the original Doom.
Number 6 - Democracy
| Developer: Positech | Players: 1 | ||
|
Website |
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| System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, Direct X 7.0+, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB Video | |||
What
would you do if you became the president or prime minister of your country?
Positech Games' Democracy lets you find out how you would fare as the leader of
a well-developed country, such as the USA, Canada, Germany, or France (and
others!).
Democracy is a highly educational game and is advertised as such. You manage
your
country's finances and policies, internal affairs and security concerns, and are
frequently asked to deal with a crisis or dilemma that recently emerged. The
greatest difficulty lies in finding the right balance of taxation, funding, and
legislation to ensure that your country doesn't go bankrupt and that your next
election will be successful.
Everything you do has a positive influence on some
things while negatively impacting others.
What really makes the game great is the wide-open aspect of the game play and
the ability to really do whatever you want (though certainly not without
consequences). If you want to try to be the perfect president you are welcome
to do so, or if you are feeling just a bit more sinister you might try
legalizing prostitution and pot while requiring prayer in schools. Where many
Presidential sim games only go to through the election,
Democracy takes your
through your full terms in office, if you aren't assassinated along the way or voted out for not picking policies that were popular
enough.
At first Democracy overwhelms simply because there is so much on the screen that
you can click on. And then, during your first couple of games, you'll face the
painful realization of how difficult it is to make the right decisions at the
right time - which is when the educational value of the game becomes apparent.
You will, once you learn to predict the outcomes of your actions, find that the
game is actually very easy to control and relaxing to play because, basically,
all you have to do is check the situation, make a decision, and adjust some
sliders in the countless policy windows.
Democracy is a very complex and interesting game with lots of value. You'll never look
at politicians the same way once you realize that, in order to remain in power,
you will have to compromise a lot. An awful lot. For example, you may find
yourself radically changing some oddball policy because you need more votes
from smokers in the upcoming elections - despite the fact that this policy was
completely against your public health strategy.
Positech Games' Democracy is a great game which, despite its somewhat high
initial difficulty, is definitely worth checking out. It offers lots of nice
details and very challenging game play. Losing
a game of Democracy is almost as rewarding as winning your next election -
because you know that you learned a lot about the scenario and the
political processes involved.
There is always the motivation to do better next
time, or the temptation to shamelessly tax another minority and make more voters happy in your
next term of office. It's a tremendously detailed simulation that
everyone can enjoy on some level and walked away from the polls as one of this
years best after also winning our Sim Game of the
Year award.
Number 5 - Mexican Motor Mafia
| Developer: Science of Tomorrow | Players: 1-6 | ||
|
Website |
Download |
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| System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Pentium III 600 MHz, 128 RAM, Geforce or better Video Card with 32 MB RAM, Direct X 9.0c+ | |||
Mexican
Motor Mafia takes you back. It takes you back to the good old days when
Grand Theft Auto was a top-down, 2-D automobile-based game. It takes you back to
the days when Antonio Banderas was a desperado with vengeance on his mind. It
takes you back to a happy place that any gamer should be excited to return to.
Your brother was shot and killed, in front of his children no less, by Priest,
the leader of the Red Texas Four
who escaped from prison and went on to
terrorize the general citizenry. His aggression cannot be tolerated and you're
on a mission to take down each of the members of the Red Texas Four: La Toro,
Tito, Whistler and Priest.
How are you going to take these dangerous men down? With a couple of firearms, a
sweet ride and your arrow keys, or if it strikes your fancy, the WASD keys. You
view the action from a top-down perspective, use the keyboard to move your cars
around, and aim with the mouse. Your weapons are limited by the space inside
your vehicle, so when you begin, you can only fire out of the left side of your
car. As you move up in the world and purchase better cars, you gain armor,
speed, cargo space, and gun space, meaning you can go faster, take more damage
and fire all sorts of ammunition from both side of your car.
When you arrive at a mission location, gameplay switches into a deathmatch-arena
style of play. It's just you and however many bandit-filled cars happen to be on
that level. You achieve victory when your engine is the only one left revving on
the field.
Your enemies will be in several levels of vehicles with several
styles of weapons, each of which will require it's own particular strategy to
defeat. If you can't seem to get the best of a particular gang of baddies, never
fear. When you're beaten, all you lose is a portion of your cash and then you
get to continue where you left off from a nearby town.
Mexican Motor Mafia is the kind of work that
deserves to get noticed. It takes on the kind of gameplay normally tackled by
big name developers and does admirably with it. The push to be great didn't just
stop with gameplay. Mexican Motor Mafia
also delivered in the sound department.
While pictures may say a thousand words, music can instantly transport your mind
to another world. The sound tracks in Mexican Motor Mafia do just that
with some great guitar-driven tracks with a Mexi-Cali feel to them. The
music makes the player feel like they can taste the dust of the cars as they
drive around fighting desperados in Mexico. Gamers looking for an action
fix should definitely take the time to check MMM out. It broke ground
being one of the Top 5 games of 2005 in addition to winning our
game of the year award for sound.
Number 4 - Tribal Trouble
| Developer: Oddlabs | Players: 1-6 | ||
|
Website |
Download |
Purchase |
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| System Requirements: MacOS X / Linux /Windows NT/2000/XP, Java, 700MHz CPU, GeForce 2 MX or better, 128 MB of RAM | |||
The
Natives of a small South Seas archipelago are not amused: A group of Viking
raiders got so drunk that, thanks to navigational ineptitude and the occasional
tropical storm, they were shipwrecked and washed ashore on one of the South Sea
islands. So why did the Natives take issue? Well, the now somewhat sober Vikings
have decided to stay for a while and raid the native villages for fun and new
loot, which leads to all-out warfare for the control of the little island
(though you can pretty much figure that there won't be much of the island left
for the winner to enjoy)!
Tribal
Trouble guts out the Real-Time-Strategy genre down to its bare essentials
and creates a game that is so simple that anyone can play it. The
approachability of the game really is an asset when it comes to the multiplayer
battles as you can quickly get a handle on what you are doing and go forward. It
also leads to much shorter games than your typical RTS, with a very heavy focus
on the units and how you use them.
Tribal Trouble only contains five kinds of units and three kinds of buildings in
total - they are equivalent and have the same names for both Natives and
Vikings, though the graphics are different, of course. The units are your
faithful resource for gathering peons, cheap rock warriors, tough iron warriors,
and the fearsome chicken warrior, all named after the main resource their
weapons are made of. Yes, there are weapons made of tropical chickens in this
game, and they absolutely rule!
The islands are large enough to grant a player a fresh start, but at the same
time small enough to have everybody constantly quarrelling over bits of rocks
and leftover lumber. Tactics are fun, and creative game play is usually
rewarded. The outcomes of battles are often so close that, until the very last
seconds, you may feel uncertain and are tempted to retreat. Hopeless situations
can turn into glorious victories as that last tropical chicken on
the island
that you pried from the cold dead hands of a peon may become part of the spear
that kills your opponents' chieftain.
The battles are short, furious and very entertaining, and playing human
opponents online adds to the fun. In fact, the entire game is focused on being
minimalist when it comes to units and buildings and instead focuses (and nails)
the part of the game that is most important, the game play. If you want a break
from the narrative strategy games that flood the market at the moment, if you
want a game that's really just a game, or if you think complexity takes the fun
out of casual gaming - then Tribal Trouble is for you.
Number 3 - Zombie Smashers X2
| Developer: Ska Software | Players: 1-2 (Co-Operative) | ||
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Website |
Download |
Purchase |
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| System Requirements: 450 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 16MB video card, DirectX 8+ | |||
Zombies,
ninjas, vampires, skinheads, metalheads, Nazis, pirates, robots, demons,
government agents and punks? All in one game? Zombie Smashers X2
delivers them combined with action-packed fun!
Anyone who has played River City Ransom should be able to identify the
inspiration for this brawler. You fight enemies, collect money, and pay for
items such as food and music CDs to upgrade your abilities and statistics. At
first, you can only kick and punch, and the fighting can be almost boring,
although you do start with a unique special ability depending on the
character you pick. You can pick up different items and use them as
weapons!
Pick up a garbage can, crate, frying pan, or any of the many items
strewn throughout a level and you can smash them into your undead (or not)
opponents. You can even chuck them at adversaries from a safer distance, and
some items can be kicked.
When you knock down an opponent, you can use the body as a weapon. Yes, even
body parts can be used as weapons, such as decapitated heads, dismembered arms,
or even a non-surgically removed spinal cord, which is one of the best weapons
in the game. While you can use swords or hooks to spear your enemies from behind
once you learn how, the spine also lets you slowly regain health!
You can get tattoos to upgrade your abilities. While each character gets one
special ability in the beginning, you can spend the cash to get more. For
instance, Punker has the ability to smash an opponent's head to the ground while
Rudy knows how to do a Monster Chop. Hiro knows Tae Fu, and it definitely
changes the way the game is played once you get this ability.
With the Kung Fu tattoo, for example, you'll find that it is like fighting in
The Matrix. You can fight off multiple enemies on all sides. It is always
satisfying to knock some opponents into the air and smash into them before they
land to make them fly for some distance. Combine multiple abilities together,
such as the spinning uppercut, the head-butt, and some flying attacks, and you
have amazing Zombie Smashing powers at your disposal.
While they aren't necessary to complete the game, there are some magic spells to
learn as well. One of them even gives you the power to summon a fully loaded
Uzi! You can learn these spells by doing side jobs for the different people you
meet throughout the game. Some of the jobs are simple, but others involve
taking
out certain boss enemies.
Zombie Smashers X2 proves just how much fun it is to knock zombie heads up into the
air, trip running ninjas, and even just pay attention to the story. The weapons, tattoos
and straight-up action definitely make this game one of the best to come out this year and
helped it stand out above the pack as being one of the best games this year
after winning the 2005 Game Tunnel Action Game
of the Year award.
Number 2 - Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space
| Developer: Digital Eel | Players: 1 | ||
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Website |
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| System Requirements: 500 MHz, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, 32 MB RAM, Open GL 1.1 + | |||
Weird
Worlds is the sequel to the amazing Strange Adventures in
Infinite Space. While that game focused on providing an adventure in
20 minutes or less, Weird Worlds expands the galaxy and looks to give you even
more adventure (in just a few minutes more than 20).
Weird Worlds is a difficult game to describe. The galaxy map is somewhat
reminiscent of Master of Orion. As a player, you choose between 3
different professions before you begin your journey. The 3 professions
guide your journey somewhat as they give you a focus as you play.
As a
scientist, you fly around the galaxy looking for life forms and new planets.
Pirates are doing a bit of trading, looking for rare and valuable items that
will bring in the biggest bank. As the Captain of a battleship, you fly
around protecting your home world from alien threats while also finding new
improved weapons to aid you in your fight.
The thing that really drives Weird Worlds to be great is the story that unfolds
every time you play the game. Since the galaxy is randomly
generated, every time you start a new game you will confront a new challenge.
The items you find, the mercenaries you can hire, and the aliens that are
anxiously awaiting the chance to blast you into bits all change from game to
game. Take the different professions that have different goals in
exploring the galaxy and add the fact that there are more stars than you are
likely to visit in a single game and you have a game with the ultimate replay
factor. With a short game time (small and medium sized galaxies are easily
finished in 10-15 minutes) Weird Worlds gives players a quick adventure across
the galaxy that is always different and enjoyable (and players can chose a
longer game by setting the galaxy size to large).
The
graphics are greatly improved over SAIS, and that is not any kind of knock
against that good-looking game. Instead, the statement is due to the
mouth-dropping lasers and other weapons that you can see just by starting up the
game and watching the battles that ensue on the screen behind you.
The title-screen battles may be all you want to see initially as the space
battles in Weird Worlds are difficult until you begin to understand how to call
upon the Klackons for help or use one of the various super weapons in the game
to get the upper-hand in combat.
Ultimately Weird Worlds is about adventure as you scour the galaxy and there are
enough special objects in the game to keep it continually interesting. Using
the hyperdrive to get
from one planet to another by disappearing into an
explosion of lights is cool, but you haven't really traveled until you've folded
space!
As the coolest trip across the galaxy in the history of games Weird Worlds:
Return to Infinite Space is a sure-fire hit that should be in every gamer's
library. It was the run-away winner of our Adventure/Quest game of the year
for 2005 and came just a hair shy of being the best game of year.
2005 Game of the Year - Oasis
| Developer: Mind Control | Players: 1 | ||
|
Website |
Download |
Purchase |
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| System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Pentium III 600 MHz, 128 RAM | |||
Oasis
is a game that really shouldn't work. The game takes the 'Civilization' idea of
building up an empire which takes 40 or more hours to play, and reduces it to a
game that is completed in 2-3 minutes!?! In so doing you would expect that the
game would have to be stripped down to the point that there would be little
strategy or entertainment left. Instead,
Oasis does exactly the
opposite, packing a very powerful punch of both strategy and entertainment.
The
game places you in the role of an Egyptian ruler. Each level starts out with the
board hidden behind a 'fog' that keeps you from knowing what is out there. So
the first thing our young leader will do is explore. Each step you take through
the desert will add 'followers' to your cause. The followers will help you as
you progress forward to do research, build roads and amass an army to
protect your cities.
As you make your way through the desert you will find other types of terrain.
There are mountains, which often block your path but contain mines which make
research possible. In addition to the mountains you will find farmlands.
Farmlands are always within two spaces of a city square. When you find a city
square it immediately becomes part of your empire.
The goal you are trying to accomplish is to build up your cities so that they
can survive a barbarian attack that happens at the end of 85 turns.
The
most entertaining part of the game for me comes in balancing your resources and
determining what strategy to take. For example, you receive 2 followers for
passing over a desert square, but within the desert there are also some 'nomad'
squares which will increase your followers by a larger number. Conversely,
searching around the Oasis will not give you any followers, and looking through
farmland as you try to find a city will only offer you one follower.
Followers are used, as mentioned previously to build roads and to do research.
Having roads between cities will increase their population, and help you bulk up
defenses. Another use for followers is research. The more followers you assign
to a mine the quicker you will research. Research occurs in a set pattern of
researching both defensive and offensive weapons that will be used by every city
when the barbarians arrive.
In addition to making all of the choices above, you also have the choice to
explore any one of your cities. Doing so may reveal weapons that will help
defend the city, riches that will increase the score you receive, or advisors.
Advisors change the game play dramatically if they join you by granting special
abilities for the turns that they are with you, such as extra defensive power, increasing
city growth, or more visibility of the map without exploring it.
When the barbarians come, the battle will be simulated for you on the screen
with symbols showing your different researched and found weapons and defenses
as the sides fight. Once you beat the on-coming horde you move onto the
next board. Amazingly, ALL of this happens in in 2-3 minutes! The game really is amazing,
and t
he description above, if you can believe it, was quite simplified so as to
not be too overwhelming.
The game is flawlessly designed to create a wonderful experience in
strategy/world-building that even those who don't really get into the genre can
enjoy. It made a quick stop winning the
Strategy game of the year and now completes its journey winning the 2005
Game of the Year award.
Other Awards
Genres:
Action Game of the Year
- Zombie Smashers X2
Arkanoid Game of the Year
- Paper Ball
Casual Game of the Year
- Professor Fizzwizzle
Quest/Adventure/Platform Game of the Year
- Weird Worlds: Return to
Infinite Space
Sim Game of the Year
- Democracy
Sports Game of the Year
- New Star Soccer 3
Strategy Game of the Year
- Oasis
Technical Categories:
Game of the Year: Graphics
- Mythic Blades
Game of the Year: Sound - Mexican Motor
Mafia
Game of the Year: Innovation - Façade
Game of the Year: Multiplayer - Trash
Special Awards
Kid's Game of the Year - Thomas and the
Magical Words
First Person Space Shooter - Cellblock
Squadrons
Déjà Vu - Feyna's Quest
Best Homage - Alien Abduction
RPG Game of the Year - Cute Knight
Player's Choice Award - DROD
Independent Game of the Year History:
2006
- Gumboy Crazy Adventures
2005
- Oasis
2004 - Gish
2003 - Starscape
2002 - Mutant Storm
By: Russell Carroll
Posted: Wednesday December 28, 2005
Action
Adventure
Arkanoid
Fighting
Platform
Puzzle & Casual
Hidden Object
RPG
Shooter
Simulation
Sports
Strategy
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