2008 Strategy Game of the Year (Top 5)

Strategy games have been especially good this year.  Ranging from extremely complex to very simple, the games run the gambit for real-time and turn-based strategy, sometimes exploring new game types (see Battle of Tiles) and other times expanding a great game into a great multiplayer game (see Multiwinia).  With so many great games it was hard difficult selecting the five best, but that also means the 5 listed here are all games you shouldn't miss.

#5 - Zatikon

Zatikon is chess on steroids. The concept is similar. There are two sides arranged on a grid. The goal is to either "take" all your opponent's pieces or a "king" piece (in Zatikon, the castle is the key square). Each piece you have has certain rules pertaining to its movement, as well as a special ability to use against your opponent. Now, chess is an ancient game and is played by some of the finest minds in the world. It's massively complex. Now… take that concept… and add more than 70 unit types to it. Now you have Zatikon.

The breadth of unit types might be overwhelming to some, but to the strategy maven, this is a smorgasbord. There are virtually limitless strategies to employ with the variety of units that are available in the game. This ensures that multiplayer battles will always be fresh and interesting.

Games can be played versus the computer (to gain gold used to buy troops to build your army), versus humans using pre-set or randomized armies or even in a co-op mode against the computer. With a healthy available on-line community to play with (including any friends you bring along, of course) Zatikon is filled with so many options and variants that it can't help but be a great strategy title.

#4 - Harvest: Massive Encounter

Harvest: Massive Encounter really lives up to its name. You will spend your time harvesting, then there will be a massive encounter.

You're taking on the part of an intrepid colonist. You build generators, energy transfer devices, mining towers… but don't forget to include laser towers and missile centers, because there are a ridiculous amount of aliens right around the bend. The game, in its normal mode, is a race to build the best defense network you can before the aliens begin to stream in. You need the proper number of energy generators and mining towers to power your defenses, but without enough defense you're sure to be overrun.

The best part of Massive Encounter are the little touches applied to the gameplay. Time can be slowed down or sped up. You can set unit attack priorities for each of your defensive structures. The game's most brilliant touch is the ability to directionally link your laser towers. You can go through your entire colony and chain together ALL your turrets to fire out of one central point. This supercharges that one point, making it more powerful the more units are linked to it. That also means that any unit linked, though, cannot be used to target incoming enemies on its own. Is it better to have one super cannon? Or a dozen mediocre ones? You'll have to decide fast, because in a few minutes, you're going to have dozens and dozens and dozens of flying saucers coming at you in wave after relentless wave.

#3 - Project Aftermath

Project Aftermath is about as well-constructed as you're going to find in the indie world. The game looks fantastic, sounds fantastic, controls fantastic… it's all in there. You have a classic sci-fi storyline, abnormally good voice-acting, squad-based gameplay, hero units, RPG elements and, yes, the ability to control giant robots with your mind.

Combat is handled in a small tactical squad-based fashion. Each of your heroes has a crew of soldiers and their own special abilities. Leveraging those heroes, abilities and their particular offensive and defensive strengths is the key to victory. Damage and defense are based on a rock-paper-scissors color-coded system. Using red (physical attack) weapons on red troops won't do much damage. But using blue (energy) weapons will do wonders. Balancing your troop weapons, which you can switch on the fly, to maximize damage to yellow, red, blue and green enemy units is a frenetic and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

There's also a trophy system to go for. The more you revive units and use powers the more G.O.O.P. you use in-game. The more G.O.O.P. you use, the lower your score. It's the kind of little touch to the gameplay that can keep you coming back for more. And it's on sale for under $10, which is just ridiculous.

#2 - Multiwinia

Darwinia was in our Top 10 games of 2005 list, so it should be really no surprise to see Multiwinia here.  Multiwinia is really not much more than multiplayer Darwinia, but then Darwinia was one of the most amazing Indie games released to date.

The Darwinian world remains a visual treat, 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. It's unique and captivating and beautifully imagined.

The big change in Multiwinia from Darwinia comes in the easily accessible multiplayer that sets players up with matches of just about any length, making it easy to jump in and have a quick frag fest...err...strategically charged encounter that exercises your mental prowess.

If you haven't given Darwinia a go for some reason Multiwinia is essential playing.  If you have played Darwinia, Multiwinia is even more essential.  The super accessible and fast online multiplayer matches make it some of the best strategic gaming fun you can have in 15 minutes.

2008 Strategy Game of the Year  - Battle of Tiles

Battle of Tiles is a game that really shouldn't work at all.  After all, if you look at the graphics, and based on the number of people dissing the Wii, there are many people who can't look at anything BUT the graphics, the game is ugly.  I mean UGLY.  It looks like the kind of visuals that you would think anyone could put together in an afternoon.

Then again, Desktop Tower Defense doesn't exactly set the world on fire with its visuals, and perhaps DTD is the best comparison to Battle of Tiles that we could possibly make.  However, that said, let's be clear on the point that Battle of Tiles is in no way a DTD clone.  BoT is an entirely new type of strategy game, well perhaps not entirely new, but it's as new as DTD was when DTD came out, and it is every bit as addictive and unique.

The game play, revolves around your tile army.  You begin the game with 13 members of your army. Each character is represented on a tile.  However, they are not all the same.  There are a variety of different character types including long-range bowman, heavy armor troops, and swordsmen.  For each character you get a readout of their current abilities and experience in the bottom right-hand corner.  It's all pretty standard until you start moving.  Feeling somewhat similar to marching a bunch of scrabble pieces across the screen, you go onward confronting enemies.  Of course you don't always have to kill your enemies, and in fact, if you only attack you'll quickly fail.  Instead of just attacking, some enemies should be recruited to your side by the greatest of recruitment assets: money!

Building up from your initial army, you may find yourself with 50 or more characters (up to 70!), filling 1/3 to 1/2 of the screen!  Choosing who to recruit becomes as much a strategy as how to position each of the many varied characters in the game.  Having a full assortment of different types of magic near the front lines can be very helpful, but having enough healers to help them all and bowman to provide a stronger attack punch, provides a wonderful array of strategies that can be tried. 

Despite its crude visual representation, Battle of Tiles is one of the most addictive strategy games released in recent memory, and its $4.95 price tag only makes the whole deal seem sweeter.

Strategy Game of the Year Award History

History:
2008 - Battle of Tiles
2007 - Immortal Defense
2006 - Master of Defense
2005 - Oasis
2004 - Gates of Troy
2003 - Samurai

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By: Michael Scarpelli
Posted: Friday December 19, 2008