Week in Review - 3/23/2012

Civilization V

I played my first multiplayer game of Civilization V this week with my brother. Siam versus Aztecs. Good versus Evil. We had a spoken non-aggression pact so I decided to slay him with cultural awesome. We only spent about an hour or two before we decided to give up on our first experimental match. I won with superior scoring techniques. I look forward to a less-experimental match.

Dungeon Defenders

On Saturday, a friend of mine recommended we try Dungeon Defenders during a free trial weekend. My wife and I downloaded it and logged in. We quickly became addicted. The entire weekend melted away as we were absorbed in defending our Eternia Crystals. The game is 1 part tower defense game. During a build phase, you set up traps and towers to defend critical points of the map. The game is also 1 part action Role-Playing Game. You run around the map, weapon in hand, hacking and slashing creatures not being devoured by your towers. It’s a lot of fun.

The Sims 3

I got bored living out the normal lives of Sims, so I decided to work on a project. I made a Sim that looks like me, cloned him three times, and killed them in various ways. That sounds morbid, but I wanted to make ghost versions of myself. Each way you die in The Sims 3 produces a slightly different looking ghost. I can use this household as a template whenever I need a particular ghost of myself I just load it up and extract one. I have not thought of anything creative to do with them beyond this yet.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

I basically logged on and did the end-game Daily quests twice. I also hunted Corellia datacrons. I really think The Old Republic is a strong MMO, but my interest in it has definitely waned. I think beyond the story that really gripped me, there just isn't that fun of a game underneath. It pains me to admit it, especially since I bought a 6-month subscription.

Tales of Graces f

I continue to work my way through Tales of Graces f. Mainly, it’s just making me miss Tales of Vesperia. I really wanted the PS3 version of Vesperia to launch in North America with more content than the 360 version I played. I could easily play through that game a few more times, but I was holding out hoping to get my hands on the updated version. Apparently, it’s not coming out here like so many “Tales” games.  I like Graces but it’s just not drawing me in as quickly or as easily as Vesperia did originally.

Total War: Shogun 2

I’m not a very big (or good) real-time strategy player. I first discovered this playing Shogun:Total War back in 2000. Ever since Shogun 2 was released, however, I’ve had my eye on it. It just went on sale this week and I grabbed it and its first expansion content for $10. As predicted, I lose almost every battle. Fortunately I can ask the computer to simulate battles, making the game play much more similarly to a “Civilization” game. I’m much better at that. I only played for a couple hours to test my spirit in battle. My spirit faltered.

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