Metal Reviews

Superb

For those who might care, the new expansion for Civ V (Gods & Kings) is quite good, and salvages the game. Civ IV + BTS is still superior to Civ V + G&K but it's slowly getting into shape. The series isn't dead, I'm happy.

I'm also enjoying the Civ5 expansion, it definitely adds to the experience. Even city-states are more fun.

So, what do you think?
Just finished a game playing as Boudicca of the Celts. Her unique ability is great for learning the religion gameplay and mechanics, I've had a blast. My religion spread to the top dog civ in terms of land, and I chose gold bonuses, so I was mega rich. I had something like 30000 Gold at the end (+250 per turn). I could have bought my way to a cheap (and lame) "diplomatic" victory (aka bribing enough city-states the turn before the vote to win, talk about a stupid mechanic), but I went for space instead because I wanted to see the new tech end-tree. Much longer to win that way I think. It was only Prince level though.

Next game I'm going to play King level as Attila of the Huns, and raze everything that stands.

edit: I played Haile Selassie of the Ethopians the other day, perfect civ for turtling.

I don't really have much to add, I haven't had the time to really finish a game yet but it added some much needed depth. Could still use a bit more but for now it'll do :)

I'm just so glad I can finally enjoy the new Civ game. Anyway, now the game needs more espionage options, corporations, a better AI (desperately...) and a slightly better diplomacy (even though I've been able to keep true friends during the whole game in the last two games I played). Mods are here to take care of all the rest.

edit: and the Europe map script is a lot of fun. It's a map that is shaped vaguely like Europe, but changes every time you generate one.

Am still loving Deus Ex Human Revolution. Trying to find a way past a bunch of cops in a police station that doesn't involve massacring them, makes me feel very benevolent!

Cool, can't wait to try that one out.

Still neck-deep in Civilization V G&K. I'm in the middle of a Marathon (a hyper-slow game speed) Attila game (King level). Playing the warmonger for a change is a lot of fun. I got dogpiled by 4 civs , they hate my guts because I'm the bastard who wiped Napoleon and Alexander the Great out. Hell, they should be THANKING ME. Ingrates.
Anyway, being dogpiled is intense but a lot of fun (if you win.) After destroying the four armies (took me a while, but the AI is dumb so that wasn't that difficult), I chose to counter-attack and slay the bigger threat. Huge losses, but it's done. Now there are 3 poorly defended underdogs left to put down.

Haven't played the Marathon speed before (Civ games are long enough, no need to add to the epicness I was thinking), but I like it a lot.

I wish I was smart enough to truly play a Civ game. I've got 4 with all the expansion packs, and it's fun as hell, I just can't help but feel I'm missing out on like 75% of what the game has to offer.

You obviously are smart enough, it's just the kind of games that requires a lot of involvement to learn the mechanics. And time, obviously. :( The Paradox titles (Europa Universalis, Victoria, Crusader Kings, etc.) are far more demanding brain-wise than the civ games (I can't play above the normal difficulty without flushing my empire down the toilet at some point).

Also, you just can't do everything Civ 4+BTS has to offer in a single game, this is normal, it's on design. Hell, even in fifteen games...
Civ 5 (plus G&K) still hasn't the depth 4 has, but it's getting closer. Might be a good pick when it's cheap, it's simpler than 4 (it's been streamlined, often for the better, but not always haha) and warfare is actually a lot better and fun than in 4.

I feel like I'm missing out as well. Whenever I play a Civ game I eventually just start spamming the next turn-button. I find the beginning of the game really fun, then somehow I lose interest.

+1 Ricky

Total War: Rome II has been announced today.

FINALLY.

!!!!!!!!! Real life now over.

Looking forward to stomping the Romans and Egyptians with the Greeks again.

Super Meat Boy. Fuck, how unbelievable awsome this is. Reminds me of Prince Of Persia, only with cooler protagonist.
A piece of red veal on a quest to save his girlfriend. Can it get any more metal than this.

Summer sales on Steam, till July 22. Got Terraria for the nephew two days ago for 2 bucks, Deus Ex HM the other day for 7, Batman Arkham City today for 9... Awesome deals, as always.

Sounds fun. I'll grab it for 2 euros someday.

I need to pick up God Of War 3 again. Been itching to play that game again and while I'm at it pick up the first 2 as well.

Buying spree on Steam lately, what with the summer sale: Lara Croft (the platforming game), The Binding of Isaac, Europa Universalis III, Fall of the Samurai, Orcs Must Die, Red Faction: Guerilla, all the Fallout: New Vegas dlc, Trine 1 & 2, and Fallout 3 (to get a digital copy). Might be forgetting one or two

Nice catch on Europa Universalis III, it's better with the Divine Wind DLC though, or at least the Heir to the Throne DLC.
Both DLCs add a lot to the game, but Divine Wind enhances greatly the graphics (they are horrible in the original version).
There was a problem with the "cascading alliances" in DW though: when at war with someone, your enemy allies could rally up (okay, cool), but also the allies of the allies (not okay), the allies of the allies of the allies (so fucking not okay), the allies of the allies of the allies of the allies (WHAT??!!), and so on. I thought this was a bug at the time, I hope it was fixed.

edit: Forget what I said, it was fixed a year ago

I actually suggest that you try to play Flanders. Yeah I know, you don't need me to tell you to play them (:D), but I had a blast with them. Conquered all Belgium, a bit of France, a bit of what would later become the Holy Roman Empire (up to Denmark), and of course the Netherlands. I had a nice little rich empire, then France and HRE allied and overwhelmed me with like a million troops. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Awesome game. In another one I formed the Holy Roman Empire with Austria, then conquered half the known world. Muahahaha.

Haven't played it for a long time, I'm now more into Crusader Kings II, which is the same thing as EUIII but you get to manage a dynasty more than your empire (but your empire too, of course). The timeline is as such: CK II (1066-1460) -> EUIII (1450-1800) -> Victoria 2 (1780 - 1930) -> Hearts of Iron III (World War 2). They're all great and different, but my faves are CKII and EUIII. I love the Paradox studio games.