Gaming – Page 16 – My Game Reviews

Civilization 7 Review: The Worst Game in the Series.

Civilization 7 is the worst game in the series. There are some who want to say that it has new ideas and not recycled ideas. I am guessing these are casual gamers or people who are easily swayed by marketing because this is basically SimCity Societies from 2007 in a Civ Game.

The issue is that the players who played the older games before Civ V have been seeing the changes and that it is becoming very much like Angry Birds and other forgotten mobile games, just a brand to put on mediocre gameplay and hide it with marketing.

The UI is terrible and when compared to Civ 1, it shows the generational changes and the malaise we are currently in this culture.

The Civ switching was a concern of mine earlier on and I see that Fraxis was lazy and put in a bunch of leaders who are not leaders but Great People.

The game does not have England in the game but hides behind a DLC and puts in a person, Ada Lovelace, who was not a political leader, phlisophical, or spiritual leader in any sense. The leader of England should be a King or Prime Minister. I would recommend King Charles II of the Restoration Era.

The Shawnee were put in the game for politics and yet Confucius can rule them. Do not use the CIV has never been about history. It has a tech tree which contains many of the most important technologies in human history. This is not a very good argument to using here.

The crisis system is lazy and does not provide context for what is happening. Having every Civ move into the same age is silly and makes the game too easy. There needs to be consequences to not being able to catch up in tech or economics. Having a reset does not make the game challenging. The Civ Switching doesn’t even stop the snowballing that they say they wanted to not have.

It is clear that the game has increasingly become attached to politics in America more and not just a game about history.

The map generation is terrible and worse than 20 year old games.

The positive reviews are people who generally enjoy simpler, easier games. While Microsoft is no saint of a company, they have made AOE 4 into a game that appeals to casuals and power users. They even encourage people to improve their tactics while also being a great platform for teaching history about multiple cultures, without being myopic about it.

Civilization 7 is the worst in the series. Civilization V was a strange experiment on launch but they did not railroad the player into 3 mini games.

Why I would rather watch Twitch than Old TV

Why would I watch a Twitch Stream over a regular tv with ads and flashy graphics?

Simply put, Twitch is more authentic. While there are some users I avoid on there, it is a great platform where the internet is used for its original purpose and not turned into a linear experience. Netflix has become of that and I do not enjoy it. There are too many ads.

There are some ads on Twitch but they are not nearly as intrusive as Youtube.

On Twitch, there are no broadcast tv stations flooding the feeds of users like on YouTube. It is mostly younger people and I feel at home there.

This is why I purchased a Turbo account for Twitch. It is worth the money, much more than spending money on a shrinking Netflix library where they cancel shows at the drop of a hat.

Twitch is by gamers for gamers and I hope remains true to its original nature.

Modern RTS games have no equivalent: The Cardassian Interface in Star Trek – Armada II

The Cardassian race in the Star Trek series made its appearance on the overly idealistic Star Trek: The Next Generation and represented a new foe for the Federation. They were a mix of Klingon and Romulan and they were militaristic but also had an artistic side to them which made unique. Unlike most of the Science-Fiction stories made now, Star Trek was good at making races that were not too alien but alien enough to create a futuristic version of real-life politics. The Cardassians would reach their peak of influence on the franchise in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The series would show them as the tragic villains being manipulated by the Dominion and cause the fall of the great civilization due to the arrogance and corruption of the military classes.

Much like Star Wars, the Cardassians would have distinct style and feel to their ships. Just as the Neimoidian in the Phantom Menace would hide in their ships with mighty droid armies marching on Naboo, the Cardassians had their own approach to how they built their ships and the interfaces on them.

Star Trek – Armada II incorporates Cardassian lore into the game with such stylistic beauty that you could hardly believe that this game is over 20 years of age. Once you think about it, you become nostalgic and wonder how the Video Game industry has become stuck in the mud. It cares more about past glories and not building anything new or even respecting its past without covering it over with a facade which is inferior to the original product that gamers enjoyed in those previous generations.

Cardassian Legate Class firing artillery at a Klingon base.

The Cardassians were introduced in Star Trek – Armada II and they are quite a joy to play.

However, the main I want to emphasize here is the sound design of the interface.

In video games, the interface can make a break even a good game.

The sound design within the clicking of the keys and hovering over the interface is integral to a building a wonderful experience for the player to get immersed in.

The interface sounds of the Cardassians is very oppressive sounding, as if the Obsidian Order is watching your shoulders.

In 2001, only a couple years separated Star Trek – Armada II and the release of Dune II, the first true RTS game. Star Trek Armada II in many ways was released at the pinnacle of the RTS genre. Empire Earth was released in the same month as Star Trek Armada II. Warcraft III, was released earlier in that year, giving Blizzard the confidence to then unleash World of Warcraft onto the MMO genre and then seize it like ancient conqueror. These are only three of the any RTS games released in that year.

What is even more remarkable is that Star Trek – Armada II was released a year after Star Trek – Armada in 2000. The sounds on the interface in the OG Armada were more basic. Within a year, they managed to have unique sounds and art style for each race; they did not just copy the original game, they made something new while respecting the OG Armada.

Such an accomplishment goes beyond the brand of this science-fiction franchise but shows what the video game industry needs to reclaim so that people can enjoy video games with passion once again.