tactics posts

Battlefield tactics games, like Myth or the Total War series, have this distinct charm to them. There's nothing quite like watching your forces slaughter enemies on actual battlefields, as opposed to the stylized nature of turn-based strategy games or finicky gameplay of real-time strategy. Lionheart: Kings' Crusade is a firm follower of this tactical tradition, and this newest trailer shows off some of the different factions you will encounter on the battlefield. The two that are important are the Arabs and the Crusaders, which have the most prominent positions in this trailer.

Download HD Lionheart: Kings' Crusade 'Factions' Trailer
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There are a lot of rough games that, despite fiddly graphics or controls, end up being classics due to their excellent concepts. Chess With Blood is one of those games, and despite being quite rough around the edges, it has an interesting mechanic that is played with to excellent effect. It was created for the A Game By Its Cover competition, and while it's hardly the best game of the lot, it's worth trying out.

Chess With Blood has a very simple concept at its core: what if chess was more of a tactical RPG than chess? The result is A strange mixture of things such as attack and defense values, positioning, and using different actions at the right time. All chess pieces behave as the would in a normal game of chess, only they have hit points, deal damage, and protect themselves. The game includes tweaks to classic rules and strategies as well, such as promotion and forking. Overall, it's rough, but excellent. You can give it a try on the developer's website.

For the average person, there's not a whole lot of excitement to be found in macro-strategy games. But for an armchair strategist, there is plenty of joy to be had in conquering the world through abstraction. This latest trailer for Lionheart: King's Crusade may not be traditionally exciting, but it shows off plenty of gameplay that will definitely make fans happy. After all, Paradox is not exactly known for making or publishing mainstream games, and the niche has treated them very well.

Some things of note in the trailer include the technology tree, purchasing of units, and the world map. While the text and icons are incredibly tiny, you can still get the general gist of the game. It also shows off the battles, which follow the tactical formula laid out by games like Shogun and Myth. Some cool things for the tactical battles include structures and designated area-of-effect archery attacks.

Download HD Lionheart: Kings' Crusade Gamescom 2010 Trailer (119 MB)
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In this presentation video, Richard Bull - Battle AI Programmer for Empire: Total War - tests his skills against his own work. The tactics used by the computer are based on real historical events, and players will have to use their skills as commanders to overcome them.

Download HD Empire: Total War 'Superior Tactics' Trailer (1.22 GB)
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The Sudden Strike series has never seen critical favor. They appeal to a very niche market of World War II tactical game buffs, and that's perfectly alright. If you are a part of that niche, you'll love the Sudden Strike series as well as the following news. The sequel to Sudden Strike 3, Sudden Strike: The Last Stand, has exited the alpha stage and is now chugging along in the beta phase. If the past is any indication, soon the open beta of the next entry in this tactical gaming franchise will be out there for all to try.

Sometimes you just want to play a game with no fancy graphics, just elegant art and well-designed gameplay. Dyson was one of those kind of games, and so is TacticsZen, a new tactical game on the Experimental Gameplay Project. It's unfinished, so it's merely a sandbox where you can control the troops and try them out against different troop types. Your troops hover above the field (showing the shadows) and when they die, drop to the ground with true physics. It's all very interesting. The only letdown is that the resolution is restricted at 640 x 480.

This Friday brings us to all the way back to the very first Freeware Friday. Warning Forever, that classic I championed in the first article of this fine column, inspired a strategy game that has been nominated for an IGF award. It's also an excellent game, and will suck your life away if you give into the siren call of the custom content through manipulating the robust ship maker. I am, of course, talking about Battleships Forever by Sean "th15" Chan.