Game Post

Those who are not interested in computer games, don't bother reading.

I've always been a huge fan of RTS. You know...those kind where you gather resources, build up army, attack, etc. The first RTS I ever saw was Command and Conquer...one of the old ones. I remember my uncle who used to play games back in China every weekend. I would go into his room and watch him play ( I was like 6). He had a habit of playing with really dim light or no light at all...and smoking while playing. I still find the smell of ciggarette smoke...oddly good.

He also had Counterstrike and Diablo II which he was quite good at (I think). Tetris and Bedazzled comes to mind as well. The only time I got to play was this one time when he answered his phone and I took over on Counterstrike. I remembered clearly that I screwed up and headshotted 2 of of teammates by accident as terrorist with a AK-47. lol...pure luck...or rather, pure bad luck.

Anyway, back to the topic of RTS. The first one where I extensively played was Starcraft. After watching a friend play, I was quickly intrigued. Seeing Terran tanks blowing everything up was just...classic fun. Of course you can't forget the Carriers. I think starcraft is older then I am lol. I acquire these games through...practical methods (One way to put it). Thus the new top of the line games were never knowned to me at that time. My computer probably couldn't handle them anyways.

After Starcraft was...Warcraft. Not World of Warcraft, just Warcraft III. I kinda lost interest because fantasy RTS wasn't really appealing. I stopped after Warcraft and moved on to FPS and RPG. (Soldier Front, Maplestory, Gunbound, Gunz) Mostly free games I could get my hands on. Some of my buddies played so It was pretty fun.

On my...11th Birthday, I got Age Of Empires III. I saw it at a parent's friend's sons' house. My friend got me it and another copy for himself. I thoroughly enjoyed Age of Empires. It got me back to the world of RTS. Heck of a fun game. I later got the expansions but the online community is dying as Microsoft closed ES which supported the server. More than half the fun was duking it out against other people online and playing User-Created Mods/Scenarios. So once more, I moved on.

Most of the gap in between AOE III and my most recent choices was filled by Combat Arms. Pretty nice FPS that getting ruined by Nexon and their greed.

Now...now what? To be honest, many of the recent commercial RTS turned out to be pretty dissapointing.

Empire: Total War- Historical RTS...revolutionary ship battles...insane graphics...even a multiplayer mode. It had it all (At least for me). But it takes too much CPU power. When you actually play it, the graphics are restricted to "low" because most computer can't handle it. Plus the TONS...TONS of bugs in the gameplay makes it very fustrating. Especially the AI. In fact, the company that made ETW, named Creative Assembly (CA) was nicknamed "Crappy AI" Also it lowered strategical demands. Basically the battles are fought with musket line infantries alone. Seriously, it definitely needs some variety.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II- This actually looked pretty nice...at first. But the blend of Medieval Fantasy Creatures with Sci-Fi technology is way too wacky. Not my taste. Like I said, Fantasy RTS isn't appealing.

There are also several which are very Grphically Intense. You can't play them without crashing short of a gaming computer. Of course there are also the ones that I didn't try. Here's some examples

Supreme Commander- BEAST...but seriosuly...the average computer can't even handle the smaller battles.

World In Conflict- Maybe I'll try it out...

Men of War- Maybe...

Right now I'm engaged in Company of Heroes. WWII based squad tactics rather than the usual old school RTS. Not bad, definitely not bad. The fresh gameplay and intense tactics makes it actually pretty fun. Though online doesn't work because of my...methods of aqcuirement

Looking forward to 0AD by Wildfire. Ever since AOE III, Historical RTS are very appealing to me. Also it will be FREE. That's right folks...FREE. It might surpass some of the commercial ones out there today...providing that they finish it. Free...with multiplayer and a high degree of realistic combat and historical accuracy. (You can actually walk on walls...and shields actually do something...and arrows can actually kill ur own guys...and formations actually make a big difference, not just eyecandy!) Plus, the graphics are pretty nice and more importantly, they're not too intense

Of course Starcraft II is on the TBR (to be released) list. But seriously...the developers are trying to rip us off D: splitting the game into 3 is BS. But of course with all the hype and hardcore fans I'm pretty sure they can pull it off. Which means more bad news for us common folks without money -.-

So yeh...that sums up my RTS experience....if you got something to recommend, comment. HS probably gonna be really busy so I'll probably stop. Guess it's the last summer...though I'm quite looking forward to school

Dopps