Endless Space

 The Galaxy is yours for the taking

In this fantastic 4 x game, which basically means explore, expand, exploit and exterminate, you will have the enormous task of conquering the known galaxy which is randomly generated every single time you load a new galaxy. Which I think is a really great feature.

With a massive choice of eight standard empires to enforce your brutal iron will upon, the unsuspecting xeno-morph life form's out there in the big bad dark galaxy, or build your very own civilization. Winning the game is long and hard and makes any marathon look like a trip to the local shops by comparison. This can be achieved by employing one of many tactics, bruit force and unrelenting blood thirst which will win the supremacy victory. Next, there is the hardest kind of victory, achieving the mastery of technologies to awe your opponents into submission, which requires the "Pan Galactic Society" technology that will get you the scientific victory. Next is the most interesting, in my opinion, is the expansion victory. This is achieved by conquering the vast majority of known space and settling every type of planet or surface your empire can inhabit. But you must be able to hold the ground your empire claims against foes and pirates, because if you slip beneath 75% control, this victory will not be able to be achieved, there are more victory types, but lets move on.

In the image above, you can  see the different spheres of influence from the many races systems. When you populate a system, it will start off as an outpost and can be invaded without a declaration of war by anybody. After the set amount of turns has passed, it will change from an outpost to a colony, which is what you see in most of the systems above. The key visual difference is the colonies have a solid color border and a tinted transparent backdrop. On the other hand, the outpost only has an almost transparent ring around the system, see above image to the right hand side. The best defense in this option, is to set a fleet in orbit with the "guard system" option, which will automatically attack any fleet other than your own, entering the system. Until such a time the outpost reaches a colony status.     

The graphics in the Unity engine are some of the most stunning visuals I have seen in a space 4x in a long time. The battle sequence is also different to most space games out there, it features 3 phases of battle. First is the long range battle, followed by medium range combat and last is melee combat. The way in which this works, is by selecting 3 different abilities to employ. Each one of which has a counter, for example, weapon jamming throwing your enemy's firing solutions out the window, which is a defensive tactic. This can be countered by a really super sneaky ninja style sabotage, such as an electromagnetic pulse to electrify the enemy's defenses. Many options will open up to you, depending on the race of your empire and technology level at any given time. Certain technologies can unlock further battle tactics which will be a necessary part of your expansion into a hostile galaxy. Also you can choose your fleet layout and if one is available, admirals. You will be prompted to choose from in the battle selection screen before the battle begins.

The eight empires available to you to choose from are as follows;

• United Empire the humans empire fairly balanced in all respects. 

• The Sophons seek knowledge over power. If you're looking for a science nerd culture, you have found Dr Sheldon Cooper's wet dream. (The Big Bang Theory). 

• The Hissho are decedents of birds, that have evolved to a hominid form that represents humans. They are masters of flight and seek dominance over all others. 

• The Amoeba are a highly evolved form of a lower oceanic species that exceed at exploration, whist being militarily weak but good at diplomacy and trade. 

• The Cravers are a race of ever hungry entities, that can consume entire worlds. They have one and only one purpose, to feed. Concepts like peace, trade or even treaty do not compute with these zombie space nuts. 

• The Horatio are a race of clones, who were created by a mega rich brat that left his imperial home world for the stars. When he came across a planet with ancient cloning facilities, he got to work repopulating the planet with copies of himself, then came the stars. This fast paced, expanding race will be good to new comers to the game. 

• Another race is the Sowers, the true Skynet of the stars. A machine race built by the Endless, at the dawn of the universe and time itself. They are simply following programing and making worlds habitable, then moving onto the next one. These entities are harmless, unless you get in the way of their mission, then they turn all T-800 on you and make you listen to "I'll be back", over and over and over. However, they are slow and effect a penalty on any planets they inhabit, without the required tech. 

• Finally, the Pilgrims. A bunch of explorers and egg head scientists hijacked a United Empire mission, finally cracking the shits and throwing their toys out of the pram. They decided to set up a breakaway civilization, free of the monarch rule of the united empire. Aided by the Sophons, they view the Endless as a religious, God like statue, and hope to one day set foot on the exact place that the Endless were born into existence. 

 

Upgrading ships is an intriguing part of empire defense, and should be among your top priorities. You can modify current builds with more amour, shields, beam weapons and so forth, but these upgrades require certain minerals, which also have to be unlocked by technology. The sheer size of the technology tree is immense, and non-lineal. My current game is around 110-120 turns and I've only completed 30% of the total technology tree. But the best part, is you can research any connecting tech or if you need to, switch from science to trade based tech at a whim.

  

Diplomacy is easy to use. Although, some treaties must be unlocked again and I'm hoping that I don't sound like a broken record, but it has to be done by researching technology. You'll face difficult negotiations with the other inhabitants over resources, or systems that you may have blockaded to colonize, then the sneaky buggers fly under the radar and colonize right under the fleet's nose. 

To sum up, a kick ass game that hits all the high notes, and none of the low ones that fans expect of big multinational developers. I'm betting your jaw will drop when you find out this is an Indie game, and to boot, the best Indie game I have ever played in my life.  

Endless Space is the one and only true answer to a space version of Sid Meier's Civilization series, for space nuts like pinky and the brain who, like me, dream of galactic domination

Just a quick free plug for the developer and publisher:

Developer: Amplitude Studios 

Publisher: Iceberg Interactive 

Please support the unbelievable talent that this developer has by getting a copy of this fantastic game. Parents take note, this game is indeed child safe for preteens and teens. The violence is restricted to the odd ship being blown up every so often.

I RATE THIS GAME 9 / 10 

XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN

FROM THE MAKERS OF CIVILIZATION, COMES A GAME ABOUT CIVILIZATION'S 

LAST STAND

 

You are our last hope, as the commander of an elite paramilitary organization known as XCOM, you control Earth's defenses against a terrifying alien invasion.

I think most people have heard at one point or another in there life time, about the "UFO" crash in Roswell New Mexico in 1947. Well if you have... This may be what's really going on.

An ultra top secret program to defend the planet from alien invasion, consisting of a council of nations to operate and conceal from the public the existence of the XCOM project, it's technologies, missions and the existence of the threat that looms over our very skies.

Recovery of alien artifacts is paramount to the success of the XCOM operation, and backwards engineering of recovered technologies to advance humanity's chances of surviving a rising wave of terror, from the dark, coldness of space.

Choice will be the most potent weapon you can use against insurmountable odds from a smarter, more powerful and unrelenting enemy. You'll have to create items in your manufacturing lines that are hot off the research labs press. From advanced body armor, to more advanced weapons to take the fight to the enemy, such as; hyper advanced aircraft, heavy armor for your troops in the field and advanced laser weaponry.

Careful management of your monthly income from the council of nations is needed, as the more money you receive each month, will impact your ability to fight the enemy and whether or not you will be fit for command. This is judged by your successes and failures. Be warned, nations can and do leave the XCOM project, and no longer fund your resistance effort if you neglect them.

Your base is subterranean, and to expand to accommodate more facilities, you need to build down. This takes time, money and costs maintenance every month. Basically, the further down you tunnel, the more it costs. As you progress through the battle, you will be able to hire new units, able to deploy from your arsenal at any given time. Some units will be wounded and whilst they are in recovery, it's best to obtain some experience for the newbies, in the event of the death of one or more top level soldiers. It wont hurt the war effort as much in this event.
 

 

Obviously, this is not ideal, as it leaves you vulnerable financially. The best and easiest way to combat this, is to get as many satellites above each region as possible, because if you loose one nation in that region, the bonus from that region goes with it. Unless your base is in that region.

The enemies could be considered as a near copy of the grey aliens people are said to have encountered, they appear in the game as the Sectoid and the Muton. The Sectoid is the front line soldier of the invasion force. They are relativity smart, and can out-flank you if you don't cover your sectors properly. The Muton however, is typically as dumb as a flaming paper bag full of dog crap on your doorstep, but is tough, and will take out your entire squad unless you rain a hailstorm of lead down upon the raging behemoth. As your weapons and attachments progress to higher levels, it will become easier to kill these mountains of flesh. However, I always prioritise this particular enemy upon contact. A combination of flanking and suppression maneuvers will aid you in defeating them.

Autopsies and interrogations also play a pivotal role, as very valuable intel can be learned this way. These are performed as a part of the research branch of your facility.

  
The turn base strategy, gives you time to calculate the best path of action to take to kill the enemy with as little damage to the alien craft or technology possible. Overwatch will always slow down the advance of your squad, but wont put them at undue risk. Being able to react to the enemies movement by opening fire upon them, or reactive shots, is a massive advantage to your forces. But beware, the enemy can employ the same tactics against you.

There will be ways of making money on the side on the "Grey Market", selling excessive stocked items like dead Sectoid corpses, weapon fragments and navigation computers, just to name a few resources. 

Graphics are what is expected from a famed developer such as FIRAXIS and 2K Games. Flawless, whilst functional, it leaves an impression on you, wanting just one more turn without fail every time. Gameplay is easy to grasp, you will be picking up expert battle tactics in no time. 

This game is very addictive and will provide almost endless entertainment, as the enemies spawn randomly each time. Their tactics vary, and if you're not careful, your men will die and the fate of the Earth will be sealed forever. Now is the time to stand together and unite against a common foe, for united we stand... Divided we will fall. Rise up and fight to your last breath Commander, this may be the last fight of our civilization. 

I Rate This Game 9.5 / 10

Remember, Commander We Will Be Watching

All Images and video Courtesy of FIRAXIS and 2K Games all rights reserved

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution

Build. Discover. Dominate & Inspire.

Images Courtesy of FIRAXIS Games / 2 K Studio’s   

Lead your civilization from the dawn of man to the space age and beyond, in an all-new Civilization created exclusively for console. Go head to head with history’s greatest leaders as you wage war, conduct diplomacy, discover new technologies and build the most powerful empire the world has ever known.

In this exclusive console game of the popular Civilizations brand brought to us by Sid Meier, you can choose from the most powerful, influential and revered leaders throughout human history as we know it. The civilizations to choose from are, Arabic, American, Aztec, China, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Mongols, Rome, Russia, Spain and Zulu, all of which have their individual bonuses and attributes.

There are three ways to win at this funky retro cartoon take on the popular franchise they are as follows; Domination -  I think this is obvious, take over the world by defeating the other civilizations of the world and taking control of three other capitals.

Cultural victory -  You can win this mode by amassing great people from different skill sets, some of these people include Aristotle, from the Arts/Thinkers panel. Then Leonardo da Vinci from the builders panel, Tippu Sultan from the Explorer/Industrialist panel, Florence Nightingale from the humanitarian panel and lastly Pythagoras from the great leaders panel. This is just to name one of many from each panel, they can either be put to work or rush to finish whatever project that particular city is working on. But be warned, this will kill the great person aiding you, and I would not recommend that course of action.

Economic victory – This is won by amassing a massive 20 thousand gold within your treasury and then you will have the option to build the world bank. But this option is not available to any civilization until it meets the requirement of 20 thousand gold in the empires coffers. This is a particularly hard feat to achieve whist waging a fierce and bloody war with the annoying neighbors, who wont keep down the noise at night.

 

Technology victory – My personal favorite, and it’s the hardest to achieve without killing all of your great people and getting a leg up with wonders of the world. It is achieved by learning all the necessary tech to launch space craft into orbit, where you can add parts as you try to send humanity to our nearest star Alpha Centauri. To increase the likelihood of reaching Alpha Centauri before your enemies do, I personally recommend you have a back up of everything for your space craft, and its worth spending a little more time in turns to make the craft faster, so you will be assured victory once you launch. Having said that, you will not achieve victory until your space craft arrives at the Alpha Centauri system.

There are at random artifacts placed throughout the world, and not all in one world at a time. They’ll give you anything from temples to be constructed in all the cities you control, lost knowledge, this will instantly teach you a few items on the tech tree for example, ceremonial burial, mathematics or even writing. These are a extremely powerful advantage, and should be a top priority to search and recover these lost treasures.

This game is a turn based strategy and it play as one would not expect, the re-playability is massive and it’s really fun, no matter your level of skill. This game is ideal for party playing or even when you just want to kick back and play a relaxing game after work. The graphics are a little cartoonish, but it actually suits the layout of the game.

 

Controls for a game of the genre on consoles have typically been terrible. However, Civilizations Revolution has broken that stigma. With easy controls, anyone of any skill level can pick up the gameplay very quickly and even though it was released in June 2008, I find it to be one of my all time re-playable games.

I rate this game 8.5 / 10