RTS games vs The Simpsons (1219 hits)
Category: Computers & InternetRating: 0.18 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <Barid_Bel_Medar.at.excite.com> (View user info) at 2003-06-17 11:01:39 EDT
I used to play Warcraft 2 like crazy. I loved that game and played it for hours on end. I also played Age of Empires, and a variety of other real time strategy games. Since then I have played all the followups, Age of Empires 2, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, etc. except for Warcraft 3, but they all seem to kinda suck. I see the same problems with these games as I do with The Simpsons. After watching The Simpsons in its golden era I am disappointed in their current episodes. The new episodes seem to have great animation, with vibrant colors and are very polished, but they seem to have forgotten something.....like plot. They also managed to forget humor much of the time. The same applies to the rts genre of computer game. The new games are polished with amazing graphics, cutscenes, animation, etc. but when adding new features and playing with all the new programming toys, they forgot to add fun. Another game, not in the genre, but with the same fate, was Master of Orion 3. A storied francise reached perhaps its worst low with the release of this game.
Man, I really am bored at work to write all this crap.
User Reviews
Submitted by Beer_bong (user info) at 2003-06-17 18:01:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The heroes of might and magic series also kicks alot of ass.
Submitted by Razor (user info) at 2003-06-17 17:05:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Age of Mythology, the current incarnation of the Age of Empires series (aka Age of Empires 3), is significantly better than the original game in just about every way imaginable.
For one thing, the interface is about 2000% improved. You can queue units, if you click on your town center and click on the villager button five times, it starts building one and queues four. No micromanaging every production thing you have. Also, there are hotkeys for everything, I don't click on buildings for much of anything besides doing improvements. When I play, my hands fly across the keyboard.
AoM is actually a balanced game. In Age of Empires, if you played anything besides the Assyrians or the Yamato you were smoking crack. I guess a small argument could be made for having one Sumerian player on a 3 person team, but whatever.
In AoM, every civ is good and unique. There are 3 major civs, 3 gods for each civ, making 9 total civs (yes, the gods turn them into new civs basically) Each one even plays differently... the Norse don't build granaries and so forth, they have mobile Ox Carts... the Egyptians are very dependent on gold, and slow to build, but they are tenacious on defense...
In AoM, you MUST use multiple units to succeed. In the original games, the fighting was my attack vs. your defense and vice versa until someone runs out of hit points. It didn't matter that cavalry was charging into pikemen. In AoM, it's a massively complicated version of rock paper scissors... the basic idea is cavalry beats archers who beat infantry who beat cavalry. Of course, there are anti-archer archers, anti infantry infantry, it gets very byzantine. And there are myth units, like hydras and titans, who kick the shit out of any kind of normal troop. One upgraded titan could probably take down 15-20 cav before dying. Of course, one hero (Perseus, Achilles, those kinds of guys) could take down 5 titans by themselves... but wait... heroes will get mutilated by just a few regular troops. The winner of AoM is often the one who adjusts his battle plan and troop concentrations.
Of course, there are the gods... Each time you do an age advance, you have to choose a minor god, and each minor god has a one time power, unique units, and upgrades.
If you're playing Poseidon, you have the choice of going with Ares or Hermes... Ares can help you win the game way early, but Hermes can completely prevent you from getting overrun with his power of stopping all battle for 45 seconds. Then when you go Heroic, do you go with Aphrodite, who has economy improvements? Or do you want to make your military stronger?
Also, AoM was practically built for online play. With Age of Empires, the only good multiplayer game I ever played was over a LAN, online at the Zone sucked ass. AoM has its own multiplayer interface, and all you have to do is click "Play Online" and you're there... there's even a "Play Now" button when you first sign in, that launches you immediately into a game against the closest rated player they can find. Did I mention there's a rating system? AoE didn't have that.
Age of Empires is in no way shape or form better than Age Of Mythology, unless you like a clunky interface, shitty online play, and only one winning strategy.
Submitted by Chad_Sexington (user info) at 2003-06-17 14:08:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I agree completely. But if you want a sweet RTS, get Cossacks: European Wars. It's similar to Age of Empires (well... what isn't in that genre) except as my friend says, far better. The day after he showed it to us at his house we all went out and bought it.
I also agree with your Simpsons comment... it's been quite a slide for the past one or two years. But that's why I taped the old ones and watch them. Ah, memories...
Submitted by HeavensWalls (user info) at 2003-06-17 13:39:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
hmmm, I haven't been following the FPS genre much at all. I remember hearing that Doom III is going to be released this year but I had no idea they were working on Half-Life 2, that's probably going to be pretty cool.
Oh yeah, since the subject swerved over to FPS's, any Halo player would probably enjoy this video series as a hillarious outtake on multiplayer Halo gaming - http://www.redvsblue.com ...
Submitted by Cymensen (user info) at 2003-06-17 13:22:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Half-life 2 is going to own beyond belief!
+1 cuz I sort of agree with you. C&C series has gone down hill.
Submitted by HeavensWalls (user info) at 2003-06-17 13:08:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Warcraft 3 is an addicting game, unlike Warcraft and Starcraft before it. Instead of amassing armies to hope to win by shear numbers, your army revolves around a 'hero' that supports the group as well as caster troops that support the whole group also. VERY fun...
Submitted by Nator (user info) at 2003-06-17 12:42:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I totally agree. I don't play RTS's though. Tried it, and only liked Starcraft, actually.
Everyone put their hands up for Half-Life 2!
Submitted by catscradle (user info) at 2003-06-17 12:22:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I saw an ad for Rise of Nations in Military History. I'd get it, but fuck.. Age of Kings games took hours on their own.. course, if all the Uberians want to get together and have a 'tournament', well.. sounds like fun to me.
Submitted by Jimmy23 (user info) at 2003-06-17 12:11:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
If you want to draw that kind of parrell plot graph piechart thingy. Then you also realize that some of the current simpsons episodes are really good. Like a diamond in the rough sorta thing. Same with video games. Most of them out there are crap. I mean, I grew up in the hey day of Red Alert and those type of games and can't play anything else without reminding me of that game. But some games are good, starcraft, half-life (just because you play almost anything on the internet with that) and other stuff like that. Same with simpsons. Not every episode is crap, but a lot of them are.
Submitted by ctrl_alt_del (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:57:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
-2 because the Simpsons still kick ass. +1 because you're right about the games.
Submitted by Manfre (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:18:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You should play Myst... That game kicks ass...
Submitted by El_Guapo (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:10:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
that was an interesting parallel you drew. i agree that the simpsons, while formerly being one of the best shows on television, has recently sunk into mediocrity.
and fabish, homeworld kicks ass. i loved that game!
Submitted by Fabish (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:08:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I downloaded the Rise of Nations demo. It's a pretty awesome game. Offers a lot that Age of Empires 2 does, but to me, it's a whole lot better.
You start at an "Age of Empires" like era. Starting out with bows and arrows and all of the middle ages type of hub bub. You'll eventually tech all the way to tanks and nukes. It's some of the old with a lot of the new added into. I recommend buying it. It's addictive. But nothing like Starcraft was...ohhh man.
Submitted by Fabish (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:06:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Buy Homeworld. It's an awesome RTS game and one of the very few that offer that sort of experience. It's a few years old and that only means you'll get a kickass game for cheap.
As for the Simpsons, a classic never dies.
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:04:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
It's not crap. You draw an interesting parallel... a lot of times, video game makers really make a game the best it could be, but when they're tempted by bigger profits and release newer versions, they deviate from what made the game as good as it was in the first place.
Bring back Family Guy.
Submitted by Mercutio (user info) at 2003-06-17 11:04:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
When I'm feeling low about the lack of good RTS games out there, I just pop Starcraft in and enjoy classic RTS goodness. Sure, the characters are nothing but sprites with little animation to them, but the gameplay is truly classic.
I heard Rise of Nations is actually pretty decent, though, and it's brand new. Have you heard anything about it?