Ran Prieur @ran

The Tone Rebellion (Windows)

Unique, ambitious, original, not fun.

The Good
I remember when I first played Warcraft, how disappointed I was when the first scenario ended and I realized it was divided into levels or missions, instead of allowing the opening position to expand continuously into one giant game. Tone Rebellion is a rare (unique?) real-time strategy game that is not level-based. Also it's like an adventure game in that there are puzzles to solve and artifacts to collect, and its universe is strange and original.

The Bad
It's totally uncompelling. The advances give your units higher numbers and a prettier appearance, but they do not give you any new abilities, except the ability to move into new screens that play exactly like the old screens. The single exception is the spell tower which has only six lousy spells. The dazzling variety of monsters have only two ways of fighting and zero intelligence. There's nothing to look forward to except the abstract goal of winning.

The graphics are simulated 3D, but the gameplay is only one-dimensional, with short, wide screens on which the only important motion is side to side. Tactically it's as simple as computer solitaire. Once you've been through a few screens and learned how to play, it's no longer interesting.

The Bottom Line
Fun to learn, innovative, very interesting from a game design perspective, but no fun to play.

By Ran Prieur on May 12, 2004

Lords of Magic: Special Edition (Windows)

Great intentions, poor execution.

The Good
Lords of Magic was made by some of the same people who made the near-perfect Lords Of The Realm II. It's like a sequel to that game, moved from a medieval world to a fantasy world with magic. It should be great.

Some creativity in the different factions and units and spells. I like how you can make your hero a thief who can sneak around the map unseen. I wish more strategy games had stealth units.

As with LOTR II, it's a hybrid with everything turn-based except the battles which are real-time.

The Bad
It just isn't any fun to play. The different aspects of the game seem disjointed. You clean out a nest of bad guys, you get some crystals, you move a scout, you research a spell, but somehow it doesn't gel together into a story, and the only thing compelling me to keep playing is hoping it will finally become fun.

I've read elsewhere that there's some strategic trick (not a realistic one) that makes the game too easy, but I didn't figure it out, so the game just kept grinding on without my forces getting strong enough to win, or being seriously threatened by the other factions, which seem to just wander aimlessly.

Also, the graphics are much too dark. It feels like you're looking around a basement with a flashlight. Doesn't this world have a sun?

The Bottom Line
Failed attempt at a fantasy strategy game.

By Ran Prieur on February 3, 2004

Lords of the Realm II (Windows)

Great medieval atmosphere. A minor classic.

The Good
This game has a great feel to it, especially in the early part when you're building your strength. Listening to the music, sowing my fields, moving my peasants, I'm totally immersed in an idealized medieval reality.

The scale is more intimate than in most strategy games. You see individual fields and know your exact population. The best part, which I wish was in a lot more games, is that there are seasons, so you see the map frost over in the winter and turn green in spring, and you look forward to the fall harvest.

The gameplay is a hybrid, turn-based for everything except the battles which are real-time. It works!

Maybe unintentionally, the game has an ecological message. You invade counties where the fields are packed with sick cows, and sell or eat them so they're less crowded, and your farms become more efficient. Then you can get even better efficiency by going vegan and getting rid of the cows entirely!

The Bad
As soon as you go to war, the music changes permanently to a tune that's not as good.

I can't get the game to work on any computer made after 1999.

I like my games easy, but once I figured out the resource management, this one got too easy even for me. I built my big stone castles and they never even got attacked!

The Bottom Line
Excellent fun medieval strategy game.

By Ran Prieur on February 3, 2004

Sid Meier's Civilization II (Windows 3.x)

Addictive is not always good.

The Good
Civilization II is probably the most addictive PC game of all time. The gameplay is perfect -- complex and brilliantly designed so that there are always several things you're looking forward to that are coming up in just another turn if you just keep playing 30 seconds longer. Hours later...

The interface is easy, and between the in-game civilopedia and the poster (tragically missing in Civ III), every unit, improvement, and technology is thoroughly explained. Also this game is extremely friendly to being tweaked by the player.

The Bad
Civilization II is probably the most addictive PC game of all time. You'll keep playing long after you've stopped enjoying it on any level beyond cheap compulsiveness, wasting hours that could have been spent lying in the sun or playing a greater variety of games.

The graphics are unexceptional and I hate the music (but you can turn it off).

The Bottom Line
Super-addictive civilization-building strategy game.

By Ran Prieur on February 3, 2004

Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars (Windows)

The best HOMM and one of the best PC games ever.

The Good
A textbook example of why the mid-1990's were a golden age for computer games. HOMM 3 and 4 have more and faster-moving pixels, and more complex rules, but they have no soul.

HOMM 2 brings it all together -- the brightly-colored hand-drawn art, the beautiful atmospheric music, the charming content and the elegant gameplay, to make a perfect whole. The music, by the way, can be played by sticking the game in an ordinary CD player.

The personality of the game is light and playful. Unlike with Civilization II, I don't keep playing because I'm addicted, but because I'm in a universe that beats the crap out of the real world, riding a horse through green meadows and red and black lava fields, visiting witch doctors and haunted ruins, fighting zombies and dragons. This is how to do fantasy!

Interface-wise, a great feature of all the HOMM games is that you can right click on pretty much anything and get information.

The Bad
A little heavy on the battle. The scenarios are a lot funner to start than to finish.

The Bottom Line
Wonderful classic turn-based strategy fantasy game.

By Ran Prieur on February 3, 2004

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

One of the very best console games.

The Good
The most beautiful, alive, inventive game I've ever seen, and the fictional universe I'd most like to step into. The interface and gameplay are perfect, and every puzzle and monster is creative, but the best thing here is the overwhelming imaginative rendering of the game's 3D universe, the landscapes, towns, and dungeons, each with its own music and atmosphere and personality, in which, to some extent, you can wander around at will and take your time.

The Bad
The game has an ending. It should go on forever. Also, a little too much running.

The Bottom Line
A total masterpiece fantasy adventure game.

By Ran Prieur on February 3, 2004

Ascendancy (DOS)

Quirky, atmospheric, low-stress, a classic!

The Good
This game has more "soul" than almost any other PC game. By that I mean something like the integration of graphics, music, and content to generate a deep sense of the game's personality or atmosphere. The graphics are amazing for 1995. I never get tired of the music, which is very spacey but also a little like an old Morricone soundtrack. It's got a great-looking and easy to use 3D star map, and 21 species with cool pictures and their own musical themes (which you only get to hear for a minute).

As a reviewer wrote elsewhere, this is the most low-stress of all strategy games. You never feel hurried, and apparently you can keep playing indefinitely. Some players won't appreciate this.

The Bad
There's no way to know what a new item DOES before getting it, so no basis for a decision on which technology to research.

The help-click feature is a joke, compared to games where it's done well, like the Heroes of Might & Magic series where you can right-click on practically anything and get useful information.

As everyone has pointed out, all interactions with computer opponents are clunky.

I suppose this is asking too much of the programmers, but after the mind-blowing diversity of the species descriptions, gameplay-wise they're just about identical. Tree people, giant amoebas, and microscopic parasites all build the same industrial-style planet improvements and research the same technologies.

The Bottom Line
Beautiful, compelling, somewhat flawed space-conquest strategy game.

By Ran Prieur on February 3, 2004