Star Wars – Knights of the Old Republic

Description

Four thousand years before the events depicted in the Star Wars movies, the political and ideological situation is not much different from what we have seen in the prequel trilogy: the Republic and the Jedi Order are fighting against two powerful Sith lords, Darth Revan and his apprentice, Darth Malak. It is said that the former was successfully defeated by the Jedi, and that Darth Malak betrayed his mentor and is planning to take on the Republic by himself. His aggression is so successful that some Jedi have decided to join his ranks. A seemingly ordinary soldier of the Republic is traveling aboard a space ship that is attacked by Darth Malak’s minions. Narrowly escaping, the soldier meets a female Jedi named Bastila, one of those who have fought Darth Revan in the decisive battle. With her help, the soldier must learn to become a Jedi, stop Darth Malak, and discover the truth about his or her own past.

Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing game that uses the Star Wars D20 rule system, which is similar to the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Character development and combat are handled similarly to BioWare’s previous RPGs such as Baldur’s Gate series. Combat engine follows similar “real-time with pause” rules. There are only three active combatants on the player’s side (as opposed to six in Baldur’s Gate). Several characters join the party and can be switched at the player’s will. …

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Star Wars – Knights of the Old Republic II

Description

Five years after the events depicted in Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith have become stronger and more determined to rule the Galaxy. The Jedi Order is nearly exterminated. A mysterious ex-Jedi has been exiled from the Order and is traveling alone. This Jedi had served under Darth Revan (when the latter was still on the Light side of the Force) during the Mandalorian Wars, but due to enigmatic circumstances was forced to retire. Now the past is catching up with the Jedi, and soon he or she will have to choose the side to fight on.

The Sith Lords looks and plays very similarly to its predecessor, also being based on the Star Wars d20 role-playing rule set (which, in its turn, is similar to the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons) and having the same combat engine, character development, and a Light and Dark ethical system, which judges the player’s decisions and actions and influences story events and characters’ responses. Additions to the gameplay include a lightsaber-crafting system, which allows augmenting lightsabers with various items, new Force powers, and the possibility to influence the alignments of the characters in the player-controlled party through conversation choices and other decisions. Most of the exploration and the combat sequences is done using a party of three, including the protagonist and two companions. However, certain parts of the game will force the player to travel alone, or to control a party made exclusively out of companions. …

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The Lord of the Rings – The Battle for Middle-earth II

Description

The storyline follows the lesser known story of the War of the North, which took place at the same time as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The game makes use of the book license in addition to the existing license of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, which also results in some characters which were not seen in the films being present in this game. Also included are some original characters, like Gorkil and Drogoth. The campaigns are once again split to the Good and Evil, but instead of taking place on a meta-map, they are entirely linear in nature.

The game features six playable factions: Men of the West (combination of Gondor and Rohan from the first game), Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Isengard, and Mordor. The base system has been completely overhauled, allowing for free-form construction around the map. Resources are still primarily gathered by farm-type structures, but they have to be built far from each other and on suitable terrain for optimal income. Some neutral buildings like beacons, taverns and shipyards can be captured by infantrymen, much like tech structures in the later Command & Conquer games. In addition to this, production structures (unlike farm-type ones) have to be manually upgraded to be able to train higher-tier units. More units are available per faction, new support powers can be selected in the Palantir, and custom heroes can be designed and trained in skirmish and multiplayer. Taking the One Ring (from a killed Gollum unit which can occasionally appear on a map) to a fortress will allow the player to train a Ring Hero – Galadriel for the Good factions or Sauron for the Evil factions, both heroes being more powerful than any other unit in the game. …

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The Lord of the Rings – The Battle for Middle-earth

Description

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a real-time strategy game set in the Lord of the Rings universe and makes use licensed elements from Peter Jackson’s film trilogy.

The game features four factions: Gondor, Rohan, Isengard, and Mordor. Bases are comprised of a fortress structure, a limited number of nodes upon which other buildings can be constructed, and surrounding walls with gates. Farm-type structures bring a constant income and raise the population cap. Further nodes can be found on the map to create more structures, either new fortresses or just farms. Unit production structures can level up with usage in order to gain access to more powerful or specialized unit types and upgrades.

Regular units (with the exception of artillery) are trained in squads, and much like in WarCraft III, heroes can be trained. Heroes can gain up to 10 levels through experience in combat, and as they level up, they get new abilities and spells to cast. The player can also gain experience points in combat, much like in this game’s immediate technological predecessor, Command & Conquer: Generals, which can be spent to unlock support powers from the Palantir, which in turn form a special tech tree as they act as prerequisites for each other. …

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American Conquest

Description

American Conquest is a realtime-strategy game with masses of enemies and allies – you have to conquer (as the game-title suggests) and defend the American continent. The game features the wars and struggles from 1492 to 1813, a multiplayer-mode, up to 16.000 units, 12 nations you can play (from Hispanics to Sioux) and a 3D graphics-engine…

American Conquest combines realtime strategy with complex tactics features. You have to control huge armies, find the best formation and build up strong companies and find the best blend of long and short range units. There are 100 different units and 106 buildings.

The game features 8 campaigns with 42 missions such as Pizarro’s Expedition, the War of Tecumseh, the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence.

GSC Gameworld also built in a diplomacy system, and something resembling a moral system. Wins and defeats influence your army’s strength.

Also, you can play six historical battles in the multiplayer-mode. And nine solo-missions that aren’t part of a campaign. …

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American Conquest – Fight Back

Description

American Conquest: Fight Back is the successor to American Conquest. The game features eight campaigns set between 1517 and 1804: during the 25 missions the player tackles missions like finding El Dorado with Germany or conquering Alaska with the Russians at the expense of the Haida. There are overall five new nations and 50 new units to play with, in addition to the mentioned Portugal and the Netherlands.

The gameplay is exactly the same as in American Conquest, meaning that the player constructs a base, gathers resources and builds up his army. The fighting morale is very important and can be influenced by either victory, defeat, food supplies or the equipment your units are carrying. Ten new battlefield maps are designed to offer quick combat between two armies. …

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American Conquest – Divided Nation

Description

American Conquest: Divided Nation is the sequel to Real Time Strategy Game American Conquest. While the first game focused on the conquest of America by the Europeans from the natives. In this game the focus is on the Civil War. The game features nine historical campaigns and various lose scenarios to replay this time of conflict.

The game plays like a traditional RTS game. You gather resources (wood, grain, coal and gold), construct a base and create units to fight your opponent who is trying to do the same. In the campaign missions the resource gathering and base building is sometimes left out in favour of maps that are purely focused on a battlefield. In these missions it is possible to build a base tent camp with a canteen and head quarters, but you have to make do with the soldiers you are given at the start of the map.

There are four playable nations: the Confederacy, the Union, Mexico and Texas. Each nation has some specific units, but they are mostly the similar. Available are infantry, cavalry, artillery and maritime units. …

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