Marek

Its sleek design will surely be justified when placed amid randomly scattered socks under your dust-covered TV, whilst happily soaking in the sigarette smells that permeate your room through its integrated Ethernet port. Poor PS2. I just wanted to establish the scene, y'know...

It's complete and will be bundled, afaik.

Right. The comments they've made might just as well be referring to the fact that the Unreal engine 3 is capable of rendering large locations both indoor and outdoor, or something. We just don't know. I just think it's wrong to automatically assume it's an FPS or an RPG with heavy FPS influences. I've seen the engine's scripting language and you can create pretty much anything with it, within reason of course. An Unreal 3 powered 2D point-and-click adventure would be a waste of time

Well there's still enough people chanting "nazis raus!" wherever those guys appear...

Not really. Unreal engine doesn't automatically mean FPS. The engine can be used for just about anything.

Yarrrrrr! Tasha Yarrrrrrr!

Today is the first day this year that it's really been autumn-y, with wind and rain and wearing a sweater again and all that stuff. Suddenly I'm reminded of games I played during this season last year, including Sands of Time and Ragnarok Online. Especially Sands of Time, which I played in a dark December with a candle next to my computer. I'm feeling sort of happily melancholic right now, kind of like how good music will often remind you of the first time you heard it. So let's talk about this. Do you unconciously associate your game experiences with the state you were in while you played them?

Wow, in the meantime like 10 things were posted.

Seconded.

If you're looking for the 0,0001% of female opinions represented on Idle Thumbs, look no further than our BG&E review. Oh ummm, Yufster, please don't keep posting game-relevant topics in idle banter.

There's no adjustable speed, and yep, you've found the game's biggest shortcoming. Well that depends on what the demo showed. Randomized one-on-one battles in Rise of Nations basically have you go through the whole history of mankind in an hour. The actual campaign missions only have one new "era" per battle. (The other research slots are filled with technologies with a less dramatic impact).

I don't agree with Rise of Nations getting so univerally lauded, but I'm not surprised either. The game is really really good, especially on the surface, but when you play it a little longer (10 hours +) you start to notice that the mix of RTS and TBS traditions doesn't work that well. I do think that a sequel could easily fix the things I didn't like about Rise of Nations, though. But, erm, yeah ... read my review

Oh wow. I've just written a review of Rise of Nations (coming soon exclusively on Idle Thumbs!!!) and it kinda seems like Kinghts of Honor has done the things right that Rise of Nations did wrong... It also has a really good graphics style, by the look of those screenshots. It looks kinda like those miniature you see in museums or at tourist information booths, or like a landscape for model trains. (Erm hard to explain?) The 2D art for the interface also looks gorgeous! Thanks for pointing this game out. I'm kind of itching to get it.

Hey, it took him twelve posts. Twelve posts! I needed just one! My success rate is 100%, whereas Trep's is a mere 8,33%. WOOHOO!

Crappy track laying interface aside, I'm really enjoying this game at the moment. Once you accept that the interface is crappy, it actually becomes fun. More fun than the original.

Oh come on guys, this is just too simple. I mean, you're all cool for trying and stuff, but there's obviously no challenge if you think this through. I'd take Yufster out for dinner in SAN FRANCISCO, the place of dreams and endless possibilities (and Double Fine). There. I won.

Glad you liked it. I kind of liked it too, but was also annoyed with a lot of things. A lot of that probably has to do with how it's all set up in the game and how the dialog is written. I'm currently playing Knights of the Old Republic, and even though it doesn't have the same kind of bandwidth for choices as Invisible War, it gets closer to achieving the feeling that Invisible War was probably going for. I can truly feel that freedom and make meaningful choices while still enjoying a tight and consistent experience. Invisible War was too drawn out and inconsequential for my tastes and the story never really grabbed me.

A little respect for the Poring please.

That rules.

I don't like the new track laying interface either. I didn't play Rollercoaster Tycoon but that's where I imagine it comes from? Seems like it's geared towards a more novice audience. Just try teaching your mother how to drag with the mouse and letting it go at the right moment (or better yet, don't). This interface is much better for novice players, but it kind of sucks for people like us. I'm not too impressed with Locomotion. I don't hate it either, but it seems like halfway towards being a real sequel. Maybe this is the code that Chris Sawyer has been working on for all those years on the side, and he just wants to get it out there, figuring that few people still remember or know the original. Locomotion actually seems like a slightly more streamlined version of Transport Tycoon with crappier graphics. Meh. Where's Locomotion 2?

This is most definitely the best Consolevania yet. Get it.

Whoah.

Are you at least level 10? Poring will kill you if you're not.