2016 The year of the turn based game

In an attempt to blog / write more, I figured I’d start with a ‘best games of 2016’ or more like ‘my fav games of 2016’. Since I don’t want to pretend I can decide for every one what’s the best game, nonetheless on a blog only a few people might read. As I was making the list, one thing struck me: there were an aweful lot of strategy games on it, which isn’t that surprising since I like the genre, but a lot of them are turn based. So let’s take look at that list :

– Xcom 2
– Darkest Dungeon
– Halcyon 6
– Steamworld Heist
– Civ 6
– Stellaris
– Master of Orion
– Mordheim: City of the damned
– Hearts of Iron IV
– Total war: WARHAMMER
Now I could be wrong and every year a whole bunch of turn based game come out, and I might have not noticed. In case I missed any good ones, let me know. Anyway, from that list I’d say XCOM 2 is my favorite. I even finished one game (which is rare for me ;)), loved most of the improvements from Xcom 1.
My number 2 would be darkest dungeon. Love the artstyle and the narrator. Unfortunately this one got a little spoiled for me, due to early access. Played it quite a lot when it just came out. Only just recently started a new run and a lot has been added since ! Halcyon 6 and Steamworld Heist, both indy games were surprisingly good. SW Heist has nice humor and a nice artstyle, the campaign lasts about 15 – 20 hrs, the game is / will be on sale often, so keep your eye out for this on. Halcyon 6 still gets great reviews on Steam, it’s a mix of FTL and Xcom with a 16bit like (pixel) art style. Fun game to play for sure.
Wish I played more of Civ 6, stellaris, HOI IV and total war(hammer). All good games that will only get better with DLC / expansions !  I have seen a lot of Mordheim on twitch by tornis (http://www.twitch.tv/tornis). Very extensive game with a long campaign with several faction, the strategy seems to be top notch. I only played the tutorials and that already took several hours ;). Something to keep in mind when you’re interested in this one.

Youtube Trucking

Due to some unfortunate family circumstances I haven’t been able to record more Youtube videos. With the upcoming release of American Truck Simulator, I hope to pick up where I left off. Funny enough the Two Part video that featured ProMods 1.98 ‘From Scotland to Iceland‘ trucking video is one of the best watched videos on the channel.

Defense Grid 2

Lately I am enjoying playing Defense Grid 2. The follow up to the excellent first Defense Grid from 2008. I have been recording my efforts on my Zimmy910 youtube channel. It’s not a blind play through though, I have been playing the missions at least once before. Some even more (like mission 7, the hardest so far IMHO). Makes it a bit more interesting I think, since I can come up with a better solution for the Tower Defense puzzle than on my first playthrough.

FTL – Faster than light

Have been playing quite a bit of this game again, ever since I started watching Lethalfrag on Twitch ! The advanced edition, released in April, added quite a bit to the game. I learned a lot from his stream, the game is not as impossible as I thought it was back in 2012 when I tried it first.

I made a video of my second victory, this time the Zoltan A ship. Since it’s rather boring to just watch it, I recorded some commentary. For the very first time. It’s rather weird to hear your own voice back and there are some odd pauses in between words, where I try to come up with something.  Ah  well it’s not too bad I hope ;).

SQUAD: To the mun and back

A very interesting article appeared on polygon.com about Kerbal Space Program. It’s not your regular article about the game, but more about how it came to be, and a history of Squad, the company that has created this masterpiece. And how one man’s dream came to be. Originally it wasn’t even supposed to make any money, it started as just a side project. I didn’t even know Squad is originally a marketing company (and apparently still is !).

You can find it at http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program

Kerbal space program pt. 1

Lately I have been playing quite a bit of this ‘game’. And I say that in quotes as it is also very educational. It even peeked my interest in astronomy, I bough the astronomy for dummies book as well :).

A while back I finally managed to put a rover on the Mun in career mode. It only functions once it’s in the sunlight as it is electrical powered. The pics show a Kerbal (Bill I think) driving it, but it also drives on it’s own). It’s still sitting on the Mun ;).

I’ll try to post more as I get further and further into career mode !

Pretty Saro


 

This amazing rendition by Bob Dylan from 43 years ago was released today with a wonderful video on the Rolling Stone site. At the end of the month a 4cd set will come out from the late ’60s early ’70s ‘country’ session. If this is just a glimpse of what is to come, we’re in for a treat !

Rolling Stone Article

Masterchef US

As a big fan of all things Masterchef, I also enjoyed the American version of Masterchef. But only the latter stages to be honest. In the Australian version there is a lot camaraderie, sometimes a few quibbles here and there, but in the American version, the competition was much more fierce and sometimes down right dirty.

Last night I watched the finale, and a very remarkable winner came out on top, the blind cook Christine Ha ! She wins $250.000,- and a book deal ! Very impressive I must say, throughout the competition she almost always had one of the top dishes and even managed to get the presentation right despite her handicap. Gratz to her ;).

LA Times article