It took me by surprise when I found out that the first Wednesday after the summer of XBLA would have three releases instead of one. I was only surprised until I played them; only one of the three is worth looking at. In the never ending quest to charge money for things that are free (and possibly better) elsewhere comes Gin Rummy.
Latest Feature: Impulse Buyer
Can Stardock break into the marketplace, and will it help reduce piracy?
COLUMNS
Hold on, I just have to impose my wrath upon countless innocent lives spanning a thousand worlds, I’ll call you back.
Trying to review Twilight of the Arnor while remaining jargon free is utterly impossible, as this is a game hand built from day one for nerds – and oh boy is it good. Phrases like ‘The Drath Legion’ or ‘Dominion of the Korx’ cause embarrassing feelings in my loins, while the inclusion of no less than six feature-complete content editors that allow for custom tech-trees, ship designs and racial bonuses, is frankly just too good.
Similar to Stardock’s more recent offering, Sins of a Solar Empire, which built upon its GalCiv heritage, Twilight is like a tribute to PC gamers. This is what we are about; convoluted maps, pages upon pages of statistics, maps with a thousand uncharted worlds and a selection of races that feature confederations and conglomerates. Everything you see here is gloriously deep and unapologetically complicated.
But just how much of this is down to the vanilla GalCiv2 base and how much content is Twilight of the Arnor actually adding? Let us quickly look over the new features and bask in their glory. First on the list is the new ‘immense’ map size, which for once is an accurate description. You could conceivably play a game on one of these maps that would last six months to a year. There have been real wars that have been over in less time. Along with the obligatory ‘new units and new races’ standard that most expansion packs feature, Twilight allows for complete customization of everything, from map design to individual custom tech-trees, custom scenarios and a deeper ship designer utility. This is coupled with a host of back-end fixes - from UI improvements to a vastly improved 3D engine that somehow, amazingly, reduces strain on your system while also improving the graphics. Minor bugs have been crushed and new items have been added. To say that Twilight is feature-complete is understating just how many holes this expansion fills in the original title.
Sadly, multiplayer is still nowhere to be seen. But with AI so advanced, it doesn’t feel like an omission. Stardock have prided themselves on their superior AI for GalCiv2 and here it is just as prevalent, as they are able to battle against the player without the artificial bonuses most other games use as a crutch. When you launch that final assault on their home-world, utterly exterminating their entire population under your iron fist before obliterating the entire solar system with one of the many new star-destroying units, you will feel relieved – satisfied you have defeated a worthy opponent rather than exploited a broken system. The game benefits from this high level of sophistication by allowing for complete customization of opposing forces, from traits to troops – right down to each individual unit and planet.
But really, the real meat of this feast is in the core gameplay Twilight inherits from the fantastic GalCiv2 and its first expansion, Dark Avatar. It’s still just as fun as it ever was, and while Twilight does aim to make the title endless, with the inclusion of so many editors, this does very much feel like a complete wrap up of the series. Every conceivable aspect of GalCiv2 you wished was in the game now is. Twilight adds in so much potential, while simultaneously finalizing the polish on an already superb game, that it is improbably good. An essential purchase for GalCiv fans of any kind, Twilight of the Arnor is at worst a suite of bug fixes and minor content upgrades, but at its very best it is a gateway to a universe of unrivaled scale that delivers an excellent gameplay experience every single time. Truly a ‘greatest hits’ release.
Not to mention you can destroy entire solar systems with star-destroying death rays. Did I mention that already?
“Steps Toward an Elitist Critic Future” at Rock Paper Shotgun
I went into this article expecting the “elitist critic future” to be presented as a negative thing, but no. Kieron Gillen is openly admitting here that he likes it. I think he’s buying into the idea that games need what you could call “indie cred” (not his words) to be worthwhile. I love Earth Defense Force 2017, but no, Kieron, it’s not better than Gears of War.
Lower the price of the hard drive, Microsoft. I want to give you more money, all you have to do is let me.
“EA Partners Is A Murderers’ Row - Who’s NOT On This List?” at MTV Multiplayer
This is a good bit of investigative reporting from Stephen Totilo. With last Thursday’s announcements by Electronic Arts of deals with Grasshopper Manufacture and Epic Games, they now have at least half a dozen major partners, and that’s not counting the smaller companies they have outright purchased over the last couple years.
I have become amazed at what XBLA has done in the past few weeks. It started with Geometry Wars 2, a game Jim Canapa described perfectly in the previous column (he should know, since his high scores are far better than mine). Bionic Commando, another great game I will go into detail about later, was the most recent addition. But in the middle was Braid, the first game to ever cause an internal conflict for me.