Welcome back to the January finals of the Monthly Game Smackdown! As a reminder, the MGS is where 4 games are picked at the beginning of the month and every week each game is played for an hour.

You’ve paid for the entire seat but only needed the edge as your anticipation has become a palpable thing; condensation on the tubes that are these internets! Or, you’ve just wandered over from somewhere else in the ether. Either way, here are the results from our first smackdown!

Game #1

HISTORY Great Empires: Rome (DS)
• Final Rating: Sorta Fun

What was played
Continuing the campaign

Final Thoughts
Long. Very, very long. If you’re going to be sitting in a vehicle for an extended period of time, this game will fill all of it, and it’s very unlikely that you will finish a map. In some respects, I do appreciate the way they did the battles: you arrange your troops and tell them when you would like them to stop or how fast to go and then the fates decide. I mean, it works for the delivery device and it’s a different sort of strategy but that’s about it.

I’m glad that someone tried a strategy game on a handheld, even though it didn’t work very well. With a better interface layout and being able to play against your friends however, I think it could be done.

Game #2

Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (PSP)
• Final Rating: Fun

What was played
Still jumping and shooting my third-person view through the story.

Final Thoughts
Getting over the fact that the developer wasn’t going to make the player stick to the plot since they didn’t, the game became easier to just play. I especially enjoyed the arcade shooter level with giant Clank and even got a kick out of the Clank mini games (that I didn’t like the racing mini games probably speaks more to my dislike of racing games than this game). And, when it shows up, the plot is still entertaining even though the game is just loosely based on it. Will probably wind up finishing this game on my next business trip.

Game #3

Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships (PC)
• Final Rating: Sorta Fun

What was played
Still running about but bought back my ship and took it for a spin.

Final Thoughts
I finally understand the game enough to know that I should start over if I really want to get anywhere. As it currently stands, it will take just as long to start over as it will to keep going to get to the same point in the game. If you play this game, DO NOT sell your first ship until you have used it to make some cash. Otherwise you’ll be running to and from the local cave to kill skeletal pirates just to collect their treasures so that you can sell it to the shop and lurk around the bar trying to turn that meager return into something more substantial by gambling. You may still be doing that in order to hire a crew and pay for supplies and repairs.

Overall, this feels more like a SIM than a game. You have to keep track of your expenses, stock your ship with weapons and supplies, manage a crew that includes a treasurer, and wander around town trying to drum up business. Suggested rebranding for this game: “Ages of Pirates 2, Inc.” or “City of Abandoned Economics: some swashbuckling included”. I did enjoy the fights and the brief trip around the bay where I discovered that in order to shoot canons at another ship, you need a crew. Basically, I enjoyed the pirate part of it. Put more of that in the next one and less RPG meets CEO.

Game #4: WINNER!

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising (PC)
• Final Rating: Fun

What was played
Started the main Soviet campaign. Again.

Final Thoughts
Seeing as how much I was enjoying the other parts of this game I decided to go back and start the “primary” campaigns. This time around I did like the Soviet campaign more than the first time I ran this game. And, unless the other two are better, the campaigns are just not the best part of this game. The Yuriko campaign was fun because of the simplicity: only a few options and only a few units to manage. The challenges were fun because of the competitiveness: things like times and scores are very tangible goals. The campaigns are missing something which is probably the same something that all games that have a “story” but don’t punish you for taking your sweet time are missing. Surely there is a better balance. Still, I’m hoping to make time to play this one all the way through.

Tune in next week to see the games and round 1 for February.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Editorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.