'Ello my old cockers! Don't take that offensively; I'm from Yorkshire!

Earlier this month I made a charming article for Game Revolution claiming that games cannot be viewed as a traditional art form 'cause they're far too inaccessible for the ordinary chap off the street. I can't post the thing 'ere, 'cause the chances are GR will reward me for their loyalty with a nifty little gift card. 'Owever, if the whole 'games as art' debate interests you, have a deek over 'ere for the article, as well as some bloke's charmin' rebuttal.



Word!

Earlier this year I previewed Majesty 2. Back then I praised its novelty and commented on how the revolutionary management system could signal a whole new type of simulation-strategy game. There were moments where I felt like a massively multiplayer community director – assigning quests and handing out rewards to heroes. This made the title drastically different to othe...

I'm a huge strategy fan, so imagine my delight when I was chosen to review General Chaos for the Sega Megadrive. Its one of the founding fathers of the genre and a lot of RTS details we're now all familiar with made their premier here. Players take control of either General Chaos or his nemesis General Havoc as each team tries to capture their opponent's capital city. You can jump into battles instantly, although there's also an option to play on a large, extremely simplified, RISK-type m...

Supreme Ruler is a decent game, so long as you can get your head around it. Old school, die-hard management fans may really get to grips with this title, but most of us will be left out in the cold.

A while back I previewed Champions Online. At the time I was optimistic about the full version and now I'm not disappointed in the slightest. The completed build of CO is everything I hoped for and more but I don't feel its fair to brandish it as a 'WoW killer' at this early stage. However, the game does provide a tonne of unique traits that should ensure its future...

Dragonica is a 3D, fantasy, action-oriented, side-scrolling MMORPG developed by Barunson Interactive. Its published by Gpotato in the EU and THQ*ICE in the US. As with most other titles promoted through both of these sites, Dragonica is free to play. However, gamers can opt to buy extras for their character from a shop dealing in real money. Anyone who has played Lunia or MapleStory will feel right at home here. Conversely, Dragonica has a level of polish not yet to b...

Officers is a fun toy. Every map is like a sandbox in which you can rain destruction upon the Nazis. Its key feature, huge battles, is both the best part of gameplay and the worst.

If you're a turn-based strategy fan looking for something new, a Fantasy Wars fanatic or even a real-time regular who appreciates the RISK-type features many titles feature on their overworld map, Elven Legacy is for you. It sucks you in and dupes you into playing hours at a time, whilst managing to make every minute enjoyable. Whilst some elements such as the unvaried objectives and linear path may put a lot of people off, the game compensates by throwing in exciting fights and a ...

From first glance, the game defines itself as a generic fantasy MMORPG. It doesn't even try to disguise itself as anything truly unique, making clear that its basically everything you'd expect from the get-go. All the usual features are here, from the typical character classes (warrior, mage etc.), to an extensive creation myth that has no relevance to the quests or characters in-game.

CrossFire is a grain of sand in a desert full of free, online first-person shooters. The majority of these are played and maintained by fanatic Koreans with glazed eyes and twitchy fingers, going to any lengths to improve their skill. At first glance, this particular title fails to stand out from its peers; sporting low-grade graphics, two factions that are constantly at war for no real reason and a promotion system that will be uncannily familiar to the fans of Battlefield or C...

Grand Ages: Rome is made by the same developers and initially could be mistaken to be the same game as IR. The strict attention to detail is still prevalent, as is the fluid economy and employment system. The one big thing that GA introduces is more variation. With its predecessor, it was easy to apply the same strategy to every map – maps which were all too similar to one another. The obvious aim of its spiritual sequel is to mix things up a little. This is something that's...

Approximately a year ago, Jason Venter reviewed the vanilla version of Europa Universalis III for this very site. Jason articulately chronicled his rise to power as Calais in the fifteenth century, writing of how rebels would easily seize territory and he would hastily be defeated. Mr.Venter discovered, very quickly, the importance of being a competent leader. The people do not respond well to being constantly drafted into the forces, nor do they appreciate needlessly high taxes. If you a...

Imperium Ronanum: Gold Edition is by no means a bad game. I believe it was built for newcomers to the genre, as everything from resource management to the interface is incredibly simplified. Regulars will still see some uncannily similarities to games they've played before, namely Glory of the Roman Empire. Make no mistake, though: This is not a typical strategy aimed at your average war-monger.

For a collection of titles that are approaching 17 years old, Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 1 provides an experience that both newcomers and veterans to the series will enjoy. The franchise has inspired an anime and a full-length feature film, and its easy to see why: Loveable characters, believable settings and gameplay elements that changed the genre forever make this tidy, budget bundle a must-buy.

World Heroes Anthology makes no excuses for itself: its a simple, brutal fighting game optimised for the multiplayer experience. Comparisons between it and the Street Fighter series are inevitable, especially since the latter has released compilation packs of its past titles before. World Heroes Anthology follows the same schema of thinking, featuring all four World Heroes games bundled together onto the same disc for the PS2. Its really good value if you and your fri...

Getting things back into the green through changing the budget is like playing Operation with shaky hands – doable, but difficult and pointless. All this makes for an experience that is essentially unfriendly to the causal player or warmonger, as you have to be really secure in your power (usually only possible after investing a considerable amount of time into balancing your affairs) before even thinking about launching a mission to 'blow shit up'. Its accurate to real life, but will rea...

his means that anyone who has touched anything resembling a turn-based strategy before will easily pick it up but the simple setting change doesn't make the game good. Its kind of like how many people say that Firefly was just a Western for Star Trek fans. Except Firefly had Nathan Fillion. And was entertaining.

In all, Earth Awakening is something every RPG fan who has not liked anything since Morrowind should give a crack at; it is a depthy, creative and exciting universe that highlights the great things about non-linear gameplay and AI companions, only to be let down by a pointless multiplayer.

The premise of being a cycling manager preparing for the Tour de France is a simple one: Find a team; Train them until they threaten to quit; Find a sponsor; Win.

In all, this is hardly a Hellish game. It throws in some really interesting mechanics (backed by opponents willing to make use of them at every opportunity) that makes Hellas interesting and that little more closer to the ideal strategy experience.

Overclocked follows the story of David McNamara, former army psychiatrist, as he wanders the rain-slicked streets of New York, hunting for clues to uncover the mystery surrounding his five new patients.