Honsou Gaming

March is almost over and the slew of good and disappointing games are in the past. Normally for the rest of the year its pretty slow for pc gaming intil around November. So what does the rest of the year have to grace my hard drive? These games are what I am personally waiting for.

First up is;

Civilisation 5

Civilization 4 was a highly addictive game with each phase taking on a different aspects of building your empire. First was finding a prime location for your new capital city, preferably on a river with some cattle or a hill with ore. Building up your empire and  branching out with settlers and eventually having first contact with another Civ was extremely fun. Even the end game when new resources such as oil became available would make some of the barren and useless terrain extremely valuable, so the importance of trade with a Civ with such a resource was critical if you wanted oil for your navy, armour or air force.

Civ 5 seems to be the same as Civ 4 but much, much better. The interface will be streamlined but it does not mean simplified to the point of consolization (The guy developing the interface is the same guy who done Civ 4 for the console). It will also have a much deeper and connected diplomacy mechanic. You will view your other emperors in a new screen where they will pace and talk back while you hammer out your grand diplomatic vision. This should give the other Civ’s more personality and make the whole experience much more better.

It will also add the addition of a hexagonal map. Even the thought of this makes waiting for this game that much more painful. The strategic depth this will bring is immense. Even on square tiles it will fun, but with hexagonal there could be the possibility of a flanking penalty to a defencive unit. The epic stack of death could turn into a much more tactical affair with the terrain and unit placement for consideration.

Second in the Kai Honsou’s calendar is;

Thief 4 was announced last year I believe. If anyone has played the previous thief’s will know how good this game was (apart from the many bugs). Thief 3 was a very good and scary experience. Some moments were intense, literally forgetting to breath while hiding away from a guard that was inches away, or even trying to figure out the best route into a manor house with multiple entry routes to take took some thinking. If thief 4 can emulate anything from thief 3 then its already a winner. The good news is that Edios may not make thief 4 for consoles. The PC gaming industry needs good quality pc only games if it wants to survive, so lets hope Edios makes thief 4 the game it deserves to be.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex 1 was a deep, calculating, exciting, eye opening and intense masterpiece of a game. For its time it was brilliant. The augmentations and skill leveling were very evolving, and had one of those plots that if you felt you could change it drastically when you probably could. Deus Ex 2 was ok, but was really nothing compared to the first one. There is not really any information out yet about Deus Ex: HR but I think it wont be a let down like the second game was. Again its one of those games that might not hit consoles, and will not be a console port.

We also have;

Crysis 2

I will be honest. I am only looking forward to this game from a technical point of view. It will suffer from being dumbed down for consoles, but Crytek just might pull something out for the PC market. Right now there is really no need to have a powerful graphics card. Games have not been keeping up with hardware for various reasons. If Crysis 2 can do what Crysis 1 did for PC hardware then it will be nothing but good. I’m sure it will be a good fps with some great moments, but again, I’m only looking forward melting my pc trying to run it.

Lastly is;

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

This game is developed by the same people who made penumbra, Frictional Games. Its a very unique take on the first person genre, where you spend alot of the time running and hiding and solving puzzles rather then blowing everything up. Frictional Games is a small company and its worth supporting if you think you will like the game. On there website they have a 2000 preorder meter. If it reaches over 2000 they will make extra content.

I will probably watch this game rather then play it. I have played F.E.A.R and Deadspace and enjoyed both (apart from keeping the hall light on at night). A game where you cannot fight back but run and hide will give me a panic attack. There is just something about being that vulnerable in a game. At least in F.E.A.R you can psych yourself up and blow everything away. The idea of being chased, only finding locked doors, barely getting in somewhere and finding a place to hide just scares the shit out of me. It will be a great game but one for watching.

These are the few of the games that stand out for me. There are plenty more which I am not to sure about. The new Spec Ops looks great, so does Two Worlds 2, Mafia 2, Fallout: New Vegas. Most of the games in March turned out to disappoint, while Call of Pripyat surprised me and has me hooked. I didn’t like what I was reading before and never caught on the hype, but its been the best game for 2010 ive played so far. We never know, Civ 5 might be a pile of shit and Lego Harry Potter will give us the ultimate gaming experience.

Let me know what games your looking forward to this year and leave a comment.

Honsou.

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