Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Spacebase Startopia is a bit of a weird thing. On the surface, it is definitely some sort of remake/reimagining/remaster of 2001's Startopia. It's even right there in the name. Looking over the marketing however, you'll find a suspicious lack? of mention for the original or a word about what it considers itself.

Make no mistake, though, this is Startopia. Sure, it's got a new paint job and things got rejiggered. The aliens are new, there's no sexy love-alien brothel, and things have been renamed, but the list of similarities dwarf the differences. Simply looking at the game can tell you that, yep, this is Startopia.

It is definitely Startopia.

Spacebase Startopia (PC)
Developer: Realmforge Studios
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Released: March 26th, 2021
MSRP: $49.99

A lot of old managerial games are seemingly getting the update treatment. Two Point Hospital is a modernized Theme Hospital, Evil Genius 2 is an updated Evil Genius, and you can take your pick of RollerCoaster Tycoon renewals. Startopia might not be as odd of a choice as you'd exp??ect. It was created by Mucky Foot, essentially a spin-off of Bullfrog; patron saint of weird management gam?es.

I originally came across the title as a demo and was transfixed. I made it a goal to find a copy, and even?tually pulled one out of a bargain bin. I then picked it up again when it was re-released digitally by Square Enix. It turns out, I wasn't in love with it anymore. It's still an endearing and memorable title for many reasons, but it doesn't quite nail the landing.

If you're unfamiliar, Startopia was a space station management game that takes heavy inspiration from the cynical humor of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You were given the difficult task of keeping aliens from different background?s and diff??erent social levels happy on the same floating space donut. You had to juggle their needs while also dealing with other space issues like garbage and plagues.

Spacebase Startopia is entirely that. Most of the buildings are present with slight alterations, and the space donut is comprised of three levels: the sub level, the fun deck, and the ?bio deck. You place accommodations to try and meet the needs of the aliens that visit and sponge all the energy (money) out? of their pockets. The game is separated into a series of missions, each with a different focus and main objective. There's also a sandbox mode and co-op and competitive multiplayer options.

The sub deck is the workhorse of your donut. You put your security, recycling, and security stuff down there. The fun deck is exactly as it sounds. Arcade, discos, gambling dens, fancy hotels; anything that can be bathed in neon goes there. As for the bio deck, it's not only the place whe?re aliens go to get back to nature, it also produces supplies for you to manufacture in the factory.

Along the way, you have to hire various aliens to keep these places running alongside your SCU�er, FUZZY drones. Keeping track of your staff is an absolute pain because they have needs too, so t??hey'll screw off to take care of them whenever they get pissy. I went by ??the rule that if I saw an accommodation go unstaffed, I'd just hire more of that alien. It's really not the best way of doing things, but the staff menu can't be sorted by species.

One of my major points of frustration with Spacebase Startopia is its unwillingness to really go into any depth explaining things. Take the bio deck, for instance. You hire aliens to tend to it, grow plants, and harvest them, but it tells you nothing about?? running it prope??rly. There are tooltips that tell you what terrain grows what items, but the game doesn't take the moment to explain how production works there. Even if you find the little hints that tell you what grows what, I never discovered the optimal number of aliens to tend to the plants. They all just dance around, seemingly doing nothing useful, so I'd hire a bunch and then just hire more if I got frustrated about waiting for supplies.

??The worst case of this was when it came to researching. You can trade prestige for the first tier of research easily, but upgrades need to be developed in a lab. How do you research upgrades? Good question. When that mission rolled around, I was able ??to upgrade FUZZY bots to the top, but everything else just looked at me funny. You need to drop a packed box of that item onto the lab to get it developed. I had to look this fact up outside of the game.

This problem might be because they harness you to a monumentally unhelpful AI that just tells you what to do next, then sits back and roasts you while you do it. The character is a cross between VAL from the original Startopia and GLaDOS from Portal; a sassy AI that works as your handler. Some players seem to have a lot of grievances about this version of VAL. I didn't mind them, personally, but if they rub you the wrong way, you can turn the??m off entirel??y.

The other problem that Spacebase Startopia has is that it isn't much of an improvement over Startopia. It's just Startopia again, but with less personality. One place that it does improve is with combat. The original was very hands-off with combat and it was less than compelling, bordering on annoying. Here you can direct your drones and build mechs, but be careful when setting up your buildings, because mechs can't pathfind through tight areas and they'll ??just wind up stuck somewhere. Again, the game doesn't tell you beforehand that mechs require roads, so to maximize space, you might just sardine can that donut and not be able to move your mechs around.

The game also has the sort of managerial make-up where you start over on each level. All your research and progression is moot each time you hit a loading screen. That's nothing too unusual, as it follows RollerCoaster Tycoon and Two Point Hospital's progres?sion, but here it's just too slow. It becomes repetitive because every donut is the same. By the later levels, you'll probably just be going down the checklist of what you need to have set up.

The main draw could therefore be the sandbox or multiplayer modes, but they simply didn't hold my interest. It's hard for me to just build something for the sake of it anymore, I need that progression. The multiplayer also just seems to add a layer of combat to the main gameplay, and while it's improved over Startopia, the combat still isn't that compelling.

If you take the game as a platform for bigger things, it may make a bit more sense. On this release, they have reached comparison to Startopia, but with some updates, DLC, or expansions, it could be an improved experience. I can't cri??tique based off of hopes and dreams, though. As it stands, I have no reason to recommend this over the original title, as old as it may be at this point.

That's not to say Spacebase Startopia is a bad game, it's just something of a disappointment. At best, it feels like a remake that makes a few missteps. It's a forgery at worst. If you really want more Startopia but can't stand to look at its dated graphics, there's definitely something for you here. Otherwise, you're better off do?cking with a different donut.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Shrunken Stealth Action

Kalypso Media has announced that Yippee Entertainment's remaster of classic PC stealth title Commandos 2 will come crawling through the ??bushes and onto Nintendo Switch on December 4, following on from its previous release on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.

Commandos 2 HD Remaster features all of the strategic action from Pyro Studios' 2001 release Commandos 2: Men of Courage, revamped with improved visuals, a new interface, and an overhauled control scheme. Players guide a small squa?d of military specials on a series of assassination, theft, espionage, and sabotage missions d??eep in enemy territory.

Outnumbered and outgunned, players must rely on expert planning, on-the-spot adaptation, and each squad member's various skills in order to pull off the perfect operation and get out from? behind enemy lines unharmed. It's no picnic, and notoriously one of the trickiest and most intense stealth titles ever released. You can check out a new trailer for the Switch release below.

It should be noted that the remaster removes all references to the Nazis, all depictions of the swastika, and all depictions of the Japanese "Imperial Sun" insignia from the campaign. Kalypso Media has stated that it voluntarily took the decision to remove th?ese elements, stating that "We do not want to encourage racism, discrimination or exclusion with our games."

Commandos 2 HD Remaster launches on Nintendo Switch December 4.

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Pocket Paradise

Tongue-in-cheek management title Tropico 6 is com?ing to Switch. A new partnership deal between franchise publisher Kalypso Media and Koch Games will see El Presidente's latest schemes arrive on the Nintendo platform at some undisclosed point in the future.

Alongside Tropico 6, the new deal will also see other titles from the Kalypso catalogue arrive on the Switch platform in the future. This includes train management sim Railway Empire and the upcoming Commandos 2: HD Remaster.

Tropico 6 is the latest entry in the cult series that tasks players with building, managing, and maintaining a luscious island paradise, while painting over the dastardly corruption and under-the-table shenanigans that keep the cogs turning and the vaults full. So if Animal Crossing: New Horizons seems a little goody-two-shoes for you, maybe Tropico 6 will scratch your dictatorial itch.

Tropico 6 is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.

Tropico 6 confirmed for Nintendo Switch [Nintendo Life]

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Time to draw up those battle plans

Kalypso Media has revealed release windows for the HD remasters of classic strategy titles Commandos 2 and Praetorians. Both titl?es are set to launch on PC in January 2020, with console ports for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch to follow sometime in spring.

Commandos 2 first launched back in 2001, and tasks players with overcoming immeasurable odds in a series of difficult and taxing stealth missions. Controlling a small squad of soldiers, each with their own very unique skills and abilities, players must perform assassinat??ions, recon missions, and acts of sabotage behind enemy l??ines, with scalpel precision and expert timing required to complete the task at hand and make it back home alive.

Praetorians, which launched on PC back n 2003, is a real-time-strategy title set on the battlefields of the Roman Empire. Selecting from one of a ?number of factions, players must maintain effective garrisons while training a variety of specialised units to fend off attack and conquer their enemies. The remastered edition will retain an updated online ??multiplayer mode.

Closed betas for both games will begin on December 13. Commandos 2 HD Remaster and Praetorians HD Remaster will ?? launch on PC in January, and PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in spring.

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Ten-hut!

Kalypso Media has released a gameplay trailer for Yippee Entertainment's upcoming HD remaster of classic strategy title Commandos 2, which originally?? launched for PC and consoles back in the early '00s.

Much like its companion series Desperados, Commandos tasks players with guiding a small group of highly skilled specialists through a series of comple?x missions against the backdrop of World War II, using each characters knowledge of stealth, subterfuge, explosives and weaponry to complete a series of objectives behind enemy lines. Clever coordination, expert timing and a knack for adaptation under pressure is requ??ired to complete each mission and bring your squad home alive.

To accompany the visual overhaul, Commandos 2 HD Remaster will al??so be getting a new UI, as well as a fully reworked control system and a new tuto?rial. The latter feature should come in very handy as I remember this game being preeeetty tricky. But fans on pinpoint strategy games should definitely keep an eye out for this if they missed it first time around.

Commandos 2 HD Remaster launches later this? year on PS4, PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch ?and iOS and Android devices.

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El Presidente needed a break

March is starting to look like a super busy month for gaming. Tropico 6 was originally scheduled for a January 25, 2019 release date, but will now be shipping on March 29, 2019. The reason for the delay came after a closed beta session last year ??resulted in developer Limbic and publisher Kalypso wanting to polish the game and incorporate fan feedback.

In a blog post over on Kalypso's website, managing director Simon Hellwig wrote, "Over the holidays, I have played Tropico 6 for many hours and really liked what I saw. But, in my humble opinion, it is not enough to like a game – I want to love it! And Tropico 6 is good, but not very good, or ou??tstanding. Yet. Combining my own opinion and the response we had from thousands of dedicated beta players around the world, Kalypso has decided to postpone the release of the game for another couple of months ??to March 29, 2019."

Hellwig specifically mentions that the pathfinding, multiplayer and the simulation of the Tropico economy will be tweaked before release to meet the high standards they have for Tropico 6. This should help with the individual citizens of Tropico feeling more lifelike, a probl?em that was ??echoed about the beta over the holiday.

To make up for the delay, Kalypso will be giving out the first DLC for Tropico 6 free. To get the deal, you'll need to pre-or??der the game before 7 pm CST on January 10, 2019. The offer will be available through Steam, Kalypso's digital shop, and other digital distribution platforms.

Open Letter to the Tropico Community [Kalypso Blog]

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Bringing back those old Commandos vibes

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is perhaps the coolest stealth game I'm not currently playing. It'?s a real-time tactical game set during Japan's Edo period in which you manage a five-person team, figuring out when and where to best make use of your crew's?? abilities and approaches to takedowns.

Darren dug the PC version enough to land on an eight out of ten for his review. That'll surely remain the best place to play, but Shadow Tactics is also coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Aug??ust 1 (North America) and July 28 (Europe), both digitally and at retail. Wasn't expecting that!

If ??you're unsure this game (or this port) is the right match for you, there'll be a demo at launch.

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And that might be enough of a draw for me

There has been an abundance of action-RPGs that?? source their stories, settings, and characters from mythology, but I still find myself drawn to them more often than not. Keep 'em coming.

That's essentially what's going on here with Vikings - Wolves of Midgard, an upcoming PC, PS4, and Xbox One title from Kalypso and Games Farm. This trailer is f??airly middle-of-the-road, but there are nasty giants! And exploding wolves! I could probably get down with this if I had a helping hand in co-op.

Something to keep an eye on leading up to?? "earl??y 2017," I'd say.

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An empire populated with Keiths and Karls

Today is just a city-builder kind of day, eh? Earlier we looked at Devolver's slick new eco-friendly neighborhood builder Block'hood, and now we've got our eyes on a new IP from Kalypso Media (best known for the Tropico series).

Urban Empire is a city-builder, but the twist is that it takes place over the course of 200 years of history and with that comes advancement in technology. The tech web in the gallery looks deliciously complex. I almost imagine this as an ultra-zoomed in version of something like Civilization.

It's tentatively scheduled for release during the third quarter of this year, and we'll learn more about it next week at the Game De?velopers Conference.

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Don't call it an RTS

Last year, I went hands-on with Grand Ages: Medieval, a civilization builder set during the Medieval era. Coming from the developers of Port Royale 3 and Rise of Venice, they've moved onto a bigger stage of Europe. During a time of mass suffering and bloodshed, only ??a few were able to take charge and forg?e their own kingdoms -- either through diplomacy and negotiation, or through brute force and conquest.

Just before gamescom, I spent some quality time with ?the PS4 release of this sim title, and I was impressed with its complexity and brea?dth of content. I also got to take a peak at the upcoming campaign mode, which will familiarize players with the new setting while also showing the trials and tribulations of an up-and-coming ruler as he leads his kingdom to prominence.

Grand Ages: Medieval (PC, PS4 [previewed])
Developer: Gaming Minds
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Release Date: PC September 25, 2015 / PS4 September 29

Much like its predecessor, Grand Ages: Rome, Medieval allows for total freedom in how you build your empire and expand your reach. Though Rome itself was a major player during its heyday, the empire's time has passed, and now the kingdoms throughout Europe, the British? Isles, Northern Africa, and the Middle East aim to leave their? mark on the world. With both a narrative campaign and free mode to tackle, players can build their kingdom in any way they see fit.

Dubbed as an "open world grand strategy economy' game by the developers, they were very adamant about this title being something more than a traditional RTS game. With the freedom in how you engage with allies, tackle challenges, initiate trade and wartime ag?reements??, and eliminate the opposition all up to your own playstyle, you're given an enormous amount of leeway in how you stake your claim throughout the land.

In the campaign mode, players take on the role of Leon Versselios, a young ruler in cent??ral Europe who must take over his kingdom after the death of his father. Essentially??, this campaign serves as the tutorial and teaches players how to establish towns, trade with neighboring cities, gather resources, scout nearby lands to expand reach, negotiate alliances, and prepare for war against foes when negotiation fails. As you build your nation, Leon will encounter many allies that seek alliances with him and his kingdom, but over time, many events could sour relations and turn neighboring kingdoms to seek out what is yours.

As you expand, you're treated to animated cutscenes showing recent relations with allies and the morale of family members and citizens of the kingdom. While there is freedom to be had, you are guided along to an extent in the campaign. According to the developers, the narrative mode can take upwards to 10-15 hours to complete, and features many twi??sts an??d turns that will keep you guessing. However, once you've reached a certain point in the campaign, which concludes Leon's core story, you're allowed to continue his rise to power at your leisure and continue with your expansion. This also serves as a great segue into where the true game begins.

In the open world mode, you can choose a custom character and starting location, and begin your expansion as you see fit. This mode is where most players will spend their time in Grand Ages, as it allows for your to create your story and show the neighboring civilizations how your empire will shape the known world. During my session, I was dropped into a 20+ hour save file. I was initially a b??it overwhelmed by how much data there was to keep track of. With many different kingdoms, many of which were allies, and some neutral or hostile, you'll have to keep a close eye on which ones need assistance or require swift action against. But it's not just people you'll have to worry about -- the kingdoms will have to contend with mother nature as well. Earthquakes, thunderstorms, volcanoes, famine, and even the bubonic plague are major threats that will call for imme??diate action.

While these sorts of games are home on PC, the PS4 was able to hand everything quite well. The user interface has been slightly modified to accommodate the controller setup, but overall it's?? largely the same game as its PC counterpart. While it's very menu intensive, I found it easy to get into once I went through the motions and learned all the tricks needed to engage. There's truly no other game like this on PS4, and it'll definitely please the more hardcore-minded strategy gamers lookin??g for a new title on console.

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It's good to be the king

City and civilization games on consoles are a rare thing. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but my guess would be that tr?aditionally??, these games only enjoy their moderate success on PC.

Whether it be the limitations of consoles themselves or the unwillingness to bring this genre over for fear of a lack of audience, those barriers are slowly withering away. This is evident in Tropico 5, which recently released on the PlayStation 4.

Just as deep and rich an experience as any simulation on the PC, Tropico 5 scratches an itch that a lot of console loyalists have be?en afflicted ??with for some time.

Tropico 5 (Mac, PC, PlayStation 4 [reviewed], Xbox 360)
Developer: Kalypso Media
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Released: April 28, 2015 (PS4)
MSRP: $59.99

Tropico 5 is a learning experience. How you choose to learn is completely up to you. There is a mission and campaign mode that ??will certainly steer you in the right direction, but that didn't appeal to me and I suspect most will want to do more than that as well.

As a Civ junkie, I don't like to be limited with my creations -- in that, when a specific mission ends, so does your island. For me, ??sandbox mode is where I spent most of my time and where I would imagine most players will.

Sandbox is the true meat and substance within Tropico 5. Not only can you set your win conditions, but you can choose between multiple economic and political d?ifficulty levels, starting era, the money initially available (unlimited is also an option) and the number of citizens that start on your island.

But probably even more critical to your island's success is the land itself. While you will have plenty of pre-made islands to choose from, there is also a map generator that offers endless combinations of whatever creation you want -- for example, you can choose between di??fferent sized-islands and the amount of resources available.

Even if you skip much of the campaign, you will still be able to learn as you go. Within the game itself is a sort of quest function where specific tasks will need to be completed. Whether it be to build a library or extra military buildings, the game does an exc?ellent job of teaching while doing.

For someone like me who hates to read directions or endless strategy guides (preferring to figure stuff out on my own), this is a perfect implementati??on.

But it's not just the quests that will guide you. The detailed faction and happiness statistics will help you be the leader you want to be. There are various factions all vying for greatness and it's your job as leader to finely balance what you want for your island and what your? people actually want and need.

To help you lead, there is a dynasty system where you can name and set specific ma?nagement roles to created characters that will give bonuses to buildings based on their specific abilities -- there are generic managers, but you can't level those up like you can dynasty members.

For example, you can have a celebrity manager that is best suited for hotels or you ca??n have a magnate who works well with oil and mining buildings.

These dynasty members are part?? of El Presidente's extended family and can benefit you greatly within the game. Ignoring them or their abilities will only make your leadership that much more challenging.

Of course, it's not just your island you have to worry about. Tropico 5 is also a nation builder. Within it, you'll have to juggle the trade of exports and imports and appeasing th?e Russians while at the same time not pissing off the Americans. As time moves on from the Colonial Era to the Modern Era, you will have even more nations and scenarios to deal with.

There are many situations in your virtual island experience that feel like they mirror how a real nation and leader needs to function. Tropico 5 is a constant balancing act and a game filled with?? trial and error.

You should be warned, if you find yourself to be a Civ addict, then you will quickly find that Tropico 5 offers the same kind of grab. Hours melt away. As you complete one task, something else comes up that you feel drastically needs your attention. The amount of management, while it can s??eem over?whelming, is really the draw and appeal of the game.

There is a multiplayer component, but really, unless you want to build an islan??d with a friend or desperately want to compete against others, you probably aren't going to bother. It works, so that's all most players can really ask for when it comes to multiplayer within? nation builders.

The game is not without its minor f??aults or seemingly-impossible?? challenges.

While I do keep the pace of time in its most forward position, it never felt like I could appease or completely stop rebel attacks or uprisings. These occur when citizens are unh??appy or you have specific constitution options active, but no matter what, I found myself dealing with this constant nuisance.

Also, there were occasiona?l save issues. In fairness, I played the majority of my time with Spotify running in the background, so whether or not that sometimes caused games not to be saved, I don't know. It doesn't happen often, but it can be devastating if you're not paying attention ??and haven't saved in a while.

Even though there ??were n?o real issues with the controls themselves, perfectly placing roads can take some getting used to, but it doesn't strongly detract from the game.

While Tropico 5 isn't the game-of-the-year masterpiece of a generation, it's a more-than serviceable sim and strategy title that can satisfy a grossly under-served genre within the console community. If you love SimCity and Civilization and are dying for something similar on your PS4, then there really is no reason not ?to have and enjoy this game to its fullest extent.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game prov??ided by the publisher.]}

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Multiplayer impressions coming soon

I'm a sucker for city-building and Civ-like games. Since the very early days of SimCity and SimTower, I've poured countless hours into building my virtual communities and empires. With Tropico 5 now p??orted over to the PlayStation 4, ?that sim addiction is even more accessible.

The game is challenging and surprisingly deep for a console game of this nature. For those who played Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on the PlayStation 3, you know ??first-hand h??ow a traditional PC port can be significantly gutted for its console brethren.

With Tropico 5 on the PS4, you can get just as deep an experience as?? you would want on PC. While it could use some tweaks to its balance and resource management (for e?xample, the power plants and the related power needs of various buildings), the game isn't without its challenges and willingness to teach you the hard way how to properly rule an island empire.

Best of all, there is a sandbox mode where you ca??n really experiment. Among other things, you can adjust your difficulty settings and win requirements. The UI is well-suite??d for the console. The placement of roads can be tricky, but once you start playing more, you become accustomed to their occasional stubbornness to not go perfectly straight when you want them to.

Because the game comes out Tuesday, I was not able to test out multiplayer, but that is a huge feature. I'll be getting you those impressions in the coming days for the full review. But for what it is, Tropico 5 on the PS4 is a sim-lover's dream that appears to be worth ?it for console owners looking for a serviceable em??pire-building game.

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Make way for the villain

Being the bad guy has its perks. With an entire force of orcs, goblins, and other nasty creatures at your bidding, more gold you can count, and a near infinite supply of dark magic ?at your disposal -- it seems like you've got things pretty much handled in your conquest of the world. But fate seems to have other plans. And with a snarky disembodied voice mocking you and narrating your journey, it certainly looks like your quest for power will be a lot more difficult t??han you thought.

This is what you can expect in the upcoming sequel to Dungeons. During a private session at a press event by Kalypso Media, I got to spend some hands-on time with their upcoming Dungeon Keeping/RTS hybrid title Dungeons II, that aims to take a? light-hearted and comedic approach to being the eviles??t villain in all the land.

Dungeons II (PC [Previewed], Mac, Linux)
Developer: RealmForge
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Release Date: Q1 2015

Set in a Medieval-fantasy world full of humans and orcs on th?e brink of war, you play as the Dungeon Lord. Due to a magical spell, you are bound to your throne in a cave, and must rely on your minions to do your bidding. With the humans drawing closer to your realm, you must break the spell by expanding your resources and your army in order to fortify your dungeon, while retaking territory from the humans on the surface.

While this may sound as generic as it gets, and it certainly does at first glance, Dungeons II takes great pride in defying expectations and subverting them. During my first hour, I found that Dungeons II felt very much like a parody of generic fantasy/adventure games. Many of the tropes and cliches are mocked and made light of, despite adhering to them in humorous fashion. Moreover, Kevan Brighting, the Narrator from The Stanley Parable, offers his talents here by breaking the fourth-wall ? to mock player's slow progress, and even going after the video games ratings system. I was always ?entertained throughout, and a lot of that had to do with the game's comedic tone.

As the sequel to the original Dungeons, you're tasked with expanding the scope and scale of your dungeon, while keeping your minions happy. As you send your lesser underlings to create rooms for resources, and digging for gold, you have to monitor their happiness levels or else they'll revolt. By building breweries, you can keep them drunk and content, while paying for their services as well. As you build your base of operations, you'll eventually be visited by humans from the surface, looking t??o see what all the commotion is about. From he?re, you'll have to set traps and send out stronger minions to confront them and protect the Dungeon Lord.

But here is where things get a little different. Once you've built the necessary resources and have a sizable force, you can send your minions up to the surface to retake territory. Switching over from Dungeon Keeper gameplay to RTS style mechanics similar to WarCraft or Dawn of War, the pacing changes up considerably. From here, you can battle your foes and sack their villages, turning the whimsical and lush environment, to barren and?? scorched wastelands.

I was very impressed with how seamlessly Dungeons II tran??sitions between the two different styles of gameplay. You can switch between the two on the fly? with no loading whatsoever, which makes alternating between battles on the surface and making sure your minions in the dungeon are collecting resources very simple. Though be sure not to divide your forces so readily. If your send all your offensive minions outside, you can potentially leave yourself open to attack, as the lesser minions in the dungeon cannot defend themselves or the Dungeon Lord.

Eventually, the Dungeon Lord and his forces will grow in power and come into conflict with other foes of the fantasy world, such as Dwarves and Elves, and they'll? utilizes skills and tactics that will put abilities as the lord of evil to the test. During my session, I came into contact with a tribe of goblins hiding out from the Humans. Realizing that their resources would be put to better use elsewhere, the  Lord recruited them and used their tinkering ??skills to build devices to defend the dungeon.

Even though my time with the game wasn't as long as I would've hoped, I came away pretty pleased with what I experienced. Though I'm generally not a fan of RTS titles, I did enjoy my time with Dungeons II. I was very much impressed with the sense of humor on display. It's always gre??at to play a medieval-fantasy game that d??oesn't take itself seriously, and even makes some light-hearted jabs at the genre.

With much more of the game in store, and including four-player online mode, Dungeons II looks to be a very solid and unique take on the classic Dungeon Keeper gameplay. If you're eager for a gam??e where you play as the bad guy, then you'll want to keep this one on your radar.

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Cleopatra Jones and the Funky Bunch

What happened to the style and cleverness that came from heist thrillers? I remember watching films like Ocean's Eleven and Thief, that had little to no action or shooting. But now, these high-pressure and tense moments just seem like over the top spectacles. Due to the success of Grand Theft Auto and Pay Day building entire gameplay scenarios around such high-pressure and?? intense moments, it's likely that 'heist' is now synonymous with shooting and explosions.

But what about the methodical and low-key approach to pulling off such crazy scores? Well, that's what the developers at Skilltree Studios have in mind for their take on pulling off big scores. With Crookz, they seek to take a different approach to heist gameplay, while ??doing it in authentic and fu??nky 70's style.

Crookz (PC [Previewed], Mac, SteamOS)
Developer: SkillTree Studios
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Release Date: Q2 2015

Set in the 1970s, Crookz places you in charge of a group of thieves, grifters, burglars, and other sneaky individuals in order to break into secure locations that house loot and other treasures. As the trailer suggests, the people you're robbing are sleazy and shady folk that certainly have whats coming to them, and it's your job to ensure the cash moves from their pockets to yours. With each suc?cessful score, you expand your arsenal of gadgets and crew members, while taking on increasingly more difficult jobs that will test your skills as a pro robber.

While most games follows the more action oriented approach to heists, Crookz takes a very different stab at it by turning it into a quasi puzzle-strategy experience. Instead of getting into massive shootouts and high-speed chances, seeking to emulate the infamous bank heist scene from Heat, you'll have to plan each move step-??by-step and utilize your crew's strengths and weaknesses to covertly break into secure locations and procure valuable items and intel.

Similar ?to a real-time-strategy experience, you can move your characters to specific points on the map, while using their abilities on the fly as you evade guards and avoid alarms. During our demo, we were taking part in a score at a private mansion, and it was loaded with guards and other traps. While it l??ooked daunting at first, it was readily apparent what was required for the score. For every heist, you'll need the right people for the job.

Before each mission, you can outfit them with various gadgets and augmen??????????????????????????t their skills to facilitate the ne??eds of the heist. With several characters classes, such as Runner, Tough Guy, Locksmith, Hacker, and of course Robot -- you'll have to learn the lay of the land and get a read on things to succeed. For the mansion job, the runner, tough guy, and locksmith were able to break into the site with ease and take out guards while making it to the loot.

If you're unsure of what you need to do, you can take your time and go through each step to figure out the best course of action. But if you're an especially clever planner, than you can meticulously analysis the layout of the environment, guard routes, and security systems to plan out your heist step by step. If done right, you can watch as your crew methodically and expertly tackles the score as if you were witnessing a Rube Goldberg Machine at work with the style and grace of Ocean's Eleven.

I found the style and presentation to Crookz to be very refreshing for the heist genre. The music and atmosphere evokes the hip and energetic style of caper films from the 1970s. The music in particular is very much exciting and smooth, the themes throughout the heists pull from influential period films such as Shaft or Deep Throat. In any event, it works well. It has style and swagger in spades, and it feels exciting to play through a heist game that manages to not take itself too seriously, w?hile still looking cool as you pull off the score.

Set for release Q2 2015, Crookz is very interesting blend of puzzle and strategy elements sent across the backdrop of 1970s heist thrillers. I'm ??quite the fan of the era, and the style it evokes is very refreshing to see. With over 20 different mission and some online challenges to tackle, it's very rare to see heist game like this, and I'm very much looking forward to checking more.

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First look at gamescom

A tactical game with a '70s heist movie theme? Finding something like that at gamescom is about as unlikely as finding a videogame trailer with porn star Ron Jeremy in it. But here we???? are with both. 

Crookz is a single-player tac??tical game has players guiding the movement of a crew of thieves through their missions as they infiltrate buildings, sneak around guards, and work through obstacles to lift their heist target. These thieves all have unique skill sets that forces players to think about how they'll work together achieve goals. For example, a technician might have to cut the security cameras off so that the specialist can enter a room to pick a lock. 

The game is presented in an isometric view, with the ceiling removed from a missions buildings and obstacles, letting players guide crew members through. Each member is directed by clicking on interaction points, like doors or locks, where context-sensitive options will pop up. Some of these situations have timing attached. For example??, the runner would want to wait until an armed guard passed by before sneaking down a hallway. Otherwise, the game's action stays paused, leaving the player to issue commands and develop strategies.

Crookz's missions play out like a large, multi branched puzzles. While applying different crew members' specialities to is at the heart of the gameplay, there is some freedom for creativity ??with the game's single-use items and found treasures. With the right item, the runner could temporarily take on the role?? of a technician to hack surveillance gear, for example.

I watched a mission where a crew of three had to break into a protected building, work their way through laser traps, pick locks, sneak past guards, find keys, hack junction boxes, and more, to make their way to a room where an erotic gold statue protected a huge diamond. It sounds complicated, but you don't take all of these challenges on at once. With the way the player is able to move about the map and thoughtfully apply skills and item use, Crookz has a pretty laid-back pace.

The music I heard during this showing was quite good. We were told that they hired a band to track the funky soundtrack, ??which comes complete with wah-wah guitars and drums. 

There are a lot of games with thieves in them, but not many where they sport afros and leisure suits. I dig how the heist vibe somehow really fits with its tactical gameplay. With its 20 missions to work through, Crookz loo??ks like a game that could be rea??lly groovy to really dig into.

Crookz is coming to PC, Mac, and Linux in 2015. 

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Distributor New Era isn't going to appeal the decision

The last two installments of the humorous Tropico simulation series made it to Thailand but this year's game, Tropico 5, will not see rel??ease in the country -- it's been banned.

Following a coup in May, Thailand's government is currently under military control. The Board of Film and Video Censors told Tropico 5 distributor New Era that "some contents of the game are not appropriate for the current situation," but did not clarify which content was deemed inappr?opriate. As a result, New Era has decided? against making an appeal to the board.

"Our distributor has been working hard to gain approval for the release," said Kalypso Media Group global ma??naging director Stefan Marcinek, "but it seems that the Board of Film and Video Censors deem some of the content too controversial for their consumers. This does sound like it could have come from one of El Preside?nte's own edicts from the game."

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You aren't ready for this music

One of the bigger selling points of Tropico 5 is its multiplayer and while I'm sure your imaginations are?? perfectly capable of visualizing what t??hat might look like, here's a trailer all the same.

There's support for up to four players in co-op (yes!) and competitive modes. Part of me is content to play time-sink games like Tropico on my own. When other people are a part of the experience, the problem of "Where'd my Saturday go, and why h??aven't I eaten yet?" can't stay a secret.

The game is hitting PC first, on May 23, with X?box ?360 and Mac versions this summer and the PS4 port coming in autumn.

The post Destroy cities and friendships in Tropico 5’s multiplayer appeared first on Destructoid.

Say my name

Kalypso Media has nailed down a May 23, 2014 release date for the PC launch of its latest city-builder, Tropico 5, and launched a new website. Go on, El Presidente. Take a look.

Next up, it's the Mac and Xbox 360 versions which are set to arrive this summer, followed by a release on PlayStation 4 in autumn. Kalypso is also among those companies planning support for SteamOS once Steam Machines become widely available.

I've flirted with the idea of getting into Tropico, but I've resisted the call thus far -- city-building games like this are usually ??a Saturday-long investment in which entire meals are skipped. One of thes??e days a Steam sale will change that and I'll almost certainly be all in for the series.

The post Tropico 5 hits PC in?? May with other versions to follow appeared first on Destructoid.

Though I'll probably stick with PC, thanks

Joining the previously-announced Windows, Mac, Linux, and Xbox 360 releases of Haemimont Studios' Tropico 5 is a PlayStation 4 version of the simulation game. Kalypso still won't give us a release date, but the publisher did say the PS4 port would make good use of the DualShock 4 ?and its feature set. I have to imagine that means full TouchPad support.

The Tropico series is one I have somehow managed to avoid playing despite having it on good authority that I'd love its unique brand of city building. Tropico 5 spans the 19th century to the 21st and introduces both cooperative and competitive mu??litplayer for up to four people.

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Kalypso announces the newest iteration in the Tropico franchise

Kalypso Media has just announced the existence of Tropico 5, a follow-up to the insanely successful simulation series. Penultimo the Presidente will return, as he embarks upon yet another authoritarian term on the island of Tropico. The setup in Tropico 5 involves taking over during the island over the course of centuries, balancing wars against opposing governments, factions, and even you??r own family.

Various historical events will test you throughout time, such as both World War 1 and 2, and the Cold War. Right now, the game is planned for the Linux, Mac, PC, and Xbox 360 platforms. I'm a big fan of a few of the Tropico games, so this sounds prett?y interesting -- we don't g?et enough simulation these days!

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Vampire stealth nonsense for your amusement

Here's a new trailer for DARK, a vampiric stealth game that you may or may not have heard about. Protagoni?st Eric Bane can sneak about and use his magic powers to confuse or brutali??ze his enemies. You can see him doing just that in a new trailer. That is good for you. 

This is one of those games that, like so many Kalypso titles, seem really interesting, but look a bit squiffy. Definitely look??ing forward to checking it out, though. We need more stealth games ... and good ones would be great!

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Looks like something a handful of people won't forget about maybe

Talk about getting on the vampire hype train too late. I forgot Dark even existed, but it's coming out this summer. I think this trailer has enough oomph to keep the game in my mind for at least the duration of this post (hopefully), but otherwise it's rather forgettable. There seems to be some Max Payne-s?tyle narration and a smattering of stealth and power elements picked and pieced together from other games.

Also, is it just me, or is that the most boring use of cel shading ever? I didn't even notice it was stylized at all at first. Plus, he's a vampire? Ditch the hoodrat clothes and stealth. Waltz into your desired place of being with a debonair air dressed to the nines and just seduce your way through levels. What fear of guns? can the undead have? I suppose it'll be poorly narratively contextualized somehow.

Maybe Dark will be an okay thing, but it doesn't look memorable and its spunky, one-letter title won't be doing it any favors when a bunch of other games supersede it in internet searches. Speaking of, have you bought Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon yet?

The post GDC trailer for vampire stealth game Dark has a du??ll bite appeared first on Destructoid.

Go whack people for free

If you're curious about Omerta: City of Gangsters on the Xbox 360, a demo is now live. The game itself is basically a bare-bones simulation similar to the Tropico series mixed with portions of gameplay similar to XCOM.

There's also an update coming "in the next four to eight weeks," that will feature a number of improvements to the PC and 360 vers??ions of the game, like the addition of an Iron Man "no combat save" difficulty mode, and an overhaul of the cover system.

Of course, if you already read my review, you're probably already turned off by this fairly disappointing release, and the updates don't seem to ??fundamentally change the game.

The post Omerta: City of Gangsters 360 demo now live appeared first on Destructoid.

Good. Bad. It will still SUCK, errr, get it?

We may not get a sequel to cult-classic Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, but upcoming PC/Xbox 360 title Dark may fill that niche.

Dark is a third-person stealth-action game in which the player takes on the role of Eric Bane, a newborn vampire who seeks revenge on a mysterious corporation. With sneaking in the shadows, using supernatural powers, focusing on melee combat, taking place in the modern world, and mixing in RPG elements (leveling up, dialog trees), it's not hard to tell where Dark takes inspiration from. This isn't a ??knock against the title, as I adore games of this type and can certainly do with another.

Dark is published by Kalypso Media and developed by Realmforge Studios, makers of Dungeons. These guys have a real way with w?ords or maybe they just love laughing at us trying to Google the names of their games.

The post Mix D??eus Ex, Hitman with vampires and you get Dark appeared first on Destructoid.

New strategy title from Kalypso

Organised crime sim Omerta - City of Gangsters is giving you the chance to be the Don of Atlantic City, complete with your own crew of gangsters and on-the-nose nicknames. I like the look of this character creator, specifically the option to create a backstory for your mob boss. Here's hoping for an option to be the? poor kid who turned to a life of crime but also has a heart of gold -- oh, and who looks just like Steve Buscemi.

No one's really tried the whole "organised crime sim" genre in years, not since Gangsters: Organized Crime. Hopefully the?? mix of turn-based combat and management sim will work well together and you can run Atlant??ic City like your own personal kingdom of crime. Tommy guns and speakeasies for all!

The post Be your own Don in Omerta – City of Gangsters appeared first on Destructoid.

Single-player crime boss action in Atlantic City

What a better way to start the weekend with than with some good old-fashioned 1920's gangster thumb-breaking! Only a week away from its release, Kalypso has decided to share a slice of its version of Atlantic City with a PC demo for Omerta: City of Gangsters.

I have had my eyes on this one for a while; you don't see many games that use 1920 Prohibtion-era America as a backdrop, and even less that utilize turn-based strategy mechanics. The demo itself features two sections from the full game to get a taste of what it's like to be a New Jersey crime boss. But this time without the bother of having to deal with terrible spray-on tans or stupid punk kids.

Kalypso has made the Omerta: City of Gangsters demo available through a number of mirrors:

• Worthplaying
• GamersHell
• Strategy Informer
• Gamezcheck
• DemoNews

Omerta: City of Gangsters will b??e ??releasing on February 1, 2013 for PC and Xbox 360, priced at $39.99 and $49.99, respectively.

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Atlus and Kalypso Media have announced a distribution deal that will have Tropico 4 Gold, Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants, Omerta - City of Gangsters and DARK coming to consoles and Windows PC in North America starting laterthis year. This deal will give Kaylpso a broader reach and more potential to sell?? games while giving Atlus additional game content. Everybody wins!

• Port Royale 3 will ship on October 9 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
• Tropico 4: Gold Edition will ship on November 13 for Xbox 360 and PC
• Omerta - City of Gangsters will ship in early 2013 on Xbox 360 and PC
• DARK is set for 2013 on Xbox 360 and PC

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After Haemimont rejuvenated the Tropico series with Tropico 3 and its Absolute Power expansion, Tropico 4 ended up being another great city builder, if not a huge leap forward for the series. While the changes to game?play and UI streamlining were welcome, it didn't feel like you were playing a completely new game in last ??year's sequel.

Now, El Presidente strikes back at his critics as (s)he future-proofs the island nations in Tropico 4: Modern Times.

Tropico 4: Modern Times (PC [Reviewed], Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: Haemimont Games
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Released: March 29, 2012 (PC); April 4, 2012 (XBLA)
MSRP: $19.99 (PC), 1200 Microsoft Points (XBLA)

El Presidente has taken a well-deserved vacation after all the work done in Tropico 4, leaving Penultimo in charge of things. As expec?ted, he has made a huge mess and what's worse, a new shadow organization called The Conclave is intent on heating up the Cold War for their evil plans.

Modern Times is a full-fledged expansion with 12 new campaign missions and a whole bunch of new edicts and buildings, all reflecting a more modern era of Tropican development. While some of the new buildings are simply bigger and better versions of their old incarnations, quite a few new additions make Tropico 4 a far more enjoya?ble game -- even forcing you to rethink? your core strategies.

Among the most important addit??ions is the new Metro Station, which only takes up a small area of space and which lets Tropicans move almost instantly between Metro Stations anywhere on the map. You still need to place a few garages for teamsters and the like, but the underground transit system finally allows you to get rid of the gridlocks that used to pester you as you built up your island. These Metro Stations become increasingly more expensive, but it's a small price to pay for finally being able to stamp a new zone of buildings out of the ground in a remote area, without having to account for transit time.

The trusty apartment blocks are replaced by high-rise apartments with twice the housing capacity, at a higher cost of cash and electricity, e??ssentially turning them into more expensive and better quality tenements. Although creating a reliable power supply used to be an expensive endeavor, not in the least because of the requirement of college graduates to maintain the already expensive power stations, it is far easier to manage this time around. Wind turbines do the trick in earlier missions, but as time progresses, a solar plant becomes? available which doesn't require any workers, and which is easily upgraded for extra juice.

The old farms are quickly replaced by bio farms; larger farms which produce a huge amount of crops inside their building area. These new farms can be set to produce corn, food crops (papaya, banana, etc.) or cash crops (tobacco, sugar, etc.), and if set on the latter two modes, they prod??uce multiple crops at the same time. Likewise, ranches are replaced by organic variants that produce smoked beef and extra food, and mines soon become borehole mines which can produce minerals even if? a deposit is depleted.

Other than the modernized and slightly more efficient versions of existing buildings, some construction options are entirely new and work well in conjunction with your tried-and-tested economy. Business centers produce revenue based on housing or media buildings in the area, and a Telecom HQ can cover? a huge aura to improve the quality of life through customer support. A few other expensive skyscraper projects provide work, housing, and hotel space to a large amount of people, even though by the time you can afford these buildings, the income they generate is completely unnecessary.

Meanwhile, new edicts like the Internet Police, Healthcare Reform, and China Development Aid -- which gives you 100 extra immigrants -- poke fun at contemporary developments, while the Ban Social Networks edict increases productivity while disabling the ability to post Tweets or Facebook posts from within the game. The edicts are a bit of a luxury option rather than a core aspect of surviving through early years crises, but the total package of edicts and buildings adds enough to the Tropico formula to make it a fresh experience once more -- even if you've already spent well over a?? hundred ho??urs on the past few titles.

There are enough new toys at your disposal to ex??periment with novel city layouts, and even though some of the new buildings can produce a ridiculous amount of money, the new additions allow for that extra amount of freedom to create your perfect little island paradise. By the time you reach the 2000s, it can be enormously pleasing to look at an actual skyline as a testament to your labors. Another useful addition is the Timeline, which shows you when certain buildings will unlock, and when global events such as the Panama Canal Treaty will affect island life.

The Modern Times campaign does an admirable job at introducing most of the new buildings and edicts, while the trademark humor is even more effective thanks to some nods to contemporary (In?ternet) culture. Among the mission highlights are a zombie outbreak (complete with zombie inquisition), becoming part of the War on Terror, and combating an evil plot to release a free game in Tropico by creat??ing your own game -- Angry Toucans.

Even if the mission structures are merely a set of goals you can achieve regardless of your favorite style of economic development, they add enough fun to turn the act of starting from scratch -- time and time again -- into an enjoyable and addictive pastime. It's easy to spend an hour or two completing a single mission on the fastest speed (which still isn't that fast), and quick-buil?ding a bunch of expensive and?? fancy looking buildings at the end of a mission can make you go mad with power.

It is a bit disappointing to see certain new island maps recycled during the campaign, however. In the cases where it happens, you will at least have a different set of goals and a different starting position, but Tropico is a type of game where if you've found one good solution to ?the early economic build-up, doing the same thing again on the same map with largely the same resources is not quite as fun the second time around.

Besides the 20+ hour campaign, which supports all the other Tropico 4 DLC, the goodies Modern Times brings to the table can be fully enjoyed in the sandbox mode. A simple checkmark allows you to turn the expansion's features on and off before you create a sandbox game, in case you feel nostalgic for those old apartment blocks. Since the release of Tropico 4 on PC, a lot of user-created maps have been uploaded to the servers as well, and these will provide some extra play time if you haven't looked at them for the past few mont??hs.

Tropico 4: Modern Times gives the core game a much needed content injection, and turns Tropico 4 into a better game. Some additions have a larger impact on Tropican economic planning than others, but Modern Times is well worth checking out for any fan of Tropico.

I'm still waiting for that sequel to Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, though.

The post Review: Tropico 4: Modern Times appeared first on Destructoid.

Ask any old-school PC gamer about his favorite tactical games, and more often than not you'll find a Jagged Alliance title near the top of the list. It's a name held in nearly as high regard as X-COM or Syndicate, and for good reason. Sir-Tech's classic series combined impressive depth with character and pe?rsonality, cementing its place in the pantheon of all-time PC? greats.

This makes the the job of Jagged Alliance: Back in Action all the more monumental, because not only does it lay claim to that revered name, but also to its legacy, for it is a direct remake of Jagged Alliance 2, rather th?an some spiritual sequel. Which, of course, leaves us with the question:?? "Does it live up to its forebear's example?"

In a word, it doesn't, but players looking for a substantial, generous tactical game to sink their teeth into should give this o??ne a look all the same.

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action (PC)
Developer: Coreplay GmbH/Bitcomposer
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Released: February 9, 2012
MSRP: $39.99
Reviewer's Rig: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66Ghz, GeForce GTX 560 Ti GPU, 6GB RAM

Specifically, Back in Action is a remake/reimagining of Jagged Alliance 2, which puts players in the battle-hardened shoes of a mercenary commander tasked with infi??ltrating the fictional country of Arulco and toppling the despotic Queen Deidranna. To do the deed you'll need to employ a bunch of hired guns from a disturbingly convenient mercenary-recruitment website, then proceed to dismantle Deidran??na’s dictatorship, town by town, grid location by grid location.

Many players, myself included, will find that Back in Action’s evocation of Jagged Alliance 2’s spirit and tone is more than a little bit successful. The very first mission drops your initial hires right outside the fence of the unforgettable (to Jagged Alliance vets, anyway) Drassen Airport, ready to conquer their way to Deidranna’s doorstep. Familiar faces and names all populate the game’s roster of available mercs, with character profiles lifted almost verbatim from Jagged Alliance 2, and accompanied by the original bad voice acting (or approximations thereof). The layout of the map is the same, with most of the towns and geographical features in the same places. Even the user interface for the game’s larger strategic layer looks like that of an outdated laptop, just as Jagged Alliance 2’s looked a decade ago.

Unfortunately, it's at that strategic layer that the veneer of familiarity begins to peel away, revealing significant -- and potentially upsetting -- differences from the original. Put simply, many of Jagged Alliance 2's larger, "strategic" features have been pared dow??n, simplified, or eliminated entirely. The main map screen itself is of little use beyond facilitating travel between zones. Recruiting and upgrading local militia to defend locations in your squads' absence ??is now done on-location. Healing has been simplified and permanent injuries no longer require significant downtime to heal. Skills progression is handled by a simpler leveling and point-distribution system. Mercenaries are now hired for the duration, eliminating the need to renew their contracts every few days.

Perhaps the most disappointing omission for veterans is the inability to create your own custom mercenary via gaming's most entertaining, inscrutable personality test. New players won't know what they're missing, but hey, Back in Action is aiming at oldsters, validating the criticism.

As a result, the mercenaries feel more like bundles of statistics and less like "real" people. That said, they still do ooze more character and personality than the interchangeable automatons of X-COM or Syndicate, or even the bland Tier One-types of many modern shooters. The sixty-odd mercs available (though the budget recruits of M.E.R.C. are gone) all come with their own unique traits and hangups, which oftentimes affect their morale and performance in the field. "Team Players" work better when in a fully-staffed squad, while loners roll best solo. Short-sighted mercs feel more secure with their glasses on, and macho mercs get more gung-ho when there are ladies around to impress. And the nudists? Well, you can imagine what would make them happy. 

Merc uniqueness extends past personality quirks as well. Many of the folks you hire have their own, preexisting relationships with the other mercs on offer, to the point that they might be unhappy if forced to work with someone they dislike. Some might even refuse forming a contract outright if you, say, hired their ex-lovers. As time ??goes on and you hire more mercs you'll start to build squads made up of fighters who get along together, forming complementary "circles of love" that net massive boosts to morale and combat performance.

Speaking of combat, it is therein which Back in Action's most striking -- and controversial -- changes lie. Fighting is no longer a matter of action points, initiative, and alternating turns, but has moved into the realm of real-time, with a system they call "Plan-and-Go." But before you cranky elders start spitting bile and bullets, it's worth knowing that the real-time action can be paused at any time, with a host of available conditions that initiate pauses automatically. Back in Action is no Starcraft-like click-fest, and treating it as such will result in a lot of dead mer??cenaries, which may affect your reputation, and thus your prospects for hiring more expensive, discerning agents in the future.

"Plan-and-Go" is at its core a fancy name for the ability to issue orders while paused, but in practice it can go much deeper. In addition to simply allowing breathing room to issue complex commands, Plan-and-Go enables players to well, plan out their actions in ways that, in practice, can be more engaging and intelligent than in Jagged Alliance 2 or X-COM.

A sample scenario: My man Grunty and his best friend Igor are about to clear a sweatshop full of armed men. Unfortunately, said men know we're coming and are sitting in the perfect position to shoot anyone who comes in. Using Plan-and-Go, I can pause the game, and send Grunty creeping down the hall to the opposite door, ready to open it, and lay down some fire. Then I can issue an order for Igor to kick down his door and do the same, setting up a deadly crossfire. But to do each action one after the other would be suicidal, for Grunty and Igor would be gunned down piecemeal. However, Plan-and-Go allows me to "link" their chains of?? action, so that they open their respective doors simultaneously, executing the enemy from both sides while leaving no room for retaliation.

When such plans come together one can feel like some kind of omniscient god, whispering divine inspiration into his warfighters' ears as they traipse around Arulco as liberators. And when such plans don't come together...well, the game auto-saves as combat begins, so there's always a reload at hand ... if you're feeling wimpy. Real commanders swallow their losses and write them into?? th?e budget.

Couple this new system with the fact that all enemies on a given map are visible at all times -- that's not as bad as it sounds -- and you have an approach to encounters that's almost completely different from Jagged Alliance 2's. In Back in Action, much of the emphasis is weighted on what happens before the shooting starts, and then adapting to conditions after things invariably go wrong. You may know that the sweatshop up ahead has three men crouched in the north, south, and east corners of the room, but the challenge lies in getting Grunty and Igor inside the building and to the doors without said men noticing their approach. Planning, setting up, and executing ambushes, assaults and crossfires takes prec??????????????????????????edenc?e over the slow belly-crawling and shot-by-shot sniping that characterized the previous games.

In Jagged Alliance: Back in Action's firefights, timing takes the place of action-point conservation, and ??every second counts -- literally. Almost every combat action a me??rc performs displays the number of seconds and milliseconds it would take to execute. While firing shotguns from the hip in a standing position would be much less accurate than carefully drawing a bead through a sniper rifle's scope from prone position, doing the former takes only a fraction of the time needed to do the latter, an interval which can mean the difference between your mercs' clearing a crowded room without taking a scratch and them getting hacked to death by shirtless, machete-wielding peasants.

This is all well and good in theory, but in practice Back in Action takes a while -- perhaps too long a while -- to reveal its nuances and substance. Part of this is due to the game's unforgivably passive AI. Most enemies are barely aware of activities beyond their immediate vicinity, with a cone of perception as limited as that of a guard from Metal Gear Solid. Now, that wasn't a huge problem in Jagged Alliance 2, because the fog of war hid the enemy's (lack of) activity until your mercs were practically crawling up their pants. But now that the fog is gone, one can see that unless under attack, the enemy are little more than zombie?s. As a result, tactical encounters in the ?early game usually boil down to posting your mercs in a firing line, setting them in "guard" mode (in which they fire at any target in range), letting off a single shot to catch their attention, and watching the peasants run at your guns.

Things get more complicated (and far deadlier) as you encounter armored troops that?? can just shrug off the damage from lower-caliber guns, and can return fire ??from range. At that point Plan-and-Go becomes essential for queuing up headshots and conserving ammo.

And all the while you're trying to manage your funds on the strategic level, balancing the need to fill out your squad with skilled (and expensive) mercs and keeping them armed and supplied, while managing your inventories, using "mule" recruits traveling back and forth to pick up new weapons and equipment, and training up militia to defend your conquered zones. Combined with the need to defend captured territory from roaming squads of enemies (militia aren't exactly quality fighters), the result is a tense, dynamic sense of tug-of-war. With guns. Back in Action's strategic gameplay may have been diminished, but just enough of it remains to evoke its forebear's hybrid appea??l.

While all this sounds well and good, Back in Action suffers from a number of significant flaws, ones that stem from some truly baffling design decisions and interface issues that were "solved" in the decade between the original game and this release. It's almost inconceivable that such improvements were not thought through during development. Back in Action should be faithful to the spirit of Jagged Alliance 2, not its problems.

For one, squad inventory management is a nightmare. Why do I need to press a separate "trade" button every time I want to transfer items from one person to another? And why can't I handle it on the main strategic map or even just the local inventory menu? Why must I manually re-equip every first aid bag or repair kit when I perform the actions, even if those items are already in my inventory, ready for use? Oversights like that become especially infuriating as squads grow, increasing their need for a constant supply of weapons, armor, ammo and other necessities. At one point I spent almost an hour resupplying two squads of six mercs, reduced to dropping items?? onto the ground in makeshift supply caches, moving and selecting each merc one by one to claim their gear. Chores like this are necessary in a game of this depth, but they ne??edn't be this tedious.

Worse still, recruiting militia is almost as hellish. While the process is simpler than before, it's been made even more annoying. Now mercs need to travel to every zone that potential recruits spawn into and manually place a gun from their inventory into the recruit's hand, with the same clunky trading interface. And since your mercs can only hold four weapons a piece, my "mules" were constantly trudging back and forth from the airport (where ordered guns and equipment is delivered to) to individual zones, manually loading into them and rushing back and forth across the map handin?g out weapons, then running all the way back to the airport to get more. It's l?udicrous.

Pathfinding is similarly atrocious. As often as not your men will bunch up in doorways and clog halls, spinning around like armored dervishes, getting caught on corners or simply stopping in place. The graphics, too, aren't?? e??xactly state of the art. They're certainly much better than the original's generic sprites and limited animation, but in terms of complexity they're more 2007 than 2012.

If nothing else, all equipment is now visible on models, and I was often able to tell what gear the enemy on sight alone. The engine isn't particularly well-optimized either. My rig can run Battlefield 3 at a consistent 50+ frames-per-second, but Back in Action often slowed into the 20s or less in the more cr?owded cities and military bases.

??Environmental interaction has been limited as well. Mercs can't vault over low obstacles anymore, and can't destroy walls except at predetermined points. They can't climb without a ladder, and while the camera angle can be changed, it can't be lowered to ground level or used to look inside buildings -?- a curious choice, since you can already see every enemy on the map.

All things said and done, though, these flaws are superficial. Irritating and baffling, sure, but ultimately irrelevant to the core of the game and its ability to capture the soul of Jagged Alliance, that intoxicating blend of in-depth tact?ical play and big strategic decision-making, infused wit??h a charming, colorful cast of heavily-armed characters facing the monolithic challenge of liberating a whole country under your command.

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action may ultimately be inferior to its legendary predecessor, but it has just enough of that spark in it to be a compell??ing, substantial impostor.

The post Review: Jagged Alliance: Back in Action appeared first on Destructoid.

Ola El Presidente! There is more Tropico 4 goodness on the way, as Kalypso has announced an expansion to the popular banana republic sim: Modern Times. The new expansion will focus on taking your economy to the 21st century of global financial markets, space explorat??ion, and the rise of the Internet. You can expect new buildings, challenges, and edicts that let you do things like limiting Internet access for Tropicans.

Modernizing your island across 12 new scenario missions, you'll upgrade old buildings to new variants and replace obsolete buildings with modern ones. Hopefully the upgraded buildings will be about the same size as the old ones so you don't have to create an entirely new layout for your city. Tropico 4: Modern Times will be released this March on both the PC ($19.99/£19.99/€29.99) and Xbox Live Arcade (1200 Microsoft Points). I'm not sure why it is cheaper on XBLA, but perhaps it's to make up for not releasing Tropico 3: Absolute Power on the Xbox 360.

If you missed Mash Tactics earlier this week, catch up on Jon and Wesley playing Tropico 4 on Twitch TV.

The post Tropico 4 expansion blasts off on Xbox 360 & PC in March appeared first on Destructoid.