I love strategy games. I have always been a huge Sid Meier fan, and these games can last months, perhaps longer, depending on the game. Checkmarks for many strategy games cannot be handled like most of the other games in the Insanity Project. Why? Because you don't clear missions or levels, you don't advance the storyline in a clear way, and the game can take days or weeks before anything truly discernable even occurs, and months to complete!
07) Civilization IV - Like I said, I love Sid Meier games, and this is one of my all time favorites. I enjoy putting 17 computer opponents in the game, the most available, and making the game environment the largest size available. With Civilization 5 on its way out, this game may be on its way out. I've loved it for years, but the new one sounds magnificent, and I am not sure I can resist its siren's call.
Checkmark - Aside from winning, this game is consistent from beginning to end. Trying to use parameters like advancing technologies, defeating enemy nations in war, even building up cities to certain points, wouldn't really be a wise decision, just because of how this game plays. So I have determined that two hours of playing is a checkmark. Or winning the game.
Where I am - I play on Warlord level, with 17 nations, no barbarians (I hate those guys). When I win a game, not easy with 17 opponents, I strip off the victory condition and start a new game. Thus in order to advance to the next difficulty level I need to win every way conceivable at the current level. This will enable me to learn all of the different ways of playing this game, which is probably necessary to succeed at higher levels of difficulty. Anyway, I am two checkmarks into my current game, 4 hours of game playing. So far, so good, though I am running out of places to build cities and I haven't got enough of them to survive if someone else gets gunpowder first, and it looks like someone will. Doh!
08) Europa Universalis III - This is a PC game I purchased recently because it looked intriguing. You play as one of hundreds of countries in Europe before all of the major nations were created, and you try and become a European super power. I am playing my first game as England, one of the most powerful nations in the world, as I am learning the game from scratch.
Checkmark - This game is extremely slow, in that you need to slowly build resources every month and allocate them to different territories either to build an army unit, quell rebellion by building something to make the people happier, etc. etc. Its a very slow moving game, and I am giving myself a checkmark every 12 months of game time that is completed. This takes a few hours to play through, though a lot of it is just hitting the time advance clock and waiting for the month to end so you can get some cash to allocate. I am not deeply in love with this game so far, though its intriguing and mentally challenging. I think that it may be more fun to try to play a smaller nation in the middle of Europe, and have to try and expand by conquering neighbors, etc. But I'll play the game through as England to get a better handle on it.
Where I am Now - At the beginning of the game, I was immediately sucked into war against France, and conquered my northern neighbor as a result of their alliance with France. That was fun. But now that war has ended and the game is slloooow. We'll see if it gets more fun as time progresses. Frankly, if I can read a novel while playing a video game, then the video game isn't all that terrific. But, maybe as time progresses the game's nuances will fall into place, and I will enjoy it more.
Game 09) Gladius - As far as PS2 games goes, this is one of my all-time favorites, though I have yet to win. You form a team of gladiators, and make your way through a series of tournaments, conquering all that particular lands have to offer. As you move forward to the next land, the overall storyline advances as well, and you gain access to more hero characters for your team and more slots to hire other gladiators of various types. Very challenging, lots of fun, one of the best games ever made, in my opinon.
Checkmark - This is easy. Whenever I win a tournament, I get a checkmark. To win a tournament, you have to win a series of smaller challenges first, to unlock the tournament in a particular city in the land you are in. So there are tons of battles to be fought along the way in each city.
Where I am Now - This is a game that I have been playing for awhile, and I have advanced to the third land in the storyline. I believe there is only one more after this. I just unlocked and defeated the first tournament in this land, so I'm moving on to the next city.
Game 10) Space Empires V- A large galactic space game, this one is slow moving as you colonize planets, learn technologies at a snail's pace, and build your space fleet. I just got this game recently, and while not in love with it, it is a great way to kill some time.
Checkmark - This is just one that has to be conducted with a two hour play clock to get a checkmark. This game should take months to play, unless I meet some hostile race and get decimated. We'll see. This is my first time playing through a game of this, and depending on how intelligent the PC controlled players are, well, that will determine the overall challenge level for me.
Where I am now - Plugging along. I have colonized four planets, in a game like this you need about 20-25 to have an opportunity to win, so I have a long way to go. I met one alien race. We're friendly, but the bastard colonized a planet I wanted, so now we are sharing a neutral solar system together. Bah.
Game 11) Suikoden Tactics - I love the Suikoden series for the Playstation 2, as you'll see when we get to the Epic - Fantasy Genre breakdown. This is different from those games. You have characters and you go from scenario to scenario, attempting to defeat the enemies on what is essentailly a grid board. Its a tactical combat game, and while not the one I grab for off the shelves first, this is a calm, relaxing game as compared to something like God of War.
Checkmark - Easy to determine with this game. Go to the next level, defeat the enemies, and advance the storyline. Checkmark acquired.
Where I am - Because I have no real concept about the length of this game, I don't know if I'm halfway through yet, but I have been defeating a lot of boards and am definitely past the early portion of the game.
Game 12) World of Mixed Martial Arts 2 - For my PC, from Greydog Software, in this game you run a mixed martial arts organization, and you recruit fighters, sign them to contracts, and pit them against each other in a virtual simulation of UFC. You create the fight cards, and then based on the results, winning fighters gain popularity and can become huge stars. You try and placate fans by giving them the most enteraining fight cards possible. Sometimes, that's not easy to do as fighters can take up to six months or longer between fights before they are ready to compete again. Some are ready only 2 weeks later, though, so usually you have enough people to have a fight card. Building great cards repeatedly is where the strategy comes in.
Checkmark - When you are just starting a new game, as I just did, you can spend countless hours just recruiting and signing fighters to your organization. At this stage I use the two hour playing time for a checkmark rule. Once the roster is complete (You are always tweaking it in this game, signing guys that end contracts with other organizations that you want, recruiting talented looking rookies, firing people for bad performances or irredemable losing streaks, etc.) then its about booking cards and running them. So, after a card is run, a checkmark is earned.
Where I am now - I have chosen the GAMMA organization, one of the largest available, for this current game. I put out contract offers to every available fighter that I want. This took me four hours of playing time to accomplish, as you have to go through people's statistics and decide if they are good enough for your league. Next, we'll see who I am able to sign, and then it'll be about making my first fight card.
So that is the overview of the six strategy games. Six more categories to list!
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