Introduction
There’s always something magical about the 7/10 video game. Maybe it’s the missed potential of what could have been something great, maybe it’s the game that’s comfortable and “good enough”, or maybe it’s the fact that not everything needs to be a masterpiece to be enjoyed. Join me as we take a look at the best 7/10 strategy games of recent years.
Tom Clancy EndWar
Tom Clancy End War came out during a time in gaming where we saw a massive boom in weird experimentation. We had the Wii with its unique motion controls (which I still have for parties!), the Xbox had Project Natal Milo, Crysis had just come out in 2007 and set a new benchmark for graphical fidelity, and even the PlayStation 3 added some weird ball thing controller, and new gaming franchises were popping up right, left, and center. What a time it was. Not to be outshone, Tom Clancy’s EndWar, a rather traditional RTS game, had to do something different to stand out in a time when strategy games were not the most successful of endeavors, and what was the best way to get a strategy game to play on console? Better controls? UI adaptation? Nop! Voice Commands! As for everything else, EndWar is a pretty mid title, with nothing outstanding apart from that, but it’s always a blast to play just because of how silly it is, and how futuristic the whole thing felt.
Omerta: City of Gangsters
I was trying to decide if I should include Empire of Sin here, or Omerta: City of Gangsters, because they’re both solid 7s, but given the fact that I have reviewed the first some years back, let’s take Omerta. A game that has an immaculate 1920s atmosphere and blends empire building with turn-based combat similar to that of Jagged Alliance. But like a true 7 out of 10, the game stumbles when these great things are put together, and the depth is lacking, the freedom isn’t there, the turn-based combat has a finicky cover system, and animations are as rough as they come. I like to think of it as a good “bargain bin” strategy game, and if you love the setting, it’s very much worth playing.
Gears Tactics
I called Gears Tactics the perfect disappointment of a video game. Do let me explain. I’m a massive fan of Gears of War. I grew up playing Xbox, so Halo, Blinx, and Gears of War are as close to me as things like Age of Empires and Red Alert 2. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that when Gears Tactics was announced, to say that I was excited is quite an understatement. The idea of playing XCOM, but with the bros from Gears, is – in theory- the perfect turn-based game for me. Well, while Gears Tactics is quite good, there were so many setbacks that firmly place it in the 7 out of 10 range. It lacked a dynamic campaign, some repetitive maps, a lack of a customizable squad in the truest sense, and some annoying difficulty spikes that came out of nowhere really hampered the experience of Gears Tactics. But like a true 7/10, it wasn’t afraid to shake things up and fundamentally changed how you approached combat by giving the player more action points and a combo mechanic that incentivizes melee kills. Because it’s Gears of War, and chainsaws are needed, that’s why.
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