Hard West
I’m 100% sure that I came up to you and told you this: “There’s a turn-based strategy game out there that’s XCOM, but it’s set in the Wild West with supernatural elements.” Your mind would instantly be teleported back to 2005, to a time when these kinds of things were normal. Well, Hard West came out in 2015, and it’s cheesy, as basic, and as charming as you would expect. I loved its campaigns, its ridiculous ricochet mechanics that will have you whizzing bullets around the battlefield, flying off every imaginable surface until it reaches its target. Lovely stuff.
Company of Heroes 3
The first Company of Heroes was a true masterpiece of innovation, and it changed the RTS genre in ways we never saw before, by introducing an eclectic mix of mechanics like dynamic cover, suppression, alongside Hollywood-level action and production values. Company of Heroes 2 brought a whole new setting and scale. Company of Heroes 3 is just… alright. It’s not a bad game, and it’s certainly worth playing if you enjoy the franchise, but it just is. Like all 7 out of 10, it took some risks by finally giving players a Total War-like style of campaign that was a complete bust when it came out, but is working great now. As for everything else, it’s just Company of Heroes, but in North Africa and the Mediterranean.
Radio General
Another 7 out of 10, and another idea whose full potential went a bit underexplored. In Radio General, you’re a commander taking control of the frontlines from your tent, using nothing but a map, some unit chits, and a radio. You don’t see your units in real-time, nor witness their action. All that’s available is to radio orders and ask for status reports on how they’re doing. Sometimes they’ll even go missing, become lost, and get ambushed, and all that you can do is listen to the desperate screams of your boys while feeling completely hopeless. It’s a great premise, and it works relatively well for the first couple of missions, but after a while, things get a bit stale and boring, because no matter how interesting a base mechanic is, if the only thing you see is a map, then it’s hard to keep boredom at bay.
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