Sins of a Solar Empire

Boldly going nowhere.

4X games come in many forms, especially on the tabletop. Exploring, expanding, exploiting and exterminating comes naturally to humans, whether the backdrop is of the other side of the world or the other end of the galaxy, as is the case in Sins of a Solar Empire.

Dubbed a real-time 4X game, you don't even need to wait around for other players to finish their turns before you can focus on checking off your next X. The galaxy will evolve around you, military factions bombarding defenceless planets, flourishing trade networks linking allies together, and diplomacy serving as your last chance to turn a dire situation around.

Will we survive the vast expanses that lay ahead of us?

Saints Row 2

"Have you changed your hair?"

Grand Theft Auto started out as a criminal playground where you got up to mischief first and missions second, before it morphed into the heavily story-driven critiques of modern America we've seen since GTA III. Sure, you could go on a rampage for the fun of it, but it was always a side event, something you did when the story was done, or the story wasn't interesting to you.

What if there was a game about running a criminal empire that put the fun back into being the absolute worst person in the city? Where missions weren't separated from silly shenanigans, but made of them? Where you could be the kind of badly dressed asshole you always wanted to be and still not look out of place in a cutscene?

Cue Saints Row 2.

Rock Band 2

"Crawling in my skin. These games, they will not disappear."

Source // Nintendo

From time to time I've spoken about how this 1001 list makes some pretty awful decisions regarding which games to feature, to the point where basically identical games are listed to justify a new sentence that has words to the effect of "this time they got it right!"

Part of the appeal of this 1001 list is seeing the evolution of video games through the decades. Milestones in technology are important things to remember, be they successful or not. A game can introduce the world to something, it's sequel can perfect it. You can argue for the inclusion of both games - after all, there's still room for 999 more games, right?

But Rock Band. Bloody Rock Band, and it's spin-offs, and it's competitors... they can get a goddamn 1001 list of their own at the rate they're going. Here's Rock Band 2. This will not take long.

Top Spin 3

Game, Set, Match, Not You. How did you even get into this Tournament?

Source // PlayStation

Oh, joy, another tennis game, and one that is said to be simply impossible for newcomers to get a good start in. That sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Not content with working its way up as the underdog (so I'm lead to believe), the Top Spin series' must-play entry, Top Spin 3, overhauls everything that makes a tennis game a game about tennis and drops everyone, amateur and professional alike, into a simulation that demands you put the legwork in.

You know, like real tennis.

That's not going to happen.

PixelJunk Monsters

Pixel... Junk?

Defense Grid: The Awakening proved that you could have a graphically impressive tower defence game, but the power of the PlayStation 3 wasn't used for chucking out 3D models of invading aliens, but cartoony spiders in a somewhat chill and strangely named PixelJunk Monsters.

I'm aware of the name, but not of the game, so it's time to see what's going on.

Rez HD

game 860 log-in

Source // PlayStation

How do you describe an experience like Rez HD? Because that's what it is, mostly. There's a game in here for sure, one about shooting things before they shoot you, but Rez isn't a shooter, really. There's a story, too, but it's not a game about that story either.

In short, Rez is a strange little oddity that sticks out like so little else, and has to be seen - and played, ideally - to be believed.

Let's see if playing it will give me the words I'm looking for.

World of Goo

This isn't an education about hydrocarbon chains, is it?

Source // Steam

Ah, physics. Where would we be without you, huh? How boring would games be without physics, eh? Why, we wouldn't be able to drag and drop gloopy goo in World of Goo without physics, would we? What kind of world would we be living in without World of Goo?

Pure

Fresh? Stale?

Source // Steam

"Quad-bikes aren't cool," is the gist of the 1001 write-up for Pure, but they're actually more versatile and interesting than you might think. Light and nimble, they're a cross between the stability of an off-road car and the showmanship of a motocross bike.

Stick a boost on them, point them at a gnarly hill, and you can get extreme, and all the kids love extreme racing, right? Mud is all the rage, as shown by MotorStorm, isn't it?

Well, let's find out.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

"Every day is great at your Junes."

When I played Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, I wondered just when it would actually become a playable video game. It had my attention, and an hour or so later it finally gave me something to do that wasn't advancing the next in a long line of dialogue text.

But I liked it, somehow, and now the 1001 list tells me that Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is an even better place to start in the series.

Does that mean it'll get going before the hour mark, or should I settle in for the afternoon and just go along with it?

Resistance 2

"They are calling to us. Can you hear them?"

Source // PlayStation

When the PlayStation 3 first came out, most players could only afford to play free demos on it. Thankfully, this was a time when demos actually did exist, and one of those demos I played a few times was for Resistance: Fall of Man, an alternate history/universe sci-fi Second World War first-person shooter pitting men against monstrous aliens up and down the United Kingdom.

I didn't end up purchasing Resistance, nor did I look into Resistance 2 when it came out, a sequel that no doubt improved on the original, but didn't catch my interest in any way.

The 1001 write up mentions how there are multiplayer matches that support up to 60 players, which was pretty much an anomaly in terms of player counts on the PS3. Wikipedia mentions how those servers' plugs were pulled in 2014, so I guess all we've got to enjoy these days is the story.

But what is that story? Who are these angry-looking fellas from another planet? What do they want with good ol' Blighty?

What's that? We're in America now?