Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

"Only a true leader plunges into the dark woods of defeat and emerges into the light of victory."

Tom Clancy has his name attached to quite a few video games but were it not for this 1001 blog, I don't know if I'd have ever played very many of them. Splinter Cell was obviously a big hit, but I was more into Metal Gear, and the other series often came across as games that you'd like far more if you were the type of person who read a lot of Tom Clancy books.

There's nothing wrong with that - I guess you know what you're getting into - but the games were generally the kind where you need to be invested in that world and setting to enjoy what otherwise seemed to be a bit of a generic shooter of some description.

Will Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 show me the error of my ways? That Tom Clancy titles can be just as impressive as any other shooter, even without the Hollywood setpieces? Let's outfit and find out.

Valkyria Chronicles

"I'll do it. Even going to war, I'll do it."

As Street Fighter IV has recently shown, stylish graphics can be just as engaging as photo-realistic depictions, and one of the games that I've always been aware of for its style but haven't yet dipped a toe into to find anything out about it is Valkyria Chronicles.

One part watercolour memoir, one part tactical role-playing game, Valkyria Chronicles takes players through the Second Europan War as a band of brave peasants determined to prove that nobody is going to get trampled on without a fight.

All I know about it before playing is that it looks mighty interesting.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Or GRAW 2, for an easier time of things...

Source // PlayStation

Do you remember when the future of warfare was all interlinked video feeds and heads up displays and tactical battle maps fed directly into soldiers' brains or something? A future where every aspect of the fight was data-driven? Satellites buzzed overhead and beamed down what might as well be live footage of the battlefield, soldiers scoped the field with drones and robots, augmented reality displays told you exactly how close to death an enemy combatant was, as well as allowing you to see him through walls.

This is the kind of near-future that makes for great video games, and it's the kind that authors like Tom Clancy can run with. What would it mean to lose your electronic connection in the war? You'd have to use your own eyes and your own brain. That'd be barbaric, and I'd be lost.

As it happens, Tom Clancy lent his name to a series of tactical shooters called Ghost Recon, and as the series went on, the future became more futuristic and it adopted this hyper-connected digital battlefield experience in the form, ultimately, of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, a bit of a mouthful, but basically a way to say "Future Soldiers, look!"

And who doesn't want to be part of a cool squad of near-future soldiers?

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

"Since when did we become friends and how soon can we stop?"

The tactical role-playing game returns once more, as does Final Fantasy Tactics, in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, which I had discovered is a sequel, but not to the Final Fantasy Tactics that I played for this 1001 list years ago.

There, it was a PlayStation title that I found interesting but problematic, though a PlayStation Portable remake did ease some woes. Here, it's a Nintendo DS title that doesn't have a stylus gimmick.

Really?

Naked War

MOVE OUT

'What do you get if you cross Advance Wars with Worms?' I hear nobody saying, because as questions go, that's not ranked high on anyone's list. The answer, apparently, is a must-play game called Naked War, where units don't explode and turn into tombstones but instead lose their clothing and run around the map desperately searching for a promotion.

Huh.

Jeanne d'Arc

Mon Dieu!

Some historical stories just beg to be retold, and the life and times of Joan of Arc is one such tale. A French peasant leading an army against the English because she heard God telling her to do so? Sounds like there's at least a little something to explore in all that, right?

What about if we added magic and animal-headed companions and anime, though? Well, we'd get Jeanne d'Arc, the tactical RPG for the PSP, from the minds behind Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy, and more. Geez guys, just stop it already, let other developers make it onto this 1001 list, yeah?

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories

Prinny dood.

Who's got two thumbs and questions regarding whether this 1001 list has too many sequels? Disgaea! Dis guy. Me. Get it?

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories is the sequel to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, which I thought was alright mechanically, but didn't want to spend much time, if any, with the main characters, or their plight, in whatever the setting was. It was a nice concept for a tactical RPG but needed a different lick of paint for me to be interested.

Can the sequel sort my problems with the first game out, or is it just more of the same?

SWAT 4

Open doors, shout loudly, zip tie everything, be back in time for donuts.

The SWAT team. Though seemingly every police officer looks like they belong to one these days, the highly trained and disciplined unit makes for quite the depiction in film, TV, and video gaming. Specialised team members all reading from the same page, acting as one to strike hard and fast to apprehend a suspect or bring a situation to a close. One part military force, one part psychological chess match, there's a certain appeal about the way they go about things.

In theory, at least. Perhaps. If you ascribe to that way of thinking. What am I trying to say here? That a properly trained SWAT team is an incredible asset, and that SWAT 4 is here to show you how tough they've got it. Yeah, let's go with that.

First-person shooters are usually all about going in guns blazing. SWAT 4 is about never having a reason to shoot. Can you make that switch?

Rebelstar: Tactical Command

Not for the over-30's.

Rebelstar. Rebelstar... where have I heard that name before? Turns out, long, long ago, I failed to emulate Rebelstar for this very 1001 list. I was apparently really rather interested in seeing X-Com on a ZX Spectrum and was saddened by not being able to play it.

I've still not gone back and tried to get it going again, but maybe now that Rebelstar: Tactical Command is making itself known on the Game Boy Advance, I'll be more inspired to try getting Rebelstar going again.

Wait. The Game Boy Advance? There's an X-Com on the GBA?

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

"You there, in the bushes. You have until the count of five to show yourself before I start throwing sharp objects"

Tactical, turn-based video games. I seem to like them. Advance Wars is some kind of phenomenon, though as time has gone on I've mellowed on it a little. The likes of Tactics Ogre appeal, but I'm still yet to dive into them full-time, so to speak. Is there, perhaps, a game that blends the two together? A simple enough system to get my head around, but with a fantasy setting?

It is an understatement to say that Intelligent Systems have been busy working with Nintendo platforms, and now they've gone and answered my pondering in the form of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, a fantasy tactical role-playing game that requires no prior knowledge of any Fire Emblem game.

Perfect.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

GOOD!

The last time I played an Advance Wars entry on the 1001 list, I played for hours. Something about it was addicting. I couldn't put it down. But the Game Boy Advance is already a memory. Technological progress marches onward, and the Nintendo DS needs an entry in the turn-based tactics genre. It's time for Advance Wars: Dual Strike.

Dual Strike. DS. Get it? There's more to the title than that, of course. COs teaming up to pummel dinky little tanks into dust. This should be good.

Hidden & Dangerous 2

We're not going to be described as either, are we?

When I started this challenge for myself, I went through the whole 1001 list multiple times, checking out which games I had, where I had them, which titles I would need to look out for, which would be easier to emulate instead, which ones could only be emulated... the possibilities for playing more than a thousand games are quite considerable.

Wishlists were filled, and charity shops would interrupt anything else going on in the area, just in case a bargain could be snapped up for later down the list. I was on top of things, and given the number of times I'd gone through the list, there was eventually a reasonably good chance of me knowing whether a game I saw somewhere was on the list or not before I even checked. Sometimes you just know, you know?

And then I blogged about Viewtiful Joe and had a look at what was next. Hidden & Dangerous 2. What the hell is Hidden & Dangerous 2? PC, squad-based, third-person, Second World War... why haven't I got this? It's been on Steam for years. It's been in all the sales. Why has it escaped my sights for five years?

I can't answer that at all. It just happens, I guess. The SAS sneak up on you out of nowhere, before dispersing into the silence once more. Or will this game make some noise?

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

Dood.

Source // Moby Games

Sometimes we let things slip. An item on the to-do list isn't seen as necessary right now, and so you put it off and let it go by, perhaps for many months. When it comes time to needing that thing you never got around to, and it's not there... it's not fun, is it? It's not useful, and it's your own fault.

My life recently got in the way of playing Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, which is funny because the slipping of time is a key plot point that gets this tactical RPG going.

Advance Wars

"What?!? Even my medium tanks are defeated??? THAT NELL!!!"

Source // MobyGames

Help. I started playing Advance Wars after lunch, and now four hours have gone by, and I'm still playing it. It's just... it's quite good this. Oh, when will I find the time to play this?

I had a Game Boy Advance. I waited until the SP model to get one, but I got one, and it was a great little handheld. Why I never picked up Advance Wars for it is anyone's guess because this cartoony turn-based tactics game has devoured my attention this afternoon. I guess I just had absolutely no knowledge about GBA games back in the day unless I knew I wanted to own something.

Well, now I only want to play Advance Wars. Why is that?

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis

"2! ENGAGE! Soldier."

The military simulator is, as one might expect, not the easiest of genres to get into as a beginner. Demanding from the offset and fueled by realism, these games are nonetheless somewhat successful, spawning few imitators but a great many community-made mods and custom maps. The genre's success today is arguably thanks to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.

The year is 1985, and your humdrum existence in the US military is about to become an awful lot more dangerous, as you'll face the business end of all kinds of guns in this open-world tactical shooter.

I don't expect to get very far through this one...

Faselei!

ZZZzz...

The 1001 entry for this next title says that it 'is well worth the considerable effort it may take to hunt down a copy', owing to the fact that it was released so close to the end of the Neo Geo Pocket Colors' life that copies didn't even make it to the shelves. Thankfully, enough of them made it out into the wild and into players hands that someone, somewhere, managed to copy a ROM for us peasants to emulate, and what a game it is.

Turn-based Mech combat isn't new. Turn-based Mech combat where everyone programs their turns then fires them off at the same time, hoping not to see an enemy walk out of range of a 'well-planned' series of shots is new. New to my video game experiences at least. Programmable movement and board games I'm familiar with, in Robo Rally and Colt Express, but this isn't a board game. This is perhaps the best Neo Geo Pocket Color game in existence (is my bias showing?). This is Faselei!.

Front Mission 3

Mankind never learns.

Ohhhhh boy. It's time. It's time...

When I was but a teen, I had some kind of cheat/walkthrough magazine, and to be honest I don't even remember why I had this particular magazine, but inside were pages dedicated to seemingly endless amounts of spreadsheets, tables for arms, legs, weapons... I knew what none of it meant, but I saw that it was for a game called Front Mission 3, and from then on, I knew that this game was awesome.

I didn't know what it was about, mind. In fact, I was probably only vaguely aware that it was about Mechs, and if you've been following along with the 1001 list you'll know how far I gush over Mechs. As time went by, and I learned more about Front Mission 3, I knew I had to play it - but never did.

It is time to rectify that wrong. It is time to play what could potentially be the greatest game of--I'm getting ahead of myself.

Shining Force III

Rain Thunder!

Source // Emuparadise / Baffou

The Sega Saturn has a kinda-3D turn-based tactics fantasy RPG, along the lines of Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, so large in scale that it was split into three parts, only one of which made it outside of Japan and onto the 1001 list.

Its name is Shining Force III, and specifically Scenario 1, aka 'God Warrior of the Kingdom'.

I have a good history with the Saturn, aka 'not a chance in hell of being able to play this game'.