-Top Ten List of Turn Based Strategy Games- (#10-6)

As an new up-incoming blog and as my first piece of content, it is important to start things off well and with something that is close and personal to me.  What better way to show off my gaming preferences than with a Top List?  But why Turn Based Strategy you might be asking me?  Well those of you who didn't read up on my intro should be informed that Turned Based Strategy (TBS) is one of my, if not my favorite genres of gaming.  It just happens that it is one of the worst represented types of gaming, compared to, for example: The colossus genre known as FPS.  This is a reason why I created this blog, to cover games that are often under-developed in the gaming market.  So without anymore filler to waste space..... Here is your:

-Top Ten List of Turn Based Strategy Games- 

(#10-6)

# 10 – Worms (Series)

(Screen from Worms 2 PSP edition)

Ah yes, Worms.  The game of loveable little wormy soldiers killing each other with the use of firearms, rockets, dragon fists and wacky inventions such as the trotting explosive sheep and chorus-packed Holy Hand Grenade of Death.  The action in this Turn Based Strategy is a great mix of black humor and cartoonish effects making for a really memorable game, watching the beautifully drawn 2D castled landscape and zany-alien like planets turned into a messy, scorched, explosion created battlefield that makes it resemble Swiss cheese is something that you can only get if you play Worms.  Also, something has to be mentioned of the game play which is approached with an attitude of 'Easy to learn, tough to master' making it a great pick up and play game for first timers to the genre, parties and multiplayer maythem.

The reason however why this classic only holds the honorable-but still quite low-position of number Ten is because the series isn't very deep and innovative, with many of the games adding little content or worse yet, being a copied port of an original.  It gives a feeling for first timers to the games that you will pick up any game no matter the system and have a good time with it, but the veterans looking for something new are the ones that suffer.  If they were more catered to this would probably be higher.

# 9 - Dungeons and Dragons (and other similar Tabletop games)

 

(When the eye of a Beholder is upon you..)

I consider this to be my surprise pick for the list. "What the hell Tom?" You would most likely blurt out, "Everyone knows that Dungeons and Dragons is a Role Playing Game! It has practically pioneered the genre!" Yes that true, but it also contains many elements of a Turn Based Strategy.  Where you wonder? Well the combat of course! The field is mapped out into tiles where you take turns performing actions with the objective of winning a battle (usually).  The reason it goes on this list is because of the complexity and imagination that you can employ on the battlefield is second to none because of the nature of the game, depending on your GM's patience. 

If you are a halfling rogue in a dimly lit room and you want to stay hidden so you can sneak up on an enemy? Consider extinquishing the nearby torch and lunge on the nearby foe like a natural born caped crusader.  Or if you happen to be in a situation where you want to clear dangerous spiders and the webs in your path for your party? Simply take your bedroll and light it on fire, hurling it like a blazing inferno at them. *cough* Anyways... 

The reason the father of all of role playing isn't higher on this list is the lack of this type of gaming found in modern video games that use this type of system, they usually try to blend a real time action RPG feel into it which makes it quite unlike the real pen and board game. Now if only Wizards decided to deliver on the D&D insider content that was shown before (As in the picture above) things might be different...

Once again, yes it IS a TBS. After all for example: If you would label Bioshock an Action RPG you would have to also consider that it is also a First Person Shooter, right? Jury, I rest my case. =]

(Thanks, but I have things this time, Nick.)

# 8 - Civilization (Series)

(Yeah, I wish.. Oda! Go Samurai Warriors on his ass!)

 

"..No. You fool."

(Fair enough.)

(Okay, okay.. this seems more appropriate for the series.)

Perhaps I'll get some hate for this but I don't find Civilization to be that innovative of a franchise, which is why I label it number eight and just put the entire series for this pick.  It's not bad by any means but personally I feel it isn't the end all strategy game that has devoured many men's lives and souls. There is very little I can say that hasn't been said about this series and although it IS a bit overhyped, the series has consistently strong games; which you can't say about other games on this list. If you are unfamilar the set up is this:  You select a nation based on real world nations and select opponents and a map type, just like a skirmish like game type in a Real Time Strategy. You play the game like others using war to dominate over other nations, however you can use other means to win such as improving your technology to send a rocket into space, or gaining the world's heart by building as many world wonders as possible. 

This creates a varied way to play the game; however the fault with this game is that the nations all feel too similar, generally the only exception being unique units and leaders. The unique design here overall; that this game offers is the idea that you can start at the dawn of mankind, the age of stone and work your way up to the futuristic times.  This does create some terrible disbelief sometimes as your nation rises way ahead of others.

While the idea of Conquering Ghandi with the threat of armed nukes and giant robots while he attempts to fight back with horsemen is awesome, I think I'm a tiny bit above this and will not substitute the places of the other top games.

#7 - Battle for Wesnoth

 

(You might not be able to see it, but those specks are your soldiers)

What? You've never heard of Battle for Wesnoth? It's a Turn Based Strategy PC game, the remarkable thing is though, that it is a freeware game. Yeah. It's actually pretty damn good too. (Else it wouldn't be on this list, ha ha.) Besides the fact that it is a free download game it has a number of different campaigns to play through, hundreds in fact. Because it comes with a map and scenario editor which many fans have breathed life into.  It's also easily assessable because you can download them right off the multiplayer mode. 

As you can see it is traditional tile based, but the combat has a lot of varibles that make strategic thinking a must. Environment, time of day, type of enemy and ally alike as well as who is standing by your target are all things you have to think about to succeed.  It has a RTS feel to it also, since you have to control resources and you can spawn as many allies as you have gold and room for.  But the trade off is you need your campaign hero inside of the base in order to do it, so you have to balance leveling your hero with getting out enough troops to succeed, very clever.

Speaking of which there is a nice level up system in place which powers up your troops, speccing into different trees depending on the type of character you want to make.  Do you want your novice page to be a reliable, offensive swordsmen or a far reaching, defensive spearmen? Most games like this are a bummer though since you lose all those troops after ending a map. But in Wesnoth you can recall old troops to a new map, as long as you have the money and they didn't die along the way.

The blunders that keep this from a higher ranking are the freeware feel which makes things sometimes unbalanced, as well as the battle clock that makes you have to beat a map within a certain number of turns.  This personally erks me and causes me to rush getting my troops killed, though thankfully it has a turn rewind button which is handy.  Still you can't really criticize free entertainment (can you, readers?) and this game is one of those shining stars among the darkness.

#6 - Disciples (II and III)

 

(This is Disciples 2, beautiful graphics, nothing could possibly top these!)

This is one of those series that feels ignored in favor of other games to me.  I myself only picked these up recently and it feels like a crime, shame on me! In fact, shame on you too! (Unless you bought this, of course) This series is very like another game series, Heroes of Might and Magic which is also great and deserves to be on this list, however that game and the one on this list are in fact TOO much alike and I had to decide between these two and Disciples is a winner, why you ask? Because Disciples combat simply feels better. 

In HoMM, your army is composed of stacks of units which doesn't feel as personal as your small powerful squad in Disciples.  Also the map exploration is more fair and about map control than collecting resources, in Disciples you actually see the map regions morph and change as you conquer them.  If you are the Humans the map becomes bright, pretty, green and full of life.  However if you go with the demons, the land is stripped barren and becomes red, hellish, demonic, other races have their own custom look as well.  And finally, HoMM is a spinoff of the main series – Might and Magic.  You should really have some creativity, HoMM! -Ironic meters start to crack-

I actually prefer BOTH Disciples II and III to be honest even though most fans love the second one but hate the changes to the third; they both have their own things that interest me. The second game has more content, classes and races, including the wicked undead storyline which is just so awesome; in fact the whole storyline game is pretty good.  However, III has great things too, a much better way to controlling the map, an improved RPG like setup for your main heroes where you can equip items and gain skills from level ups.  Also, don't let me forget some of my favorite artwork I've ever seen in a game, it's just stunning.

(However.. This is Disciples III.. wow!)






Stay tuned for the last 5 games on this list!