Vickriman

Clearly the definitive strategy game of the decade. Inevitably all other strategy games produced these next ten years will be compared to this game, just as they were for the first Starcraft over the past ten years. Starting with the campaign, this game is flawless from a strategy gamer's perspective. Not only do you have the classic RTS elements in every map, but you have to strategize about how to upgrade your forces and what missions and research to focus on. Each mission is uniquely challenging and never feels repetitive because of the interesting new game elements it introduces. There is a real sense of progress through the accumulation of upgrades and units from previous missions. Aside from gameplay, the story is also engrossing and interesting. It kept me interested throughout the campaign and almost always seem to leave a cliffhanger after each cutscene. Multiplayer is, of course, genre-defining. It isn't the world's number one e-sport for no reason. The simplicity of the gameplay and yet endless variety of approaches make it a great experience for any strategy gamer. The only difficulty is that multiplayer is extremely intimidating for new players to get into. Even the beginner league is full of very strong players, so the learning curve is very steep. If you can keep up with it, though, you will have a great time.

This game is quite a bit of fun. It takes the concept of the Sims "build your own" person and community mentality and gives it a bit more direction with questing (which are specific goals that you play toward as opposed to the free play style of sims 1-3). One of the best parts of this game is how amusing it can be. There are a lot of inside jokes throughout the game, and sometimes your sims end up doing very goofy things. It is also fun to role play the different jobs, which is not very hard due to the daily responsibilities and very different play styles between heroes. The only complaints I have are that it is a bit more simplified than I would like. You cannot build the outside of the buildings, which is a bit limiting, and the furnishing options are much more limited than any of the numbered Sims titles. Also, the quests and daily responsibilities can become a bit repetitive; this is the case with any Sims game, but a bit of user creativity can make this weakness a bit better. Overall, I think this game is not as good as it could have been but still quite fun and addicting.