Recent reviews by Angry Wizard

It is simultaneously the perfect entry point into traditional war games for players who aren't ready to jump into deep end with Gary Grigsby's War in the East II, and simultaneously provides a daunting and rich challenge for the veteran wargamer. Make no mistake, on the higher difficulty levels your victories will be hard won. Some have criticised the Unity of Command series as being too puzzle like in their game mechanics, that scenarios must be completed in a very specific way. I would have partially agreed with this line of criticism if we were talking about Unity of Command 1, but in Unity of Command 2 there's simply too much of a variety in available tactics, strategic choice and straight up RNG for this criticism to really feel valid. As for those who complain that it's primarily a game about logistics? Well, what's that one quote that's been attributed to everyone from Napoleon to Omar Bradley? "Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics." If anything the focus on logistics and operational warfare is the game's greatest strength, there's nothing as satisfying as achieving an operational breakthrough and seeing the enemy start to wither and withdraw. You're not hard up for content either, they've just about covered every front of the North African/European theatres with DLC and there's plenty of replayability with the alternate campaign tracks. Achieving a Rhine bridgehead and initiating Operation Unthinkable as the Allies in the main campaign is a hell of a lot of fun. Great game, one of my favourites for unwinding and listening to a podcast.

The strongest of the Hitman trilogy with the widest variety in level design/location.

Simply put, one of the best turn-based tactics games in recent memory. It's astounding that such a small independent developer managed to release something as polished and as possessing of as much strategic depth.

I reached a point a number of years back of thinking it no longer possible for me to really be swept away and become engrossed in a game's narrative or worldbuilding; games became funtime winddown activities or mental exercises in systems mechanics and optimization. Videogame stories were great when I was twelve and didn't know better, but after all the novels, films, plays, and poems, they all came off as flat, lifeless, shallow and sophomoric. The Witcher 3 manages to overcome much of the medium's juvenille pedigree and point towards a possibility offering up something really meaty. Between the really quite good character writing and the unusually good voice acting, I actually found myself genuinely caring about the characters and the narrative outcome. I can't think of much higher praise.

That said, I think the real possibilities in game narrative are to be found in procedural, emergent and collective story-making (Dwarf Fortress is the greatest work of art of the 21st century thus far, barring Lasagna Cat).

The only boardgame that lets you trigger a thermonuclear apocalypse by failing to participate in the Olympics, i.e. the most faithful simulation of Cold War era absurdities to ever be produced.

I don't play many shooters anymore, I found that they had started to feel pretty identical, and the gameplay was too shallow, and most posssessed horrid communities (I'd really rather not have some kid yelling "♥♥♥♥♥♥" into the mic, not cool dude). Red Orchestra is different. The gameplay actually requires you to think, take cover, and play intelligently, and the assault/defense gameplay encourages close co-operation and teamwork. A match on a full server is one of the most intense shooter experiences out there. Bullets whiz by your head, artillery explodes around you and you're desperately clinging to a little piece of cover firing shots off at advancing Germans/Russians, you watch as the guy in your squad next to you gets shot in the face as he moves to advance, but then that friendly tank moves into view blasting away the infantry ahead allowing you to charge forward with a hurrah. Capturing a well defended point feels like an actual accomplishment. Plus, the community is friendly and I've yet to have someone yell ♥♥♥♥♥♥ at me over the mic.