The most interesting thing about Reaper of Souls, the first expansion for Diablo 3, is that it’s an admission of guilt. Blizzard are one of the best developers in the world not only because it makes great games, but because it prods and tweaks and adds to them after release until they positively hum with glory. But Reaper of Souls isn’t a nip here and a tuck there. This expansion is Blizzard dealing with the reality that, in many people’s eyes, Diablo 3 just wasn’t very good. But can it be fixed?

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It’s only been a month and a half since I wrote my mega-preview of Age Of Wonders III and spending around fifteen hours with a review copy of the game hasn’t done a great deal to change my mind about its many merits. It hasn’t extended its tendrils to tickle any deeper fancies either, although I’ll concede that the world is a little weirder and more wonderful than my initial expeditions suggested. I’ve spent many hours with the long-awaited strategy sequel and here’s wot I think.

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“Oh God, it’s like playing League of Legends crossed with Jumanji,” was my initial verdict on Smite. I stand by that assessment but I probably ought to flesh it out a bit in this here Wot I Think piece. Here goes:

Smite is Hi-Rez’s god-themed MOBA. Hang on, are we calling them MOBAs at the moment? ARTS? Lane pushing game? Lords management? Wizard-em-up? Magi-brawler? Five-a-side farming simulator? Whatever your preferred label, it’s Hi-Rez’s take on that genre. You play as one of a pantheon of characters based on the gods of various religions and mythological figures and proceed to do battle across a number of different game modes.

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Echo Of The Wilds is a mysterious game that initially appears to be both a retro-pixel arthouse tenant and a crafting/survival sim. If that were the sum total of its being, Anthony Case could lay claim to have created an accurate container for indie gaming’s most popular current trends. Heck, the difficulty level is high and there’s enough randomisation to claim roguelike tendencies are in play so we could go for a full house. There are even elements of the mighty Going For A Walk genre but what is it really and wot do I think of it all?

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Certain developers stick in your head. The first time I played Radiangames‘ Super Crossfire I thought this is good, looked out for other stuff like the brilliant Inferno+, and eventually found out these neat packages were the labours of one man – Luke Schneider. But disaster struck! Radiangames tried to hit it big with Bombcats, a mobile F2P game, but found only the black dog of rejection and financial ruin! It looked like the end for Luke! Was there nothing to be done? Wait, is that a bird? A plane? No!

POWERPUFF SAVE THE DAY.
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One Finger Death Punch seems like a self-explanatory title. If it brings to mind a game in which many tiny enemies are punched into pieces using a simple control scheme, then you have understood the intent of the title. The left mouse button punches to the left, the right mouse button punches to the right. Occasionally there are swords, bows and bombs. That’s about all there is to it, so why do I not want to stop playing? Here’s wot I think.

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Titanfall is a first-person shooter with a story but no singleplayer mode. That means that if you play its nine campaign maps through, no NPC ever calls you by name as they remind you to reload, no dastardly villain ever traps you in a small container and takes away your weapons, and no scripted sidekick ever makes an awkward joke about why you never speak. Its story and its characters play out as radio plays, picture-in-picture talking heads, and brief pre- and post-mission cutscenes, but in each you’re treated as just another anonymous soldier. You exist only to be shoved out of a dropship in order to fight in brief, 15-minute matches of what are, essentially, dressed-up versions of six vs. six team deathmatch and capture-and-hold modes.
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Turn-based games are the best games. With that fact established, let us acknowledge how unfortunate it is that so many turn-based games focus on a small set of activities, mostly involving military squads, or rapidly expanding kingdoms and galactic federations. Conquest and combat. Qvadriga is different. It is, as far as I know, the first turn-based game about chariot racing in the circuses of the Roman Empire. By breaking a complex and unusual scenario down into a series of tense decisions can Qvadriga find the game at the heart of The Games?

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Infested Planet keeps drawing me back. ‘I’m not ready to write about it. I need to play it more before I decide what I think.’ Then the same thing happens as every other time. I play a mission, and it’s not hard exactly, but it is a slog. It’s a battle of attrition, territory claimed inch by inch against a skittering mass of Starship Troopers-inspired bug aliens. There’s thousands of them, and clearing them away feels like fighting a rising tide with a leaky bucket. I’m sick of it. I’m bored of it. I don’t want or need to play anymore.

Right as I’m about to give up, the tide turns. My five soldiers gain a foothold in the war for the map’s capture points, and I claim enough resources to defend my turf against counter-attacks using turrets. From there, I begin to rapidly advance, pummeling my enemy into submission with helicopter bombardments and rocket blasts. My troops mow down thousands, and it feels immensely satisfying to win a hard-fought battle against overwhelming odds. I’m thrilled by it. I’m confused by it. I need to play more.

This is wot I think.
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It’s time to look at Loadout, the cartoonish free to play arena shooter. What manner of computer japes might be had within?

Let’s see wot I think, below.
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Windforge is an action adventure with a broadly familiar frame: like Starbound and Terraria it’s a 2D explora-ma-jig in a wholly destructible world, though Starbound’s futurism and Terraria’s hyper-nonsense has been replaced with a Verne-esque tale of flying whales and balloon-based battles in the sky. The question is: did it fulfill its porpoise, or did it make me blubber and wail? Here’s Wot I Think.
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