Since I first played Adventure Construction Set on the Commodore 64, I’ve been a big fan of games that let you create your own worlds. The more detailed, the better. After the fourteen-year-old me played through Rivers of Light and dissected it with the editor, I created many an adventure. I assembled fantasy worlds where […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part VII: Construction

So here we are at the fifth part of my series on the elements I enjoy most in games. This time, I’ll be talking about games that allow you to create and customize something. The two games that come to mind as having done this very well are the Mechwarrior series and the old Commodore […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part VI: Customization

This is the continuation of my series on the themes that I most enjoy in video games. Today, I’ll be writing about games that include really good tactical combat. It’s interesting to note that 50% of the games run on Dungeons and Dragons rules, and that 50% of them are turn-based, while the other 50% […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part V: Tactical Combat

In continuing my writing on a year-and-a-half-old Blogs of the Round Table topic, I come to the subject of gameplay variety. I wrote about this topic myself roughly a year before it came up on BoRT, but it may be time to revisit the subject. The two examples I like to look at for gameplay […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part IV: Variety

This is the third part in my series on what themes tie together my all-time favorite video games. In April 2008, Blogs of the Round Table covered “Variations on a Theme”, and discussed what themes tie together your favorite games. I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m catching up now. Early on, I […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part III: Atmosphere

This is the second part in my series on what themes tie together my all-time favorite video games. In April 2008, Blogs of the Round Table discussed this topic, and I’m only just now catching up. One aspect of games that I’ve always appreciated is innovation. When a game comes out that does something totally […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part II: Innovation

You may have never heard of Blogs of the Round Table. It’s a cross-blog event that encourages blog authors to write about specific topics each month. BoRT has undergone a format change recently, but I’ve been examining many of the older entries, and in playing catch-up, have decided to begin by writing on the April […]

Read the rest of Variations on a Theme, Part I: Conspiracy