It seems I have reviewed quite a few pirate themed games during my time here on WingDamage, from ones that fought zombies to ones on monkey related islands. They are a recurring gaming mascot that lends itself well to interesting and colorful character designs.

In Paradox Interactive and Nitro Games’ Pirates of Black Cove, there is certainly not a shortage of wackiness or crazy characters. There is a level of cartoonishness in the writing that lets you know right out of the gate that they were there to have a good time with this RTS/RPG/Navel Combat hybrid (or as the game’s site calls it, “Light Strategy Adventure”).

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On the surface, Fortix 2 seems all too simple. You draw lines to box in areas of the playing field, much like the arcade classic Qix. With a simple concept, it’s all about the execution. With Fortix 2, Nemesys Games executed their simple line drawing concept in such a way that had me totally addicted.

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"Bringing back the drama."

It’s a bit strange to think that Valkyria Chronicles 3 already has a playable demo so shortly after the release of the second game. In fact, when it was first announced, I feared this “annualization treatment” the series seems to be receiving would hurt the quality of the franchise. Fortunately, what I’ve played of the third installment has left a very good impression for the most part.

Valkyria Chronicles 3 actually takes place during the same span of time as the first game. You’ll take on role of “The Nameless”, a squad of outlaws that take on especially dangerous missions. Despite it running in parallel with the original, the development staff considers VC3 to be the first true sequel; returning the series to its more serious tone and story driven campaign.

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I’m not going to lie. Most of the time I spend playing games on my iPod Touch is when I’m either bored waiting in a line somewhere or on the can. This doesn’t so much reflect poorly on the quality of games on the platform as it does on me as a consumer.

On rare occasion, a game for my beloved music/audiobook/podcast machine will come out that is so addictive I actually choose to play it on my couch under “normal” gaming conditions.

Game Dev Story is such a game.

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"Because there's always room for more Valkyria Chronicles."

It’s hard to believe it has been almost a full year since the last Valkyria Chronicles DLC was released. By this point, I had almost forgotten that more was on the way. But when it finally came, I was eager as ever to return to my “Game of the Year” of 2008.

The “Challenge of the Edy Detachment” DLC pack will cost five of your earth dollars and contains six new skirmish battles. Unlike the last DLC involving Edy, you will not be locked into using a specific set of characters. Instead, you’re free to select your own characters from your squad, complete with the levels and equipment set you left them at last time.

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"Good thing this machine-gun/sniper rifle has a flamethrower on the end of it!"

It’s no secret that I love Valkyria Chronicles. Not only was it my favorite game of 2008, it was also my very first review here at Wing Damage. Long have I awaited for the promised downloadable content. Was it worth the wait and, more importantly, the price of admission?

Read on and decide for yourself!

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"Dave's Long Lost Brother"

We all have those games that we miss the first time around. With the busy release schedule of modern gaming, no one has time to play everything. That is why we at WingDamage present to you “Fashionably Late Reviews“. This is our series on games from the current generation of consoles that we may have missed on their initial release, but have gone back to experience now.

“Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution” takes one of the most complex and revered franchises in PC history, cuts out a ton of details, and somehow manages to make one of the best strategy games to ever appear on consoles.

The Civilization games have long been a staple of PC gaming. Attempts have been made to port the series over to consoles before, but it never really worked. On PC the Civ games are very complex and full of all kinds of micromanagement details that just don’t translate well to consoles. Civ always seemed like the kind of game that was just too unwieldy and complex for controllers. You really needed the extra controls that a mouse and keyboard offer.

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"Archer vs. Shark... need I say more?"

Something about commanding units over a miniature landscape in a turn based fashion gets me very excited. In my younger days, I even created multiple tabletop games. I think my earliest attempt involved moving Star Wars action figures around on a paper grid I had spread across the floor. Those basic ideas evolved into a game where both units and customizable elevation were squares of paper placed on a gridded poster board. One of the games I was working on actually used figures made of bakeable clay with their stats carved into the bottom of the base. Yes, I am a nerd.

But when I found that there was a genre of videogames that could do all the math and pleasing aesthetics for me, I was in heaven. Final Fantasy Tactics really helped instill a love for strategy RPGs withing me. From there I moved on to games like Front Mission 3, which gripped me even more. But nothing could prepare me for that fateful day when I would discover Disgaea.

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"I can't see anything with this big gun in the way"

2008 turned out to be a great year for gaming. It seemed like every week there was something both new and notable being released, especially during the holiday season. But there was one shining gem that came out during that flurry of releases that seems to have been skipped over by a lot of people. That game is Valkyria Chronicles for the Playstation 3. In fact, this is what I choose as my 2008 game of the year.

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