Simulation

Omerta: City of Gangsters is the latest title from one of my favourite simulation developers Haemimont Games best known for their work on the Tropico series. Traditionally, Tropico is rife with political commentary and caricatures of political figures and ideals. Omerta: City of Gangsters on the other hand, is a bit of a different direction for the developer. This time, instead of skewering global politics, Hamimont Games has decided...

An Urban Fantasy Within An Urban Fantasy The Sims has always been about a wish fulfilment of a more mundane sort, although the franchise has occasionally ventured beyond its comfortable suburban neighborhoods to more fantastic venues. This time The Sims 3 gets its inevitable expansion, timed to release before Halloween. It tackles the worlds of Stephenie Meyer, Jim Butcher and Laurell K. Hamilton and brings a vampy,...

Your Name In Garbled Lights It’s getting to the point where it’s difficult to say anything about a Sims expansion because the audience for this franchise is so well defined that everyone has their minds made up. The fans are going to go out and buy the new content regardless, and the skeptical will continue to remain just that. Having said that, with the latest addition, Showtime,...

Variety is generally a good thing in games. Despite popular jokes about MMOS, people generally don't enjoy doing the same thing over and over again. However, there are also cases where you have a variety of things to do – and none of them, except one, are actually fun. Air Conflicts: Secret Wars is such a case. The game...

I’ve never wanted to be a city planner — but then again I’ve never wanted to be a Marine, a ninja or a plumber, and videogames have made those jobs fun enough. A lack of passion for zoning issues, the creation of virtual economies and management of public infrastructure (vote for me in the next municipal elections) made for a few ounces of trepidation as I went into reviewing...

Steel Diver is a new submarine simulator from Nintendo, and it’s not going to persuade anyone to purchase a 3DS. The game is packed with pointless features that mask a stunning lack of gameplay depth, and there’s not nearly enough here to warrant the price tag of a full cartridge. For starters, there’s absolutely no reason for Steel Diver to be on the 3DS. All of the campaign missions...

Cuteness Without CommitmentIn some ways, the original 2006 nintendogs is one of the most diabolical pieces of software ever conceived, perfectly encapsulating the 21st century obsession with total convenience and minimal effort. All the cuteness of a puppy, for all eternity, without ever having to take it to the vet, watch it grow into a full grown dog and ultimately die of old age. It’s the distillation of...

Pilotwings Resort is one of the many cartridges churned out to support Nintendo’s new 3DS, and unlike some of the other launch titles, Pilotwings Resort actually feels like a full game. If you absolutely need to have a 3DS, it’s probably one of your better early options. There are nearly forty separate missions spread across four difficulty levels, and while they’re all relatively short, the game does have some...

The Tropico series has a pretty bizarre history. The first game of the series came out in 2001 and received critical acclaim for its fresh take on the city-building genre. In 2002, Tropico received an expansion called Paradise Island to fix some of the smaller issues with the game. Released in 2003, the second Tropico title is where things get strange. Instead of building on what the...

Soaring through the air at 500 km/h while a pack of Russian insurgents tries their best to send you hurtling towards the ground with their heat seeking missiles sounds like a tense but fun concept. Tom Clancey’s HAWX 2 tries to deliver the excitement of aerial combat, but can’t really seem to get off the ground.Taking control of multi-million dollar aircraft on a series of fictional missions, players are...

With space simulators now practically obsolete, the release of Darkstar One – Broken Alliance should prove as a surprise for followers of the genre. Darkstar One was a PC game from 2006 that's been ported as-is to the Xbox 360, with only an improved resolution to show for the port. While not the finest example of space simulators, Gaming Minds Studio’s, originally Asceron Entertainment, port of Darkstar One...

If you’re familiar with Trauma Center, then you’ll know what to expect from Trauma Team, because it’s basically more of the same. Atlus’ latest Wii offering is another medical simulator that puts the lives of patients in the player’s hands. If you’re not familiar with the series, now is the time to get acquainted. The unique mechanics provide a fantastic alternative to conventional gaming violence, making Trauma...