Kickin’ it oldschool

Sacrifice

Genre: Action/Strategy/RPG | Released: 2000 | Developer: Shiny Entertainment

This game’s perfect blend of different genres into one unique and enjoyable package made it an instant classic among those who played it, with many gamers having nothing but fond memories of what was easily one of the greatest games of its release period. The core gameplay involves gamers taking on the role of a wizard who has moved to a world in chaos. Upon arriving at his new home, the wizard encounters the five gods of the land: Persephone, Stratos, James, Charnel and Pyro. The game unfolds as the player chooses to be the avatar of one of these gods at the start of most of the game’s missions. Your chosen god determines the spells that your wizard will have access to in each mission, and there are three different classes of spells that can be cast – creature spells to summon creatures to fight for you, direct spells for dealing damage, and structure spells for building basic structures (like manaliths, from which you get mana with which to cast those ever-useful spells). It’s really not the easiest game to describe, but Sacrifice is an amazingly enjoyable and fantastically unique game that is sure to provide many hours of fun, whether you take it for a spin alone or with a few friends in the brilliant multiplayer modes offered by the game.

-Dane Remendes

Stronghold

Genre: RTS/Management sim | Released: 2001 | Developer: Firefly Studios

Stronghold offers a nice mix of RTS action with plenty of castle management to spice up the experience. Most of you reading this will probably have played either Stronghold or its sequel, but for those who haven’t, here’s some info. Stronghold basically involves designing a castle, from building the walls to forging the industry that keeps it all going, all the while keeping the citizens living within your domain happy by providing them with food and goods that improve their lives. An unhappy atmosphere within your castle walls means that people won’t want to live in your castle/city, leaving you with no workforce to drive your military conquests. See, people are drawn to or forced to leave your castle based on factors like taxes, availability of food, and generally how fun and awesome you are. Depending on your idea of what being fun and awesome means, you could also keep your citizens too afraid to leave by building torture racks and the like. The management side of the game is fairly complex, and it all serves to provide you with the resources to train a massive army and stomp over the opposing players/AI characters by engaging in siege warfare and general ass-kickery.

-Dane Remendes

Giants: Citizen Kabuto

Genre: Action/Strategy/RPG | Released: 2000 | Developer: Planet Moon Studios

Giants: Citizen Kabuto, like Sacrifice, is a melting pot of different genres that does what it does in the most entertaining way possible. There are three races in this game: the Meccaryns (a bunch of trigger-happy soldier types), the Sea Reapers (a race of women who live underwater, most of whom refuse to wear bras in Europe, leading to lots of controversy when the Americans are forced to not look at some blue chick’s nipples while playing the game), and Kabuto, a gargantuan creature that was created by the Sea Reapers to be their protector. Unfortunately, Kabuto goes slightly insane at some point during the game, leading to him transforming from Kabuto the Cuddly Giant to Kabuto the World Destroyer. Players take control of certain members of each of these factions in different sections of the game, and each race offers up its own style of play. Giants offers up lots of action, a sprinkle of strategy (in the form of base building in certain levels) and copious amounts of some of the best humour ever seen in a video game. The important thing is: you get to play a massive blue monster that isn’t adverse to elbow dropping tiny enemies.

-Dane Remendes