The best strategy games

Who was a gamer in the 2000s did not have these things for online games, 100 people on the same map, teamwork and everything. Our internet was bad and our PCs did what they could with the settings of the time. In this world developed a category of games that worked very well and made a legion of fans who follow faithful to this day: The strategy games.

Everyone had a cousin who had the Age of Empires cd to borrow and you install it on your machine, or the college guy who was good at do not know what, etc. In a time when the internet was dialed-and accessible only after midnight-games needed to occupy our time and offer hours of each game. And so it was. How many afternoons playing these masterpieces I quoted here. 

Ahh, and by the way, even if the people will ignore, here’s an initial warning: this is my opinion , based on no question like graphics, intelligence, gameplay, etc. Everything you read is about my experience.

So take a look at the image on the right:

So, here comes another article of discord. This time we will fight to decide which is the best strategy game for PC. Come on:

10 – The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (2004)

Who has never thought about living the adventures of Middle-earth? If you’ve read all of Tolkien’s works, whether Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, watched the trilogies, etc. will enjoy this game In it you live the battles that occurred in the Third Age of Middle-earth, when Frodo receives the mission to destroy the One Ring.

In the game you can control both the good side (controlling Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, etc.) or with the evil side (controlling Lurtz, Saruman, among others). Each side has its specific missions, its heroes – each with different powers for you to mount the most varied strategies – and basic units, update trees, the possibility of creating your own hero, etc.

If you play with the good guys will basically follow the story of the films: Ida from Moria to Lorien, Amon Hen, the conquest of Isengard by the Ent’s, the siege of Osgiliath, etc. Already, if you want to be a villain, you will start with the Isengard tragedy, then you will have the conquest of Rohan for Saruman, the fall of the Abyss of Helm, the death of the kings Eomer and Theoden, etc.

As for the gameplay, the game was a success at the time, because it presented excellent graphics without much effort of the machine, allowing a simple XP with 256mb of RAM to guarantee the fun for hours.

And if you tired of the campaign still had multiplayer mode. Due to success, 2 years later the sequel – The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middlearth II – would be released. The series is considered, until today, the best adaptation of the saga of the Ring for the games.

9 – Age of Mythology (2002)

Released more than 10 years ago, this game came on the heels of the success of Age of Empires II (which is also on our list) and surprised those who would think it would be just a slot machine to take money from fans of the franchise.

 The game has totally changed the original focus of the series by involving mythical beings, gods and demigods, heroes, monsters, titans, relics, etc. And as incredible as it appreciates, did not disfigure the other Age of Empire, instead, created a new segment. The series even gained an expansion: Age of Titans.

In the game you can play with the Egyptian, Greek or Nordic civilization, each with its monsters, heroes, gods, which in turn, each with its powers, advantages and disadvantages, etc. The emphasis in this game is the campaign mode (although it also has the multiplayer) where there are a variety of missions, another positive point, since, the absence of missions is the flaw of its predecessor, Age of Empires II.

8 – Plants vs Zombies (2009)

This game may even be considered rough at first sight, or second, third … but whoever says that he is not worthy to be on the list, or that even can not be considered a strategy game is because he never played PVZ. A game in which you need to cultivate various types of plants to protect yourself from zombies American football players or zombie dancers who want to eat your brain could not give another result but a gigantic success.

You have a series of weapons (in this case plants), each with a different type of powers and effects and you need to organize a strategy to get rid of the invaders (the zombies), who also have powers varied.

After advancing the story you will have access to minigames and other functions, such as the catalog of plants, a winter garden, aquarium, conquests, etc. The title also deserves recognition for being one of the precursors of low-cost games and developed by “small” studios (Popcap Games).

Currently Plants vs. Zombies and Plants Vs Zombies II migrated to Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo’s handhelds, smartphones, etc. In the mobiles, by the way, the games are totally free.

7 – Railroad Tycoon II (1998)

First of all I have to say that I feel a great regret at putting that title in only 7th position. He really deserves more = (

Have you ever imagined running a train company, managing logistics, deliveries, loads, routes, the best way, the shortest, the most efficient, the one that you can connect more loads and deliver in the shortest time and least cost, develop cities and stations, buy and issue shares, hire managers, raise or lower their wages, buy and merge companies, choose which locomotive to buy (dozens of them), avoid indians, cargo thieves, disasters, build bridges and railroads, many) etc? Well, neither did I, but when I played this title it was love at first sight.

This is exactly what you will do in this simulator. There will be several campaigns where you will develop your talent as director of a railway company having to fulfill specific missions is to earn X millions of dollars in such a long time, to reach such city of the country or continent before such date, to trace the route of the candidate for the presidency of the USA so that it arrives in so many places until the election, etc.

Unfortunately the game did not get so popular here, since we were in a time when the pc’s were not present in every home. However, the success outside gave right to the expansion, continuation (Railroad Tycoon III that also is a masterpiece) and until migration for consoles (Dreamcast and Playstation One).

6 – Sim City 4 (2003) – Full cast and crew

Classic of the classics, until I was in doubt which version to put here. I chose Sim City 4, but it could very well be Sim City 3000, 2000, etc.

There is not much to talk about here, I bet you’ve already lost hours creating an efficient transportation system, providing clean water for its inhabitants, building schools, monuments, sights, taxing, fighting Godzilla, landing areas, signing trade agreements, organizing budgets, etc.

In this version EA Games innovated by presenting a neighborhood system that connects your city to the cities of other players online, allowing interactions, contracts, transit of citizens, etc. Another innovation of this version was the My Sim mode, in which you can create a resident and literally “get in your skin”, seeing in first person how public transport, neighborhood, traffic, crime, etc. are going.

5 – Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 (2002)

Another classic from the early 2000s. I’ll bet you’ve already cleaned up a lot of vomit from your park, drowned many sims in the ponds, tossed a few carts from some incomplete roller coaster, etc. Amazing how a game of 32 MB RAM and 250 MB of disk space can be so cool, right?

The version chosen to appear here, RollerCoaster Tycoon II, was the best of the versions. With expansions and dozens of campaigns and missions, the amusement park simulator has hundreds of different decorations and toys, the latter divided among adventure toys, quiet, children’s, observation, roller coasters, aquatic, snacks, etc. And if you want, you can still build your 0’s attractions.

 The game was all nice. Who does not remember the little tunes or the electronic noise every time a customer paid for a toy ticket? Another way that I used a lot was the possibility of creating your map yourself and then filling it with toys, since in the missions the terrain was all rough and with few toys available.

The series still received mobile version, continuation and is with a new version scheduled for 2015. RollerCoaster World will exit for Windows.

4 – Caesar III (1998)

One of the first games to be released with audio and text in Brazilian Portuguese, and look how that was almost 18 years ago!

In the game you play a Roman citizen who starts at the lowest positions of the empire and is receiving missions and promotions (official, engineer, architect, quaestor, procurator, edil, black, consul, proconsul) until you reach the post of Caesar and command the the entire Roman empire. And if you fail the emperor has a guarded place for you as a slave rower in your galleys.

The missions are varied and complex. In the game you will have to worry about several factors, such as: happiness of your people; satisfaction of the emperor with his works; he will have to please the gods by making festivals lest they beg him for plagues; increase wages so that more immigrants move to your city, but of course, you need to take care so you do not have unemployment rate; you can open trade routes, produce what neighbors want to buy and so earn money, buy what you can not import; dealing with the threats of barbarians to their civilization; supply troops to the imperial wars; take care of the plantations so that no one goes hungry, build coliseum, racecourse, senate, barns and warehouses to stock up what was produced; take care of water distribution, health, etc.

Anyway, I think you can see that the game is a complete experience of what an imperial administration should have been like in Rome.

The series appeared in the same time of Sim City, being always made the incomparable comparison. Caesar III was the highest point of the franchise, which with its huge success has even won a new version (Caesar IV).

3 – Worms World Party (2001)

Another title that deserves recognition for its entire series and not just for a name. But, as is the rule of the post, I have to choose only 1, and the chosen was Worms World Party, 2001. Such recognition was given as this was the most bombed in the early 2000s, thanks to the late Kazaa and Emule . Not that I downloaded illegally, of course, but I know several who did.

In this game classic you control ground-to-toe worms with shotguns, carbines, uzis, guided missile planes, grenades, missiles, bazookas, old, flying sheep, holy grenade, teleportation, exploding pigeons, baseballs, viking ax, chemical weapons, ninja rope, etc. and have to destroy the enemy teams.

In classic mode you can play against machine times, against opponents online or even in bizarre missions. The gaming system included a number of unusual hitherto unusual “external” situations that influence what you do. For example, the game has a wind that changes with each round, and it will influence weapons such as bazooka and grenade, making them go further than you want or blocking their respective trajectories. The maps and scenery were also a highlight of the game, since you played at an abandoned house, another time in a castle, or a chicken, a train, cheeses, sweets, planes, etc. All of them entirely destructible. Besides, who does not remember the classic phrases that the worms used when they gave or carried bullets? “Idioota,” “Wait for Me,” or “The First of Many,” and so on.

Today, the main series has more than 2 dozens of titles, apart from the spin-offs and the like, having been exported to the most varied consoles, including laptops and smartphones.

2 – Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999)

The most played online game of all time (of my life). Many lans to be killed against friends with Huns, Goths, Spaniards, Franks, English, Teutonic, Japanese, Saracens, Koreans, etc.

As we said before, when we talk about Age of Mithology, the weakness of this game is the meager missions, but also, in the end, they do not miss much, because online is incredible.

With dozens of civilizations, each with its unique, unique technology tree special units, you can form alliances with friends, clans, group strategies, and rampage with your opponents. Send resources, send troops, ask for help, convert enemies, advance through the ages, steal mines from enemy resources, cut wood to build their houses, mine gold and stones, hunt boars and sheep, explore, create siege weapons, trebuchets , etc.

After launching The Conquerors expansion in 2000. With it, the online became much more fun and the game bombed once and for all. In addition, new civilizations have arrived, such as the Aztecs. And, if you are also a fan of this game, good news: After having a new expansion in 2013 (based on a mod by a fan): The Forgotten; the Microsoft announced a new expansion in April of that year.

It is worth mentioning that this was the first title of success of Microsoft in the world of games, when they did not even think about Xbox and Kinnect.

1 – Medieval Total War (2002) – Full cast and crew

Very prime place, the one responsible for not having a doctorate or rivers of money. The game that consumed years of my life, but best of all. I regret nothing !!

The game reminds you a lot of the war board where you control your pieces and your armies until you conquer the domination of Europe, North Africa and a small piece of Asia. Italian, English, Arab, French, Spanish, Sicilian, Turkish, Egyptian, Byzantine, Germanic, Aragonese, Danish, Hungarian, Russian, Polish. In addition to non-playable factions, such as the Golden Horde and the Papal States.

But why is this game simply the best strategy game out there? Simple, it will probably be one of the more complex games you will play. Within it you will have to take countless criteria into account, in addition to the military issue. For example: You will have to administer taxes from the provinces (each with its own fee), you can assign nobiliary titles to your generals (and thus gain more loyalty from them and give more command to the troops), you can hire mercenaries (but be careful not to fill up your ranks with many foreigners, otherwise you could have a civil war in your empire), ally with other factions, wait the right time and break the alliance, capture enemies in battles and get reschedules (including nobles and a fat amount of florins ), offer your daughter’s hand to forge alliances and merge the succession lines,

Another interesting fact is that historical events, such as the children’s crusade, the finding of a piece of a saint’s bone, some papal measure, a council, Marco Polo’s trip to the East, some rigorous winter, the plague, code of knights, etc. will arise within the game bringing consequences to the factions and provinces where they occur. The units also have this “smart” system. Example: If you dominate the provinces of Scandinavia you can train vikings, a unit that is only “born” there, and that when fighting in open field and plains it performs better than mountainous terrain. Legal also that all units and constructions have a huge descriptive text about their real role in the history of world wars and empires. A real history lesson in the fun way possible. And if you’re wondering if there is any translation, yes! The staff at Game Vìcio did a brilliant and free job for the fans (thank you). 

And this is just the classic mode (my favorite), if you want, there is 3D mode, where each battle of the game for territory can be played as if it were an individual game. In such battles his troops will be influenced by the morale of the general in the field, by the climate, by the terrain, by the events in the field, such as the death or flight of the leader), etc. In this mode the fights will be all on your own, you will define which strategies, where and which squads will attack, etc. Something like an Age of Empires within the Medieval Total War.

The game was the second of the franchise (the first was the Shogun Total War) and with its success gave rise to several other games, creating one of the most famous franchises in the world of strategies, having as later releases: Medieval Total War II, Total Medieval War Rome I and II, Medieval Total War Empire, etc. All with 3D graphics and textures, even on the ‘board’, which displeased me, since it de-characterized the strength of MTW I: the simplicity of the graphics and the complexity of the engine.

However, if you have been in doubt about which version to play and want to accept a tip, there it goes; I strongly recommend that I first test this one that I said here, the classic Medieval Total War I. It will be love at first sight. Trust me. And to conclude, in order not to be impartial, let us briefly speak of the negative point; The Viking Invasion expansion. Much less than expected, because it restricts the game to a few provinces, lacking in various technologies, which ends up impoverishing the final experience.

Map of the Vikings

The game also features a powerful multiplayer, but that (unfortunately for me) only allows online mode when you do the direct battles, not the board mode = (but forget, this is the typical game in which you do not need more nothing or anyone to be happy.