Strategy Games For 2011

It’s a hard life being a strategy fan. Almost every other genre seems to get a blockbuster game every two weeks, and while the rest of you are playing Men Shooting Things In Corridors XIV, the strategy fan looks forlornly at his calendar, counting the days until the gods of gaming deign to notice his desperate plight. This week Stratagems has done the hard work for you, rounding up the top five games to put on the top of your strategy wishlist for 2011, and exactly why you need to have them.

1. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm



This one needs little in the way of introduction, but we’ll give you one anyway - with a story campaign that blew everyone’s expectations out of the water, and a competitive multiplayer that will dominate the genre for well into the next decade, StarCraft II’s first installment, Wings of Liberty, was a big deal. So it’s no surprise that Heart of the Swarm is going to continue that trend - and continue the story as well, bringing us into the Zerg chapter of the trilogy and hopefully more than a few sweet new units along with it (Lurkers please Blizzard, if you’re listening). Of course there’s every chance that Blizzard will be... well, Blizzard, and make us wait until 2012, or even longer, but that’s a risk that most people will happily take.




2. Shogun 2: Total War


There’s nary a strategy fan in the known universe who doesn’t get all misty-eyed at the memory of the original Shogun: Total War, and with Creative Assembly finally unveiling the first glimpses of its long-awaited sequel, it’s soon going to be time to relive those memories of feudal Japanese combat all over again. This next installment promises a number of sweeping improvements, including Hero units and upgradeable generals, as well as coastal landings. Overall though Creative Assembly seem to be playing it cautiously and incorporating the lessons learned from their time spent on the other Total War games into this sequel, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

3. Dawn of War II: Retribution


Boasting not one but two new single-player campaigns, and with one of them being the perennial favourites and my own personal role models the Orks, Retribution is shaping up to be a smashing success for Relic’s consistently excellent Dawn of War series. Details are still scarce on what else the game will offer in the way of multiplayer, though Relic have been taking pains to make sure that everybody knows they’re working on something special, hopefully to rival the Last Stand mode which proved so popular.



4. Age of Empires Online


A contentious inclusion in the list to be sure, but even the most cynical gamer has to agree that taking the proven Age of Empires formula and turning it into an accessible online game has extraordinary potential. A free-to-play business model may cause the lip to curl in distaste for some, but the idea of being able to take my Age of Empires game anywhere and play along with my friends is definitely worth checking out. Although it remains to be seen just how heavily (if at all) they’ll take to the game with a pair of feature-pruning shears, Company of Heroes Online proves that a free model can be accessible and fun without compromising on a core concept. We’ll just have to wait and see.


5. Jagged Alliance 3


One of the most on-again, off-again sequels in gaming history looks finally set to be released in 2011, with new German developers bitComposer Games having secured the worldwide licensing rights to the series from Strategy First in March this year. This follows the news that the long, long, long-awaited sequel had been scrapped again at the end of 2009, and fans of this much-beloved series were probably close to breaking point. No doubt feeling the pressure, bitComposer have assured fans that they are aiming for a release next year and are hard at work making the gun-toting, wisecracking game everybody is hoping for.

Batman Arkham City

Arkham Inmates in His Own Backyard

With last year’s Batman: Arkham Asylum nearly achieving mythical status, receiving the “Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever” Guinness World Record, it’s not exactly a secret that its sequel is fervently awaited. It’s called Batman: Arkham City, and much of the same creative team will be involved, which is always a plus for a sequel, particularly when its predecessor was so popular. Rocksteady has said that Arkham City builds upon the dark, atmospheric Batman mood established in the original. As the title and slogan “Arkham has moved” imply, the scope of the action expands from the constraints of the last game’s insane asylum to the thick of Gotham City.

This is because Quincy Sharp, the old warden of Arkham Asylum, has become Gotham’s mayor, and decides to relocate inmates to a heavily-guarded slum overseen by the dubious psychiatrist, Hugo Strange. Meanwhile, Two-Face, looking to up his badass quotient, decides to publicly execute Catwoman in the compound, hoping to gain the admiration and respect of Arkham’s rapscallions and his fellow villains. Once Batman catches wind of the scheme, he decides to infiltrate Arkham City and save his one-time love interest. With the Joker, Harley Quinn, and Mr. Freeze all slated for appearances, the cast of Arkham City is going to be an all-star one.
In addition to rescuing his girlfriend (or girl-foe), the Caped Crusader is also bent on uncovering the gritty details of Dr. Hugo Strange’s past, as well as his true intentions for Arkham City’s inhabitants. The sequel’s story seems fairly complex, and Rocksteady says that there will be more plot-fueling interaction between Batman and villains, not just back-and-forth pummeling.

Part detective, part tech hound, and part ninja, Batman utilizes the same combination of gadgets and martial arts he did in the first installment. In fact, you’ll start the game with all the items you acquired in the last game, and some of them will even have different or added properties. There’ll also be new ones like smoke bombs and tracking devices. A notable difference in the battle system will be glorious group brawls, with more enemies attacking you at once than in Arkham Asylum. In this way, you’ll get the sense that Arkham City is the African savannah of Gotham, with ferocious packs fighting to claim turf and Batman just voluntarily wandering in. He’ll be able to taunt enemies and even bust down walls, giving players the element of surprise over their adversaries.

But make no mistake, it doesn’t sound like the game will be using action and battles as crutches. This time, we’re promised more puzzles and opportunities to actively help Batman figure things out and solve problems. The Riddler’s challenges are back, but tougher, and we’ll be able to interrogate enemies, access a criminal database, analyze radio frequencies, and assist Batman with forensic reports. Trophies will also be more difficult to win. However, Detective Mode, a skill Batman used in the previous game to locate hiding spots, enemies, and secret goodies, will be altered in Arkham City. Rocksteady recognized players relied on it too heavily, so its usefulness will probably be toned down this go-around.
Supplementing the main adventure are side-missions for the supporting cast, like the dagger-happy serial killer Victor Zsasz, who’s scarred with self-inflicted tally marks representing his victims. He also appeared in the original game and will reportedly be one of a few characters whose points of view are represented throughout Arkham City. With DC Comics writer Paul Dini returning to pen the game’s story, we can likely expect another rich, quality plot.

There has been no word on any sort of online play or multiplayer modes, however. If included, they’d run the risk of making it feel tacked-on, like so many games do with multiplayer modes. But if single player is anything like the one in Arkham Asylum, we probably don’t have anything to be worried about.
Finally, several voice actors have confirmed reprisals of their roles in Batman’s latest gaming adventure. Mark Hamill stars as the Joker (he says this’ll be the last time he’ll play the role), Kevin Conroy as Batman, and Wally Wingert as the Riddler.
Arkham Asylum left some pretty massive bat boots to fill, and it looks like its sequel is going to have no problems stepping up to the plate. An official release date has yet to be confirmed, but we’re told Batman: Arkham City will hit stores sometime fall 2011.