14 DAY TRIAL // Andrei Dumitrescu: After a few days spend in the whirlwind of Gamescom, the biggest video game expo taking place in Europe, I am back enjoying the creature comforts of my apartment and playing Victoria II, the Paradox Interactive made grand strategy games that allows me conquer the United States as France and dominate the world as a liberal superpower with an eye towards eliminating oppression and upholding human rights.
The game has some nagging issues and I am eagerly awaiting for the developers to put out the 1.2 patch in order to make it truly great, mainly eliminating the super numerous rebels of the late game and better balancing the economy once a lot of factories are present on the world stage.
But I also plan to take a look at Elemental: War of Magic, the new strategy title from Stardock, a game that is set to offer both freedom and a compelling fantasy world.
And if I have some time to spare I will also take a stab at Mafia II, mainly because I loved the first game and am interested to see what 2K Czech could add to it.
Mihail Cernea: This weekend I'll be having some fun with Elemental: War of Magic and Empire: Total War. StarCraft II and Victoria II really got my strategy mood going and I must say that this is a great time for this types of games, with many interesting releases like Patrician IV and the highly anticipated Civilization V.
I will also be preparing my laptop for the extended leave for studies I am taking to Barcelona. While I will be away for a long time from my gaming rig, I am quite happy that I will get to play more obscure independent titles that I have put off for too much time now. I've discovered that there are many old gems that I have not gotten through yet and that one can quite surprised of what a meager Intel GMA 4500m is capable off.