NetStorm: Islands At War is what happens when an RTS refuses to behave like an RTS and, instead of apologizing, doubles down with floating islands, bridge-building, priest-snatching, and the sort of tactical cruelty that makes you wonder whether somebody at Titanic Entertainment had been quietly collecting grudges against ordinary real-time strategy conventions. This is the […]

NFL Blitz is the kind of football game that arrives wearing shoulder pads over a leather jacket, cracking its knuckles at simulation, and daring anyone to call the cops. The version I can responsibly talk about here is the PC release that followed the game’s 1997 arcade life, because that is what the available record

NHL 98 on PC is what happens when an annual sports series stops pretending that bigger numbers on the box are enough and actually tightens the screws. It is not a revolution, and thank heaven for that, because revolutions in late-90s PC sports games usually meant somebody had discovered a new way to make the

If you want a polite hockey game, this is not your stop. NHL Open Ice: 2 On 2 Challenge is what happens when Midway looks at the sport and decides that nuance, structure, and restraint are all somebody else’s problem. The version I care about most here is the PC release tied to the 1996-1997

Panzer General II is the kind of wargame that looks, from a safe distance, like it should be cold, clinical, and a little smug about its own seriousness. Instead, it turns out to be a game about appetite, momentum, and the terrible pleasure of nudging a line of tanks, infantry, and artillery into just the