Today, I completed the last campaign from Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. This so called Battles of the Conquerors wasn't really a unified campaign like the other ones included in the game. Instead, it was a series of historical battles played out in eight individual scenarios. I played them chronologically: Tours (732), Vindlandsaga (1000), Hastings (1066), Manzikert (1071), Agincourt (1415), Lepanto (1571), Kyoto (1582), and Noryang Point (1598). I really enjoyed the variety of these scenarios. Playing everything from French and English to Japanese and Korean to Vikings kept things very fresh. The game was not only fun but quite educational as well.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and The Conquerors will be staying on my hard drive for a while. It is an absolute classic and certainly one of my all-time favorites.

They don't make 'em like they used to. Thankfully, that isn't entirely true. Last Monday, I registered a terrific shareware game. The game was Midnight Mansion by ActionSoft. After reading the stellar reviews and briefly playing the demo, I knew that I had to buy it. The game is a good old-fashioned 2D platform game in the style of Montezuma's Revenge or Dark Castle. I remember having a great time playing Montezuma's Revenge on my IBM PC many years ago. Mignight Mansion is every bit as good as I remember that game to be. The graphics may look dated to some. However, I feel that the artwork is very effective in its cartoonish style. The level design has been top notch so far. I've completed three mansions on the easy level so far and have a lot more to explore.

I have been in the mood to play some old classics. One game that I really loved was Myth II: Soulblighter. I feel that it is one of the all-time greats. I played the Linux version that was ported by Loki Software. Now that I am on the Macintosh platform, I haven't had the opportunity to play Myth II in several years. However, the fine folks at Project Magma have continued to keep the Myth series alive. They update the code and maintain versions for several platforms. Earlier this month, they release Myth II version 1.6. You can play it on the Mac full-screen or windowed and it now adds native Mac OS X map-making tools. I transferred the data files from the Linux version to my Mac and installed the Myth II 1.6 package. It runs beautifully. I can now play this old classic on my Mac with OpenGL graphics cranked up to 1680x1050 resolution on my Cinema Display. Myth II never looked better.

Another classic that I always heard great things about was Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters. I never bought it but really wished I had. Like Myth II, I have been given a second chance to play this timeless game on a modern system. Star Control II lives on as The Ur-Quan Masters on Sourceforge. It is a free download and includes elements from both the PC version and the 3DO version. There are even additional music and voice packages you can download. The original game came out in 1992. However, this version is updated and can run in resolutions up to 1024x768, full-screen or windowed. I am currently playing it in that resolution in windowed mode. I must admit it is one of the most addicting games that I have played in a long time. I have already invested quite a few hours into it. At this point, I am probably midway through the story. I will post more about it when I get a bit closer to the end.

A little over a week ago, I bought Pangea Arcade. Pangea Software had a February Fun Sale for one weekend only. They offered all of their downloadable games for only $9.99 each. I couldn't pass up the deal. It is a nice package that includes three different games: Firefall, Warheads, and Nucleus. The games are done in a retro arcade style updated with modern graphics and sound. I do miss a lot of the great coin-up games from the 1980s. Pangea Arcade is a fitting tribute.

Firefall is a pretty straightforward version of Centipede. Warheads is a modern update of Missile Command, one of my all-time favorites. Nucleus is like Asteroids but with a twist. Your ship has to build atoms by collecting electrons. Once you collect the required amount and bind them to the interstellar nuclei, it collapses into a singularity and creates a black hole. It is enough of a change from Asteroids to make the gameplay seem fresh again.

I own several Pangea games. They all have very good production values for games developed by a small, independent company. As with Nanosaur II and other Pangea titles, Pangea Arcade supports 3D video with anaglyph glasses. Considering the fact that these are old style 2D arcade shooters, the 3D is not really required. However, I must say that the effect looks very cool with Warheads.

Yesterday afternoon, I finished up the Montezuma campaign. Although most of the civilizations in the game have much in common, the Aztecs were somewhat unique. They did not have any mounted combat units of their own. Without cavalry, knights, and so forth, the battle tactics required were a bit different. The Aztecs had very nice ground troops, however. Between the Eagle Warriors and the Jaguar Warriors, the Aztec infantry was a match for anyone. I enjoyed the story line from the campaign quite a bit. It followed actual history pretty closely. Montezuma died during the campaign. The story is actually narrated by Cuauhtémoc, Montezuma's successor and the last of the true Aztec emperors. As Cuauhtémoc, I was able to rewrite history and drive out the greedy Spanish led by Hernán Cortéz.