I recently found on an “abandonware” site a game that I hadn’t played in a decade. Neither Lords of the Realm II or my recollections of it have aged in the slightest: I love the authentic medieval setting and I still enjoy trashing an enemy’s counties while his army chases mine. I still enjoy sending childish missives to other counts who will react to the category of the letter (for instance “Compliment”) regardless of its actual content (for instance “you look and smell like a rhinocerous”), and I still really enjoy pressing the “mop” command when I have five hundred peasants and eight hundred archers on the field against his three pikemen.
Lords of the Realm II consists of two parts – the empire builder and manager (which is turn based) and the top down battles (which are played in real time). Sadly Lords of the Realm III tried to blur the boundary by making the empire building part real time and so forcing the player to sit and wait for up to five minutes while he watches his army doddle from one side of the country to the other. There were other faults, but the end result was that the Total War series of games knocked its socks off.
But that’s not an issue for us gamers any more because Lords of the Realm II is still the game it always was. The success of Sonic the Hedgehog, Worms, and Street Fighter II on XBox Live Arcade show that it’s not just a few nostalgics killing a few hours – these games are still worth playing.
And always will be.
John
john@inx-gaming.co.uk
I got Sonic the Hedgehog 2 back in the day around the early 90′s,actually it’s my first video game to play.This game is so fun and easy to play,I always thought Sonic games have the best music,its so addictive.The levels are really fun and have different creative enemies.One thing about this game I didn’t like is the boss(Dr.Robotnick) at the end is hard,the reason it was so hard is that I forgot how to beat him,and he was harder than the first game.
Things in Sonic 2 that improved
1.Sonic has a spin move,he didn’t have it in the first game.
2.The levels are shorter,two levels instead of three levels,its too long with three levels.
3.lives are easier to get,Ive got seven lives on the first level.
4.The bonus levels are more fun than the first game.
5.Tails is in the game and and you can play him with second controller.
6.The enemies are better and more creative
I would recommend this game if you like platform games and have a Sega Genesis,if you don’t already own it.This game is alot better than the first one,but the first one is really good too.Other games that I recommend are Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic 3.