14 DAY TRIAL // Andrei Dumitrescu: This week has been totally dominated by news coming out of E3, all the big developers and publishers showing off the latest hardware and software. During the weekend, I plan to separate myself from all of it by playing some Hearts of Iron 3 – Semper Fi, the expansion to the grand strategy title from Paradox that arrived in August last year.
The game is now deeper but at the same time more accessible and my objective is to ditch my current obsession with conquering the United States as a continental Germany in favor of exploring a more exotic campaign, that of Japan.
I plan not to engage in any heavy aggression in China, instead upgrading my navy as soon as possible while developing Marines and long range planes in order to take the Dutch Indies and then move to Australia and India while fending off the United States. I will probably fail spectacularly a couple of times until I develop a reliable Japanese strategy, which is quite well as it will totally take over my weekend.
Mihail Cernea: These days, I'll be spending some time playing Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers that I recently picked up from Steam. It's a more streamlined version of the best trading card game ever designed, making it accessible for newcomers, while maintaining the strategic depth that veterans appreciate.
The Challenge mode is especially interesting, as it puts the player directly in an on-going match where they have to win in one turn. It reminds me of a game of chess, letting them assess the game and making decisions about what cards to play and in what order. I like it because it really showcases those perfect moments when a move completely changes the way the experience unfolds, moments that make Magic such a surprising and rewarding title.