I managed to pry myself away from NHL 11 this weekend to focus on some free games instead.
First, I downloaded the Civilization V demo through Steam. After playing 100 turns I can pretty much agree with what everyone else has been saying about this turn-based strategic thinker" "Daaaaaaamn!" Civ I was one of the first PC games I ever played at 15 years old and I thoroughly enjoyed it to the tune of at least a dozen completions. Civ II was a huge leap forward in technology and strategy from its predecessor and I burned through it at least as many times as well. I recall briefly giving Civ III a shot but at that stage in my life I was in total MMO/MUD mode, so I didn't really play it much. Civ IV and Revolutions were completely off my radar.
I really like a number of features I haven't seen before, including: ruins, city states, water resources, border expansion, workers, the hex grid, generals (and other special people), unit spread vs. unit stacking, city defenses, and social policy progression. I was thoroughly impressed with Civ V and nearly bought the full version as soon as my 100th turn was completed.
Second, I installed League of Legends. So far I've only run through a few co-op practice matches vs. bots, but I think it's necessary to get a feel for the game before subjecting yourself to the potential punishment of PvP. I've picked a different summoner in each of my three matches in order to learn their strengths and weaknesses and learn the ropes of team play.
My third match was by far the best. It was two of us vs. three bots and we beat them in 32 minutes. We would have done so sooner if my partner wasn't afk for 25% of the match! I think everything clicked well because we were playing two AoE classes. He was the female archer with minor CC effects and a big cone shot and I was the female pirate with massive AoE/cone burst damage. Timing our AoEs perfectly, which was a bit harder since we weren't in vent, often laid waste to two enemy summoners within the circle/cone along with their entire army.
LoL is a pretty cool game and I look forward to playing it a bit more. I think I'm going to stick with it for the time being since it's free, while waiting for Civ 5 to go on sale. I'd buy Civ 5 in a heartbeat if I hadn't just bought NHL 11. The hockey game still has plenty of play left in it and, unfortunately, I only have so much time to play and it can't be split between three titles.
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