Eurogamer writes:
"it's up there with any strategy game released this year, and if you have any affection for the genre whatsoever, you'll adore it. In fact, I suspect it may end up as a minor classic of the genre."
"It takes a while to realise, but the card mechanism integrates tightly into the setting. It's a post-apocalypse game - in other words, about not having much stuff. Once you've gone through your deck of cards... that's it. If a hero's killed in play, they're gone forever. If you only put one enormous death robot in your deck, and he gets turned to bolts, you're not getting another one. This leads you to thinking carefully, both about what units you want to have available, and their fates when you get them."
GamingShogun writes, "Cryptic Comet Inc has released their first mini-expansion to their popular turn-based strategy titles, Armageddon Empires. The expansion is known as 'Tip of the Spear' and features new cards, rulesets, and bug fixes..."
2404 Writes: "It's difficult to have a truly original idea in anything these days (if it ever was easy, I can't say), and Vic Davis, the creator, programmer, tester, maintainer, and distributor of Armageddon Empires, seems to have realized this. So he's thrown out the idea entirely. Armageddon Empires is a game cobbled together, much like a patchwork rifle built from spare parts scrounged from ransacked hardware stores, from the best parts of a wide variety of genres. And the wonderful thing about it is, Armageddon Empires is unique. It's a totally new creation unlike almost anything else I've ever played despite being made from some of the most recognizable (even tired) tropes of strategy gaming.
AE is set in a nondescript post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's a war game, so it has a hex grid and rules to govern supply and movement. It's a card game, so each player has a deck of cards from which they can draw into their "hand" and from there insert into the game. It's a 4x game too, so it has resources, and the player must constantly expand and conquer new areas of the map to secure resources for himself and prevent his enemy from gathering them. There's also a bit of classic turn-based stack maneuvering involved. The way in which players have to group regular and hero units together and move them around the map reminds me of Age of Wonders or Heroes of Might and Magic. This is like Strategy Gaming's greatest hits album, and it's way better than most of their other stuff."
From the interview: "GS) There is a 'Collectible Card Game' aspect to Armageddon Empires, which really adds an additional layer of strategy as well as random chance to gameplay. Are there plans to release 'booster packs' for the game?
VD) Yes, I'm actually wading around knee deep in the guts of the program right now adding code for a free mini expansion pack called Cults of the Wastelands. It will basically be version 1.07 of the game and will let you toggle on a challenge mode of sorts to really up the difficulty. You will face off against some insidious cults that have there own plans for the wastelands. Normally the non-AI players called independents just sit there waiting for you to destroy them and claim their treasure. Not these guys. Pizza will send out for you!"
