Top 10 Variations of Chess

Even if there are already several strategy video games (especially in PC) that have been developed to have more intellectual gameplays than chess, this timeless boardgame is still as popular and esteemed as ever.   But did you know that there are actually numerous variations of chess out there?  Here are my favorite modified versions of chess that employed a couple of twists to make the game more complex or crazier – hence, more interesting.      

10.) THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHESS

 

Three-Dimensional (3-D) Chess has its origins from the late 19^th century.  It features multiple boards at different levels, on which the pieces could move in three-dimensions.  This variant features different variants itself, but the most popular is the “Star Trek” version.  Star Trek’s 3-D Chess has been seen many times throughout the franchise’s TV series and movies.  Originally intended to be merely fictional, fans developed detailed mechanics to make it playable in real life. 

3-D Chess is probably the most complex chess variant I’ve encountered (yes, even more complex than Quantum Chess) that I didn’t even bother to thoroughly learn the rules.  But this is probably the most popular chess variant out there because of its connection with Star Trek, so I gave it the tenth spot.  And, besides, I have to admit that I also find it fascinating because of its intimidating set-up.     

9.) DRINKING CHESS

 

When I first encountered the image above back in 2011, I shared it in Facebook and jokingly captioned it...

   

So during my research while constructing this list, I was surprised to discover that I was spot on with my jesting deduction. 

8.) PLAY IT BY TRUST

 

This chess variant is developed by Yoko Ono (yes, that Yoko Ono) as an art project.   Both players’ pieces are white.  Therefore, after a few moves, the board gets confusing; the players will have the difficulty of determining which pieces are theirs.  Of course, those with genius-level eidetic memory would be able to play it with ease as if it’s a normal chess game.  But for most players, they must trust each other in determining whose pieces are whose. 

“Play It By Trust” is supposed to serve as a metaphor for the senselessness of war.  Through it, Yoko Ono intended to eliminate the “conflict” in a chess game, rendering the “battle” to eventual futility after a couple of moves.  So – if I get her intentions right – the set-up instead promotes “peace” and “unity” by forcing the players to rely on each other’s memories and honesty if there’s hope of finishing the game. 

It’s either stupid or profound.  Your call.  Either way, it’s truly unique.        

7.) MONSTER CHESS

In Monster Chess (also called Super King Chess), Black has the standard set of pieces while White only has a king and four – sometimes two, sometimes eight – pieces of pawns.  However, White can move two successive moves per turn. 

On paper, Black seems to have the advantage because he has a complete set of pieces.  But White’s “two moves against Black’s one move” function actually can make the game very winnable for him, especially if White plays with eight pawns.   

6.) EXTINCTION CHESS

To win, instead of checkmating the king, one has to capture all pieces of a particular kind of chess piece.  Therefore, he can win by doing one of the following: capturing the king, capturing the queen, capturing the two bishops, capturing the two knights, capturing the two rooks, or capturing all eight pawns.  Since the king is just a normal piece here, the restrictions in castling in check are suspended.  Moreover, a pawn can now also be promoted to a king.  Also, the queen should be taken good care of, since there is only one queen and its elimination would automatically mean losing (unless a pawn has been promoted to another queen prior to the initial queen’s elimination).      

5.) ATOMIC CHESS & STRATOMIC

I will be doing a “two item in one spot” entry here because both variations make an interesting use of a “nuke” option, but in different methods. 

In Atomic Chess, standard board and rules apply.  The twist is whenever a “capture” happens in a particular square, an “atomic bomb explosion” happens; all pieces – whether belonging to the player or his opponent – in the eight surrounding squares are removed from play.  Pawns, however, are immune to an “atomic bomb explosion”, hence, they can’t be removed from play by it. 

In Stratomic (illustration above), the game happens in a 10x10 board.  There are two extra pawns, and, instead of rooks, the two extreme bottom pieces are nuclear missiles (those that look like inverted kings in the illustration above).  A nuclear missile moves and captures one step at a time, like a king piece.  However, a nuclear missile can also be launched.  When launched, it “nukes” – removes from play – the piece on the square it is targeting as well as all the pieces on its eight surrounding squares.  The “nuclear missile” piece is also removed from play after its use.  The king is, understandably, immune to nukes.  There are two prerequisites before a “nuke” can be launched: 1.) a non-pawn piece must have been captured prior to using it; and 2.) the nuclear missile should not be on a “state of attack” – can be captured on the next turn – by an enemy piece at time of launch.  Lastly, pawns can be promoted to nuclear missiles.    

4.) ABSORPTION CHESS

Standard board and rules apply.  But whenever a “capture” happens, the capturer gains the movement ability of the capturee.  Example, if a rook captures a bishop, it can now also move diagonally (basically, making the rook capable of doing what a queen can do).  Or if a queen captures a knight, it is now also capable of executing an “L” movement.   

3.) FOUR-PLAYER CHESS & THREE-PLAYER CHESS

 

The number three spot is for Three-Player Chess and Four-Player Chess – another “two items in one spot” entry.  Sometimes, a few additional rules are applied but they are basically, at their core, three-way or four-way games of chess.  The “multi-player” aspect, simple of a twist it may be, actually enhances the difficulty and stakes.   There will always be “Unholy Alliance” and “Mexican stand-off” aspects hanging on the game.  It really makes the strategizing more complicated and exciting.

2.) BUGHOUSE CHESS

 

Bughouse Chess (which has also been called in other names like Exchange Chess, Siamese Chess, and Tandem chess) involves four players divided into two teams and playing against each other in two boards.  The set-up, as what the above picture illustrates, involves one of the players playing white on his board while his teammate is black on the other board, and the teammates should sit side by side.  Standard chess rules apply.  However, whenever a player captures an enemy piece, he can hand it to his partner and his partner has the option of putting it into play on his own board by placing it on any vacant square.  The team wins when either one of the two players checkmates his opponent or his opponent ran out of time.        

1.) CHESSBOXING

This mash-up of chess and boxing is actually a real sport, with federations and tournaments and all that.  It’s definitely one of the most extreme sports in the world as this taxing sport puts both mental and physical toughness into test.  A chessboxing match consists of 11 alternating three-minute rounds between chess and boxing  – 6 for chess and 5 for boxing (with sixty second breaks between rounds).  This means that after one or both players have exhausted the three minutes in the opening chess round (there is a total of 18 minutes worth of chess time; 9 minutes for each player), they would then proceed to a three-minute boxing round, then back to chess, and so on.  Anytime during the match, a player wins it if he wins in either a chess round (checkmating his opponent, opponent exceeds his time limit, opponent resigns) or a boxing round (a knockout, a TKO).  If neither of the players wins within the 11-round match, the chess game ends in a draw and the one leading in the boxing scorecards is the winner.  If it’s also a draw in the scorecard, the player with the black piece wins (I don’t know why such rule). 

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Top 10 PC Games I Had Played in My Pre-Teens and Teens

In a past list, I already covered the vintage PC games (which run in Windows ’95) that I played during my childhood.  This time around, I’ll be tackling the favorite games of mine during another period of my life – when I was 11 to 16 years old, late elementary to high school.

     

“Top 10 PC Games I Had Played Which I Even Cut Classes For” could be an alternate title for this list.  I was so into them, that I could cut classes so I can play them.  Ah, those were the days.  It was in Grade 5 when I learned to cut classes so I can instead go play PC games in Internet cafes.  And when I was in high school, I was habitually cutting classes to hang out with my high school gang in the Internet Cafes near my school (and when I mean “near”, I mean hundreds of meters away).  Heck, the name of my high school posse was “Cutting Classes Club.”  Boys will always be full of mischief.  LOL.  Thank God, it never really got too serious enough that put our academics in peril (though we got into some minor troubles with our school nonetheless).

Anyway, these are the games that I was so into that I opt to play them during most of my free time, and often even compelled me to skip classes so I can play them.    

DISCLAIMER: Screenshots are not mine.  I just Googled them.     

10.) TEAM FORTRESS

What makes Team Fortressunique from other first-person shooter PC games from Valve Corporation is that there are different playable classes to choose from.  Each class has a different set of unique skills and weaponry, with each class having different strengths and weaknesses; thus, there is a “rock-paper-scissors” philosophy that players had to consider in choosing what classes to play.   There is a need for a team to find the proper mix of classes, to be as diverse and balanced as best as they can be.  This makes the game’s teamwork aspect more cerebral than Counter-Strike.  Nonetheless, despite having a more sophisticated gameplay, Team Fortress wasn’t nearly as popular in my gaming circles as other first-person shooter games like Half-Lifeor Counter-Strike. 

9.) NBA LIVE

 

NBA 2K, in the present, has emerged as the premier NBA video game series, but back in my time, the NBA Live series was more popular.  If I remember it correctly, I started with NBA Live 2003, and the last version of the game that I got to play was NBA Live2007.  I got to play the NBA Live games in both PC and Playstation but I was more comfortable playing it with the former. 

8.) HALF-LIFE

 

Half-Life is considered by many gamers as one of the greatest games of all time due to its mentally stimulating gameplay and brilliant story.  However, my affection for Half-Life wasn’t due to playing through its mission-narrative, where most of the praise is, but in its free-for-all multiplayer option wherein players battle each other, every man for himself, competing who will get the highest kills and least deaths.  I remembered that we really loved the part wherein a red button can be pushed after a period of time, which will start a countdown for an explosion covering the map, and everybody had to race to the bunker since anybody outside the bunker is automatically killed by the blast.   

7.) BATTLE REALMS

 

Despite the bugs, especially the capability to immediately destroy any structure by just selecting it and pressing “Ctrl+D”, Battle Realms was one of my most favorite strategy game to play back then.  Its Asian theme, the colorful variety of units from the four playable factions/clans (Dragon, Serpent, Wolf, and Lotus), the gorgeous graphics, and the multi-linear story of the mission mightily appealed to me.  It was also the first strategy game I played that I had encountered the concept of “hero”-type units, which is a major reason why this game is so memorable to me. 

      

6.) RAGNAROK! ONLINE

This is the first and only MMORPG (massively multi-player online role-playing game) that I got so engrossed with.  I don’t know what is its status now, but when this game first entered the country, prepaid cards are required to play it.  Hence, this is probably the game that has made me spend the most amount of money, for buying the prepaid cards and for paying for the Internet café sessions to play it.  Still, I really had fun with this game.  It was my first experience with MMORPG that I was greatly fascinated with the concept of maintaining a character in a virtual world.  Also another selling point was its animation style: cute, anime-style characters existing in a stunning 3D environment, which I found very appealing and delightful.  Eventually, after some time, I grew tired of the non-linear, repetitive gameplay, plus the expensive cost of playing it, that I quit Ragnarok! completely.         

 

5.) WARCRAFT III

I had never played the Warcraftgames prior this; Warcraft III was my first encounter with the Warcraft franchise.  From the first time I got to play this game, I loved it right away (beating my two opponents during that first game helped much in making me immediately love the game).  It’s definitely one of the smartest strategy game ever created.  Heck, it’s probably even more complicated than StarCraft.  I adored greatly the fantasy world and mythology that Warcraft IIIestablished (which World of Warcraftis enjoying now), and its story (from the campaigns) blew me away due to its depth, awesome characterizations, and superior narrative. 

Most importantly, Warcraft IIIalso served as the platform for the revolutionary game Defense of the Ancients, popularly known as DOTA, which probably has become more popular than the Warcraft franchise itself. 

4.) COUNTER-STRIKE

 

Counter-Strike was arguably the king of all first-person shooter PC games.  In Counter-Strike, players get to choose whether to play for the “Terrorist” team or “Counter-Terrorist” team.  Each round starts with all players spawning at the same time and having the opportunity to buy weapons and equipment (if they survive the round, these are carried over to the next round).  Each team should accomplish its respective objective (depending on the map) or wipe out all of the opposing team’s members to win a round.

3.) STARCRAFT

 

StarCraft is probably the most successful and most famous real-time strategy game ever created.  Along with Counter-Strike, this game was one of the earliest PC games that became popular.  Its sci-fi concept of three races – Terran, Protoss, and Zerg – competing for dominance in that particular sector of the galaxy was very interesting.  It’s as challenging and stimulating as Warcraft III, but StarCraft is higher in this list since it was my first encounter with the real-time strategy game genre of such scope and versatility.  Prior StarCraft, the only strategy games I was most familiar with were turn-based strategy games and simulation games; Metal Marines was my only real-time strategy game experience, and its gameplay is not even close to the complexity of StarCraft’s gameplay.  Hence, my great fondness for StarCraft.    

2.) STRONGHOLD

 

The economic aspect of real-time strategy games, i.e. the gathering and management of resources, are often merely secondary to its army-building aspect – the former being simply a means to accomplish the latter.  It was in Strongholdthat I first encountered a real-time strategy game in which both aspects are equally exciting and important to the gameplay.  Its “mission” feature even had an economic campaign as well as a military campaign. 

Stronghold is set in during the Medieval period in England, in which as a lord, you have to develop a flourishing economy in your land and at the same time build and maintain a strong military.

The game completely charmed me that even when my peers didn’t get into it, I was satisfied of playing it alone.      

1.) COMMAND & CONQUER: RED ALERT 2

 

It’s not the most sophisticated real-time strategy game around, it’s actually quite simple compared to StarCraft and WarCraft III, but it’s my most favorite for I tremendously enjoyed its simultaneously down-to-earth and wacky premise.  It also had Tanya, who was so hot and badass that she became one of my most favorite fictional female characters ever.  Moreover, most importantly, it was probably the PC game in which I was most good at.  So there. 

I have already written years ago an article solely about RA2, so if you want my more thorough insights about it, just go read that.  

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Top 10 PC Games I Had Played in Windows ’95 During Childhood

When I was into gaming, the main medium I played was PC.  And back when desktop personal computers were not yet a household staple as it is nowadays (it was really expensive back then), my family was blessed to have one.  So I get to have the experience of playing PC way ahead of most of my contemporaries. 

The operating system back then was Windows ’95 and most of the games occupy very minimal hard drive space when compared to modern games.  For perspective, consider this: our PC back then only had about 2 GB of hard disk space!  A flash drive has more capacity than that!  

Here are the top ten favorite PC games I played back then…

Note: Some of the games here are still available for free with Windows XP (the OS of my netbook).  While some are available for download in the Internet, which I have downloaded and played again by using Dosbox.  I got some screenshots to use for this list. But there are also screenshots here that are not mine, but merely taken from the Internet.  

10.) HEARTS

Card games on PC were very popular back then.  But my most favorite among them was Hearts.  At first, since I rarely read the “Help” part of a game, I thought that the aim was to get as many points as possible.  It was actually the other way around.  Once I understood the mechanics and the point system – cards belonging to the hearts suite is a point, 13 points for the queen of spade, but you get zero points and your opponents get 26 points each if you get all hearts and the queen of spade in a round – I found the game to be intelligent and addictively fun. 

9.) CASTLE OF THE WINDS

 

Before Diablo II, there was Castle of the Winds.  I remember how easily I got hooked a few minutes into the game.  This fantasy RPG has awesome gameplay (during its time, at least).        

 

8.) DOOM

 

I never get to finish this game at all.  The graphics, by today’s standards, is silly, but I admit that the demons/mutants/monsters/aliens (never bothered to know what were they) that regularly comes out of nowhere freaked me out a lot back then.  I think this was the first first-shooter game that I’ve ever played.   

7.) MINESWEEPER

 

This game bored me initially because I never understood it at first (again, because I was too lazy to read the “Help”).  But there came a time that I bothered to read the instructions so I can comprehend how to play it.  I realized that it was not at all purely about randomly guessing where the mines are (hint: the numbers actually have a purpose).  It also involves plenty of analyzing and quick-thinking (to determine which squares have mines as fast as possible).  And after finally understanding all of these, I found myself spending several hours a day playing it.  

6.) WARPATH

 

This was the best intergalactic-themed PC game that I had played back then.  The game’s aim is to beat your opponents by destroying all their ships or leaving them with no planet left.  In the game, you have to get as much of the planets in the star map on your side, whether you’re good (green) or evil (red), either through colonization of uninhabited planets or investing on neutral races’ planets.  It’s also necessary to earn money, which can be done by means of two things: a) mining uninhabited planets and selling the cargo to inhabited planets; and b) from the automatic taxes of your planets (so, more planets, more income).  The money you earn is used to buy stuff and weapons (remember, it’s a war after all), and for investment on neutral planets to get them to join your side.  It seems complicated at first but it’s actually an easy game to master.  As soon as I got the hang of this game, I easily dominate whenever I play (as shown with the screenshot above).   

5.) SIM CITY 2000

The first simulation game I’ve ever played was probably this one (played Afterlife - a sim game with a heaven and hell setting - back then, too, but if I remembered it right, I played Sim City 2000 first).  I loved the idea of being able to control and design an entire city.  I would also get to play the more modern Sim City game later on, but believe me that I derived more excitement from playing this oldie for the first time than what I got from playing the more advanced version (the novelty of the “controlling a city” concept probably wore off)

4.) CIVILIZATION 2

This is the only Civilizationgame I ever played.  This game was the first of such kind I ever encountered back then.  I found it innovative, very unique, and multi-faceted.  You have to guide your civilization in advancing through history.  You have to choose what technological advances your civilization should pursue.  You have to expand by creating new cities or conquering cities owned by your opponent/s.  You have to consider political and economical aspects.  Sometimes, diplomacy can be used to your advantage.  You can make alliances or treaties.  Building a strong military force is very important.  Amidst all of these, there’s a lot of maintaining to do as well.  You have to keep this cities connected to each other, defended from threats, and amply supplied.  You have to keep your people happy and/or in check.   Etcetera, etcetera.  There are plenty of factors considered in this game, and it’s what makes it fun.  Also, it allows you to live out your world domination fantasies (I was able to build a British Empire that was more dominating than the historical and actual one).

3.) METAL MARINES

This was the game that I played a lot whenever I hang out in my mother’s office (when she was still working) as a kid.  In each level (there are 20), you have to search and destroy the three hidden bases of your opponent before he or she (there’s a female commander) destroys yours.     There are only a few structure options to build in this game that I can enumerate them here.  Interceptor Missile Battery (IMB) defends your island from enemy missile and Metal Marine attacks.  Radars increase the accuracy of IMBs.  Mine fields damages enemy Metal Marines that walk on them.  Gun pods are armored pillboxes that defend your island from invading enemy Metal Marines.  Decoy bases look like real bases to, yeah, serve as decoys.  Camouflage structure hides your base or decoy base.  Logistics and support structures (Factory, Energy Plant, and War Administration Headquarters) decreases construction time, and increases fuel and money production (I seldom build them, though).   ICBM silos can shoot out nukes (but I never make them since they are expensive and fragile).  Missile batteries shoot out missiles.  And, most importantly, Metal Marine Hangars houses Metal Marines – your most valuable assets since they can be used for both defense and attacks.         

2.) CARMEN SANDIEGO GAMES

The Carmen Sandiego games that I’ve played are Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe Edition, Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, and Where in America’s Past is Carmen Sandiego?  There is a variety of themes in each game, but the essential gameplay remains the same: in each round, you have to chase V.I.L.E. agents across several locations; through trivia clues, you can determine what location.  Moreover, you have to determine the proper identity of the V.I.L.E. agent you are chasing so you will have the proper warrant once you caught up to him or her.  If you don’t have the correct warrant, the arrest is made void.  The titular Carmen Sandiego, the V.I.L.E. ring-leader, only appears on later rounds.  I’m proud to say that I’ve caught Carmen in all the games I’ve enumerated (screenshots are shown above).

      

1.) CHIP’S CHALLENGE

My most favorite Windows ’95 game is Chip’s Challenge.  The game consists of more than 100 levels as you control the protagonist, Chip, through them.  In each level, Chip has to reach the respective exit door to proceed to the next level.  He should reach it before time expires, if it’s under a time limit (which is the usual).  The exit door opens when all the needed microchips in that level has been collected, but in some levels, there are no microchips to collect and Chip just needs to find the exit.  Each level has unique challenges and puzzles to figure out.  Sometimes, there are monsters to avoid.  This game involves plenty of analyzing, imagining, and trial-and-error; it really challenges your thinking skills. 

A good thing about this game is the option to skip a level is offered whenever you have failed it too many times over.  By proceeding to a newer thus fresher level, it will prevent you from mentally burning out and getting extremely frustrated because of a level that you are unable to get through.  You can just return to the levels you fail to solve some other time (once you have a refreshed mind).  I think I had solved 75% of the game’s levels.          

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Reminiscing Red Alert 2

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 is my most favorite game during those days I cut classes just to play PC games – in which some days I wait for the internet café to open at 8:00am and play PC games until 9:00pm, without any lunch break or snacks (I would get bronchopneumonia that would ultimately worsen to tuberculosis primary complex because of this practice).  I enjoyed the wackiness of the game, realistic units and scenarios mixed with out-of-this-world units and scenarios.  Actors playing cut scenes and briefs.  Mind controls.  A hot commando beauty.  Suicide bombers.  Time travel.   Battle on the Moon.  Giant squids and dolphins.  Hollywood actors joining the fray.  Just lots of craziness and fun.    Plus, an actually creative and enjoyable story.

 RA 2’s level of strategy is always a welcome break for me from the more complex strategical gameplay of Starcraft (which requires a high level of strategical thinking, as with Warcraft III and Stronghold, two other games I also find requires high level of strategical thinking).  I’m not saying you don’t need strategy to win in RA 2, it’s is just that the strategy and unit management required in Starcraft are more complicated.  You also have to be creative in an RA 2 combat, but there is also a good chance you can luck out a win.

Britain’s Sniper   

    Allied’s Great Britain was my early favorite because of the sniper.  Britain had been always the country I was greatly fond of, thus it was the country I chose in my first RA 2 game.  I was against an AI Cuba (Easy mode of course).  I had scattered my snipers, dramatically putting them beside trees (as if they can be perfectly invisible), some few inches (in my computer screen’s perspective) apart.  The snipers easily took out any advancement of the enemy’s conscripts and terrorists.  I was ecstatic.  From what I remember, I was not able to finish that game since my time was up.  I just spent building defenses and amassing my forces without actually going on offense.
    

The next game, I was now against a classmate.  I pick Britain.  He picked US.  With small groups of snipers, I easily picked off his idle Tanyas and GIs early on.  I won that game, but the snipers were only a small part of the victory. Later, prism tanks and aircraft carriers won that game for me.

God bless Korea – the power of the Black Eagles!!!  Small blitzkriegs.    
    

I had always picked Allied whenever I play.  I find them more advantageous back then and seems to be stronger (that’s before I experience the outrageous strength of a flood of Apocalypses… more on that later).  The Allies have Spy Satellite to reveal the map completely, Spies that are effective against computer opponents (worthless against human opponents), Rocketeers to take down the greatest threat of the Soviet which is the Kerov airship (again, before I realized the wrath of Apocalypses), and the collective strength of Prism technology.  So I had alternated between the Allied countries whenever I play.  Then, I started to lean more on France (Grand Canon) and Korea (Black Eagle).  I found my sync with Korea.
    

Grand Canon is very valuable in defense.  Several of them (I forgot the max) plus prism towers, toss in a few pillboxes to slow down the opposition, makes a base almost impossible to penetrate.  But defense would not win games.   I was more of a “blitzkrieg” guy (the “building up forces before one big attack” philosophy which I do sometimes would take too much time, thus too much money spent for the game.  Small blitz are more effective for me.).  I do small attacks.  Small raids.  I rush early in the game sometimes.  I initiate fast pace games.  I only slow down the tempo when I am a) want to enjoy a long game; b) I have enough money to pay for a long game; and c) I am confident I would win.

But most of the time I have the mentality to make a quick game of it, either from a Grizzly Tank rush (hopefully, would work after the opponent made the mistake of putting his initial free tanks and troops away from the construction yard) or an Engineer rush (the opponent making the mistake of not training an attack dog early).  If not, then I would settle with small raids.  Swarms of Rocketeers, occasional attack of Harriers, small battalions of GIs or tanks (with an IFV with a few engineers in it; an opening might happen for a “capture building, sell” move), etc.  Whatever it takes to harass the opponent; delaying his training and building of units and buildings.  Each raid should at least do small but significant damages that would put the opponent out of his equilibrium (an addition of trash talk to psyche him out would give extra help).  Later on, these small raids had done the collective damage.  Not enough defenders to fend off those Rocketeers or tanks I sent as each one dies I already sent another one to replace it.  Already too delayed and forces too weakened, the continual pouring of Rocketeers/paradrops of GIS/tanks would finish the opponent.    So with this kind of game mentality, the Black Eagle was suited for me.         

And boy how I love what the Black Eagles can do.  Tougher and stronger than Harriers, they can do quick damages with quick coordinated raids.  I usually have numbers 6 to 0 of the keyboard as five squadrons of Black Eagles.  Often, the enemy would just surrender after receiving too much damage (and delay) or his Construction Yard got destroyed from Black Eagles.  Some opponents would concentrate too much on land defenses that air defenses are so weak, thus easily exploited from a swarm of Black Eagles squadrons.  At the start, these raids only consists of 4 or 8 Black Eagles, continuing the air raids as soon as a casualty is replaced and the remaining planes reloaded.  Later, I would have squadrons swarming (as I’ve said “numbers 6 to 0 of the keyboard”) the enemy base coming from different directions to evade anti-air units’ damage of the enemy.  If this attack is successful, the Construction Yard and the War Factory or Baracks would simultaneously be destroyed.  Assured victory.  If the enemy is still stubborn to give up, more bombings and a final clean-up by my tanks (usually, at this part of the game will only be the first time the tanks would move from camp; in my “Black Eagle” mentality the tanks are for majority of the game just for defense, and a few for small raids if I saw an opening).    Small maps are an advantage to my Black Eagle strategy since they will have shorter trips – quicker return trips and quicker raids.  Moreover, if there are Superweapons in play, the Black Eagles are doubly invaluable.  The downside in Black Eagles are it is difficult to control them when you have to use them against a mass of enemy land units; picking each plane to target a specific enemy unit.

I owe most of my victories in RA 2 to the Black Eagles.  In fact, if I remember it right I was never defeated when I chose Korea in RA 2 (but I have one loss in Yuri’s Revenge while using Korea… because of one stupid mistake in my part that cost me the game, though it still took an hour after that mistake until I was fully defeated).  

As I’ve said I preferred the Allied technology over the Soviet and pick Korea for the Black Eagles to win quick games.  Usually, there are more chances of me getting defeated when the game lasts for more than an hour.  The “blitzing” strategy works for me.  Lightning war.  Constant raids.  Just like constant attacks of Lightning Storms made by the Weather Machine.

Could it be the Reds actually have the advantage?  Isn’t the game called “Red” Alert?
   

 I had always thought that the Allies are more advantageous in short games, and that the Soviet are more advantageous in late games.  But according to Wikipedia: “In general, the Soviet faction is superior in the early game and in land wars because of their very powerful and advanced tanks, while the Allied faction is better in the late game with more advanced units, in naval warfare. In particular, the Soviets are better for early game rushes, which are very common in online games.  The Allies tend to be better at longer games and/or big maps because they are more suited to ‘turtling’ but the Soviets are usually better at shorter games and/or smaller maps because they are more suited to ‘rushing’. While the Soviets are more suited to rushing, the base defenses they have are arguably inferior to Allied ones.”

Hmmm.  Is that so?      Soviet for tank rushes?  There is truth in this. Soviet tanks are tough.  But when a player, using the Allies, effectively builds his defenses early on, any tank attacks can be easily fend off.  I already mentioned that the Allies had stronger defense, and in my experience I used the “turtling” (search the meaning in the Net, if you don’t know) to make the game quick.  The defense is for depleting enemy forces so the enemy starts to weaken and later on wouldn’t be able to fend off effectively my raiding parties, ultimately leading to my victory.  Plus, I had said that smaller maps were to the advantage of my Black Eagle strategy.  And since this strategy works, I often use the Allies (Korea).

And the Soviet are better in long games, as I experienced.  How can Allied units stop more than a hundred Apocalypse tanks backed with hundreds of Terrordrones?  Plus, tens and tens of Kerovs, with more than a hundred Flak Trucks closely near them to defend the Kerovs from racketeers?  Even if the Allies has also more than a hundred Prism Tanks (though it would insure victory if you ever reach the enemy’s base since Prism Tanks are very effective against buildings, but you have to pass the Apocalypses and Terrordrones first) and Mirage Tanks and IFVs, the Soviet’s toughness would win.  Hundreds of units I say?  It is not at all impossible in Red Alert 2, as long as you have the resources.  There is a technique that would allow you to build units and structures real quick.  No, it is not a cheat.  I only learned this in high school when a friend and I saw someone doing this technique.  Of course, I would not reveal the secret here.  But believe me, hundreds and hundreds of units is possible in a long RA 2 game.

So with this new revelation, I started to appreciate the great advantage of the Soviet – the Apocalypse.  In long games, the Apocalypse is unstoppable.

That’s why when we played later on, we always prefer the Unholy Alliance.  Thus, we both have Soviet and Allied advantages.  Build hundreds of units before finally battling it off.  Such games took hours, with no clear winners.

Yuri’s Revenge

   The gameplay gets more complicated in the expansion pack.  Yuri is outrageously powerful.  The Allied finally have the Battle Fortress to make the Soviet’s Apocalypse puny.  Guardian GIs are great upgrades that you can now do with just a few Rocketeers.  Soviet has Boris to the Allied’s Tanya. 
  

 I had two losses to a friend in Yuri’s Revenge.  This friend I had once beaten three times with my “blietzkrieg” strategy (Rocketeers swarm, Black Eagles raid, and a Conscript counter-attack after his unsuccessful Rhino Tank rush) in 20 minutes.  The first loss with him was my first loss while using Korea.  Indeed, I was cocky on that first loss.  I made a long game out of it, instead of striking fast as I usually do.  I was confident I would win.  But I made the mistake of pressing the T button twice.  He dropped some Paradrops of Initiates (he was Yuri) in a blind spot (no defense) of my base.  I intended to press T – to select across screen – on my IFVs.  But I pressed it twice and all IFVs in the map was selected, as I moved them to meet the dropping Initiates.  It left my Construction Yard and War Factory open for his Yuri Prime to control them and sell them.  Thus, I was left with no tank units.  I was left with building troops and Black Eagle raids.  I was still able to “turtle” for more than an hour before being defeated by those Yuri flying saucer units.  Yuri is just too tough.   I won the next game we played, with the same choice of nations, he was Yuri and I was Korea.  This time, I used my “blitzkrieg” strategy to make him surrender.  (Some few games later he would beat me again… with Apocalypses.)

Red Alert 3

Finally, this new game came up to continue the Command & Conquer: Red Alert franchise.  I want to play it, but I had not yet seen it in this parts (Internet cafes here stopped installing new games and just settle with DOTA).   I’ve read the reviews and saw some videos.  Japan’s units – samurais with lightsabers, transforming vehicles, and mecha – are so cool.  Moreover, more cute girls in this game.  It would be nice if I could get the chance to play RA 3.  With the fun I derived from RA 2, RA 3 would probably extend the enjoyment more.  RA is not the most complicated or most challenging game I had played, but it was a favorite because of the level of fun it can give.

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Playing

Playing. It is really fun. I love playing. As the saying goes, "All work and no play..." well you know how it goes. But sometimes I overdo my playing than my working. I just can't help it sometimes. It is actually one of my hobbies.
When I was a little boy, I am often outside our house playing with my playmates every weekend, holiday or free time. In school I played with my classmates. Games such as "patintero", "darakupan", "aragawan base", "taraguan (hide and seek)" and such. And sometimes the harmful, "pellet gun wars".
I was also playing "text","mini-text" and "pogs" when I was a kid. I love collecting those things, unfortunately I gave them all away to my younger playmates when I was in my last days in elementary. I also raced my mini-4 wheel drives when I was still a little child. I had several of them. Unfortunately again, my set dissapeared. I cannot remember where it had gone. I kind of neglected it because my interest in those things grew cold.
I also loved playing with my toys. My radio controlled car, my zoo collection, my wild wild west collection, my mini toy car collection, my war toys collection and such. I really love my toy soldiers, along with the other war toys. They are now retired veterans with pension in my toy box beneath my bed, along with my remaining toys. I still play with some toys, like the radio contolled car. And I display some in my library and room.
Playing sports is also fun although I am not really good at it. I really love basketball. I am not really a good player, but I love it. I am also interested in bowling and volleyball, like my father. I rarely play volleyball and I only played bowling about three times only. I am not good at these sports unlike my father.
But what I really into is the world of "gaming". Like most boys (and a few girls) in my generation, I am a gamer. A gamer is someone who is into video games, either in console, arcade and PC. I am into all three. I am a gamer since elementary. My first exposure to it was with our family "family computer". I really loved playing it but I only mastered most of the games when I reached high school, playing those games in a vcd player. I then began playing arcade games. My favorites were Marvel Vs. Capcom, Marvel Vs. Streetfighter, X-Men Vs. Streetfighter and King Of Fighters. I finished the first four mentioned but up to date, I still cannot master the King Of Fighters.
Then the PC gaming came. I started playing PC games when I was in my early elementary. Playing in our family PC or in my mom's office. My favorite then was "Metal Marines", a hard 20 level strategy game that I was able to finish. But I started playing games in the internet cafe when I was in Grade 5. My peers and I played it almost daily. The popular games then were "Counter-Strike" and "Starcraft". Then the others followed, "Red Alert 2", "Yuri's Revenge", "Half-Life", "Team Fortress", "Stronghold", "Earth Empire", "Battle Realms", "Warcraft III", "Generals", "NBA Live", etcetera. I say "etcetera" because there is really a lot of games I played since then. I was a real gaming addict when I was a in my late elementary. Sometimes I played about nine hours non-stop a day. I finally got sick because of playing PC. I became sick of bronchopneumonia, then it became primary complex tuberculusis because of neglecting my health, my lunch time and heavy dose of radiation. Luckily, I got well after a year of medication.
That is what I got from over-playing. I advice you not to neglect your health just fot the sake of playing. I still pretty much of a PC "addict". I still played a lot of PC games when I entered high school. But I promised not to play so much now. I can control myself to stop, if it is really time to stop. Like when I decided to stop playing Philippine Ragnarok On-Line after I decided it is a game which is really a waste of money when I was in 2nd year. I still play with Ragnarok but in Aero (Asian European Ragnarok Online), which you do not need a prepaid card to play.
Playing is a gift from God. But we should not make it the center of our lives. We should not neglect our responsibilities and priorities. We must not be slaves of the games but masters over it. We can learn a lot from playing. Teamwork, sportsmanship, honor, patience, perseverance and ingenuity are easily learned. Computer literacy, communication with others and socializing are improved when we are playing. Playing is a lot of fun if used properly. A good player never cheats (this does not apply to gamers, as using "cheats" in some games are allowed). Winning is not important as long as you gave your best and had fun. Playing is as important with working. That is why we should all work hard and play hard, enjoying what we do and giving it our best until "Game Over".

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