I’ve only spent a few short hours with it so far, but Empire:  Total War has taught me that, no matter how convinced you are it’s a good idea, don’t isolate a line of your musketmen at the top of an overlooking hill when you don’t know what lurks on the other side.  My train-commuting game for this week remains Fire Emblem, and though I still stick by my general desire to keep all units in my army alive, this game seems to throw so many of them at you, and all with no personality or story, that I’m tempted just to say to hell with it and let a few of them eat it.  The further information leaking out from Atlus this week about Dark Spire seems to call out to me, singing a siren song that I will spending a lot of time with… My dramatic retooling of tactics in Fantasy General seems to have paid off for the moment, and I’m actually further in the game than I have ever managed to get before; the imposing fortress at the end of the jungle island lay before, but I am confident my cavalry forces will seize the day.  And finally, in the few spare minutes in between everything else, I started up a game of Master of Magic because, well, that game still kicks ass.

-Joel Haddock