A rainy day, for gamers

Games to pass the timer on a rainy day.

As it is getting colder and raining more I started to think of what to do on some of the rainy days ahead, after a while I decided that I would play some of my favorite games that are good for longer gaming sessions.
It's always fun to go back to old games so i thought i would play some games that are in a series so there is the old and new.

CIV (Sid Meier’s Civilization)

For those who haven’t played any of the civilisation games they are a turn based strategy game with the aim of building up a civilisation, starting with one city and slowly building outwards and trying to stay one step ahead of your opposition. Throughout the game you will be making quest decisions each helping to get one step closer to the ultimate goal of victory.

You can win the game by eventually whipping out your enemies or through getting to one of the technological or spiritual victories. If you decide to go down the route of war you have to make sure you have enough army units and I would advise to not attack enemies with too many allies.

I think civilisation is a perfect game for a rainy day because you can just get lost in the playing, with having to focus on micro managing so many units and deciding what buildings are best to get next. You end up constantly waiting for something or another to be created, this makes you play turn after turn, and without even realising you can spend hours on end in game.

On CIV you can play single or multiplayer, I think the game is better to play multiplayer with a group of friends. As you start to make alliances and secret plots with different people it adds another layer to think about, rather than playing against just bots.

Although even when playing against bots you can play on 10 different map types with unique terrains adding new elements and challenges to the game. There is also 7 games in the series with the newest addition Civilisation VI added on the 21st of this month.

FTL (Faster than light)

Faster than lighter is another strategy game where you chose from 10 different space ships with 3 load outs each, all with unique advantages and disadvantages. The aim is to work your way through the different sectors of the randomly generated star map while evading a chasing fleet, as you jump to new stars you find other ships that may be stuck and need your help or be hostile towards you.

If you help ships in need you will usually be rewarded however a few ships you help will try to attack you, meaning you need to always be alert and careful of what they say.

Against hostile ships you will have to fight, trying to take as little damage as possible and if you win you are able to salvage the wreckage for parts and scrap. The parts can be added to your ship to upgrade it and the scrap can be used to buy items and ship mates from the shops you come across.

Once you have made it through the star map your final challenge is to defeat the fleets flagship, the flagship is much stronger than any other ship you will come across and is no easy task to defeat.

I think FTL is great for a rainy day because it has so many different ships and variations you can play that you have to unlock, so as you play through you need to try to unlock new ships to play with. Once you unlock a new ship you will always want to play with that ship and defeat the flagship in a new way.

Far Cry

Far Cry is a first person shooter, the series has 8 instalments all based on a similar scenario. The games start with you just getting to an island where you are introduced to the main villain of the story, your main aim on the island is to take down this villain and the infrastructure they have put in place.

You will fight on the side of the rebel group doing missions for them all across the map, it is also free roam so you can explore and do some non-main story missions at your own pace. As you advance you get XP that goes towards you upgrading your character.

As you go through the game you will be liberating new areas, when you liberate an area it will push the enemy away from said part of the map, in areas you liberate there will be people who need your help and will reward you for doing so.

With the rewards you are given you can buy new weapons, parts for weapons and sometimes different types of ammo.

I think Far Cry is a great game for a rainy day because it is free roam so you can spend as much time as you want running round exploring all different areas of the map, which is easy to get caught up in. The fact that you are constantly trying to upgrade you character and weapons also makes you want to keep playing because there is always that next upgrade to get to.

On some of the newer Far Cry games you can also play online in some unique game types, they are usually 5v5 and are similar to capture the flag and domination.

What games do you like to play on days off or rainy days!