The Lost Art of the Strategy Game
Remember the days not so long ago when the strategy game genre overflowed its bounds? Those days are sadly gone...and according to my sources in companies they show no signs of ever returning.
Over time a pure strategy game has become rarer than an earthquake in Minnesota. First the genre evolved into two sub-genres. Real-Time strategy games, which have no turns, and Turn-Based strategy games, which do use turns. Well now, other than on the computer, the only strategy games that we seem to see at all on consoles are Strategy/RPGs, an odd, yet wonderful, blend of strategy games with role-playing games. And we do not even have any of them on the Dreamcast.
I’ve talked to some people at Koei about the future of the strategy game emphasizing my focus on the Dreamcast. I have received a lot of no answers to my questions on their famous strategy and historical simulation series. The only definite answer is that there will be no continuation of the Aerobiz series at this time. Bad enough that this series, one of my all-time favorites, will not be continued on the Dreamcast, but not on any console is too much.
From what I understand, Westwood Studios has no intention of making any more Command and Conquer or Dune games for any console. They will remain PC exclusive series for the rest of their duration. That leaves out two more excellent series that will never see the light of day on the Dreamcast.
And now, with Sega becoming a third-party developer, surely some companies that were going to make strategy games for the Dreamcast never will. Those companies do not want to go down with the ship. And, you know what? I can hardly blame them.
Let’s run down the list of strategy series, and see if there is any possibility to show up on the Dreamcast. We’ve already talked about Koei’s many series and Command and Conquer, and Dune. Nintendo seems to own the rights to Star Craft and has good ties with Blizzard. EA does not develop for the Dreamcast, and they own Maxis, the creators and developers of all of the ‘Sim’ games, ranging from Sim City to Sim Safari, so they will not ever be seen on the Dreamcast. Age of Empires is owned by Microsoft, so I sincerely doubt that they would put those games on any console but the X-Box. The Civilization series, and Sid Meier’s other series, have not been seen on a console since the mid-nineties, when Civilization II appeared on the PlayStation. While it would not surprise me to see a Sid Meier game on the PlayStation II, X-Box, or the Nintendo Gamecube, it does not really look like any will be appearing on the Dreamcast. And there is always Warcraft, but that series is washed up, and perhaps it is even over.
So what does that leave us with? The Tycoon series. Railroad Tycoon, Airline Tycoon, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. While the latter two are excellent games, Railroad Tycoon and Railroad Tycoon II are rather boring. And sadly, Railroad Tycoon II is the only strategy game on the Dreamcast today. That game is just not cutting it anymore. Chu Chu Rocket, Sega’s addicting online puzzle game, is as close as you can get to a strategy game after that.
Railroad Tycoon II just isn’t cutting it anymore. Sega needs to drum up some strategy support and fast, since the Dreamcast is fast fading. People may look back on it and call it a one-dimensional system unless something is done fast.
-Matt91486
