Bytten

In a sea of casual games and 10 minute wonders, it's so refreshing to get to review a game like Age of Fear that is just chock full of great gameplay, two well fleshed out and interesting campaigns, loads of re-playability and clever yet underused concepts. Another game that was a real pleasure to review. A game that made me think hard about the strengths and weaknesses of my units and featured a competent AI that beat me enough that I couldn't just cakewalk through the game. The turn based gameplay encouraged the player's use of intuition without the need for immersion killing hexes or squares.

The whole creation just felt like a labour of love; the developers making the kind of game that they wanted to play - that makes a huge difference. A sequel is in the works right now and I'm hoping that it's as good as the original. I can't wait to play it!

And that concludes the Bytten Ernie award for 2012. Bytten is now ten years old and a lot has changed in games since then. The PC is taking second place to mobile gaming in a big way. Who knows what gaming will be like in ten years. The only certain answer is "different".