Spore

Strategy Breeding/Constructing General

From the mind of Will Wright comes SPORE, a journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space. Begin your odyssey at the dawn of life as a simple microbe just trying to survive, then use the fun, intuitive Editors to evolve the creature from its microscopic origins into an intelligent, tool-using race. Guide your species as it builds (and the player designs) villages, buildings, cities, and vehicles. Along the way to becoming a global civilization you can choose whether to hunt or forage, attack or trade, be nice or play rough. All the action takes place in a huge, lush world populated with creatures evolved by other players and shared over SPORE's central servers. When it's ready, your one-time pond scum launches into space in its UFO on a grand voyage of discovery, planet forming, or destruct-ion. As you explore and play in this limitless universe of unique worlds, your personal Sporepedia tracks all the creatures you've met and places you've visited. Take complete control of your creature's fate as you guide it through the following six evolutionary phases: Tidepool phase: Fight with other creatures and consume them to adjust the form and abilities of your creature. It's survival of the fittest at the most microscopic level. Creature phase: Venture onto dry land and help your creature learn and evolve with forays away from your safe haven. Carnivore or Herbivore? Social or Independent? The choice is yours. Tribal phase: Instead of controlling an individual creature, you are now caring for an entire tribe of your genetic craftwork. Give them tools and guide their interactions as you slowly upgrade their state of existence. City phase: Bring your creatures' race into a new golden era by building up the technology, architecture, and infrastructure of their city. Civilization phase: Once your city is established, your creatures begin seeking out and interacting with other cultures. You can have them do so with an olive branch or a war cry—either way, the goal for your creatures is to unify the planet. Space phase: The time has come to move on to other worlds in your solar system. Make first-contact, colonize, or terraform, then venture further to find other solar systems scattered throughout a magnificently rendered galaxy. A 'mission' structure provides new goals and paths to follow as you begin to spread through the universe. [Electronic Arts]

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - The Grand Tournament

Strategy Turn-Based Card Battle

132 new cards add a cavalry of noble knights, powerful steeds, potent spells, and more to your collection. A new keyword, Inspire, rallies minions to perform great acts of courage as they fight in your honor for a hard-earned victory.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide

Strategy Turn-Based General 4X

After the initial wave of great colony ships departed Earth, the jubilation of humanity was ephemeral. Those left behind fell into a violent struggle over the quickly-diminishing resources on their barren home world. From this tumultuous time, 4 new factions arose. These newcomers were founded not in the idealism of their predecessors, but on opportunism, resilience, ruthlessness, and, most importantly, a commitment to their own survival. Now, many decades after their first landfall on a new planet, the proud survivors of the first expeditions beyond Earth look up to see the skies darkened by a new breed of pioneers. [2K]

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Strategy General

The time of Diplomacy is now over. The length of the war and differing opinions on what should be done to bring the war to an end has led to a splintering of the groups involved. The controlling powers-that-be have exhausted arsenals and seem to have spent all efforts of diplomacy. Trapped in a stalemate, sub-factions have rebelled and split off from the main alignments. Rebellion is upon us.