Recent reviews by Shane Pizza (Ben)

I've been playing games a long time. A long long time. I sat on Dad's lap and played Warcraft 2 when it was new. I remember playing Civ I (barely!) I was part of the generation that grew up using computers a uniquely high amount because they were everywhere but there weren't any phones. My friends and I played Runescape before it was "Old School" (and I love OSRS). We've played League since the beta. We played World of Warcraft before it was classic. Before BC. We played Starcraft and Brood War. We had Halo parties and we stopped playing 007 Goldeneye because a little brother "got to shoot first" and figured out that he should walk to the Golden Gun. One time someone suggested we play Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell at a LAN party and it was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cancer. We've played every Diablo, we've played Path. Balder's Gate Dark Alliance was pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥' cool. I have a favorite Mario Kart. I mained Kirby and then Shiek, then Snake, then Link. I beat my brother at the PS3 MLB game, whatever that was called, quite a lot. Cookie Clicker and No Man's Sky have been hours of fun. I got so close to "Hyper" this season, I'm honestly furious. 50 LP away.

Omega Strikers is my favorite game I've ever played. It's a blast. It's low entry high peak, but friends who are amazing can still play with friends who are barely ok. It's episodic. You don't have to grind 100 hours before you're allowed to play the whole game. It feels high stakes and low stakes at the same time. There's enough snowball to feel like you're rewarded for doing good but not enough that winners usually feel oppressive. The characters are cute and memorable. Emotes instead of typing is INSPIRED. It's just good. It's pure. Player count hasn't really dropped, despite the stopped support. We're gutted that the devs left. But honestly, nothing more fun.

This is at least as solid an RTS as the Starcraft franchise, but with an emphasis on the macro rather than the micro. As such it's easier to pick up and less frustrating. Build order, unit choice, and economy matters more, and micro (though it is important) matters less. After 20 years of playing games, I usually HATE tutorials, but the "Art of War" line is incredibly helpful in gaining real expertise at the game. I've also heard fantastic things about the rather extensive collection of campaigns, and I know people replaying them after loving this game for 15 years.

But the best thing I have to say about this game is it's possible to 3v3 with your friends. Even if they suck. Even if they're awesome. The matchmaking in this game is impeccable. You get steamrolled at times, yes, but there's pretty solid ways to avoid that. You can put the weak player in the safest spot on the map and let him practice and tell him what to build. Your strong players can duke it out at the choke/strategically important points.