Mister Adequate and I lean toward having a pretty similar taste in games. Oh sure, we have our differences– I grew up a Nintendo kid and he a Sega kid, for example– but by and large, we like a lot of the same stuff. Strategy games, for example. Oh, do we love our strategy games. He’s played a lot more of them than I have, though, so he’s usually the one giving me recommendations. Which I have learned to take seriously. Here’s what’s happened the last few times he’s recommended a game to me:

Civilization IV: “A;GLKHSLKDJF BEST GAME EVER OMG. WHY DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS EARLIER.” 225 Hours played within two months. Several more hours of sleep lost.

Hearts of Iron II/Darkest Hour: “Hmm, shall I troll Poland today, or randomly turn Montana into a huge industrial powerhouse?” Either way, expect lots of Pike hurling insults at the AI, getting excited over tech trees, and ranting about the map.

Europa Universalis 3: “OH MAN IT’S LIKE SOMEBODY ROLLED CIV, AGE OF EMPIRES, AND HEARTS OF IRON ALL UP INTO ONE DELECTABLE BALL OF AWESOME.” Hours of playing as Britain and rolling over other navies with my own.

Anyways, the point is that Mister Adequate recommends me some top notch games. So now at his recommendation I’m going back– waaaay back– in time and playing X-Com: UFO Defense for the first time.

Guys. Guys. Guys.

It’s like… an RTS. And a tactical strategy game. And it’s amazing. AND I CAN ALREADY TELL THAT I AM GOING TO PLAYING THIS AND NOTHING BUT THIS FOR THE NEXT MONTH.