With Paradox’s main four franchises of Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Victoria and Crusader Kings covering four very different aspects of grand strategy, it can be difficult for anything else to fit in between. EU Rome, Sengoku… even the mod-to-game projects, these’ filler’ titles that have appeared over the years haven’t always been received as well as perhaps they deserved. March of the Eagles is the latest in-between title, an EU/Vic/HoI cross-breed set in the Napoleonic era that has some good ideas, but may be unsatisfying to Paradox veterans.

Ace of Spades is a great little title – occupying a space where Team Fortress 2 meets Minecraft, it’s a fun, fast and frantic FPS that embodies everything wonderful about the indie scene. Taking the very best from Valve’s crazy FPS-fest and Mojang’s limitless imagination, Ace of Spades sees up to 32 people battle it out on a variety of maps and games modes, from standard Team Deathmatch, to more creative/unique modes like Diamond Extraction and Demolition. We check it out.

Paradox are great at championing great niche projects and letting them shine, and A Game of Dwarves is just one of those projects. A management game wrapped up in a fantasy package, it brings back the core-but-not-hardcore management gameplay of the 90’s. The concept of Dwarves is fairly simple – the dwarves were tricked by a group of evil mages and had the stuffing kicked out of them and now, many years later, they want what was once theirs, and they are going to achieve total victory by… digging holes.

Paradox may have had a more modest line up at this year’s Gamescom, but there was still plenty of interesting stuff to see – and all of it new! Apart from A Game of Dwarves, but with the imminent beta we’d thought we’d save ourselves so we could do a proper hands-on session for you. Click through the link for a brief round-up of what the Swedish company has in store for gamers over the coming year…

Whilst it may annoy some of you that Ubisoft seem to be making ‘Online’ versions of all of their major franchises (especially strategy-related ones), for Silent Hunter Online at least it’s probably the smartest thing they could have done with that franchise. After the fourth title-that-shall-not-be-named, and an okay-but-not-as-good-as-three fifth instalment, there wasn’t really much Ubisoft could do with the series — but it’s a series oddly suited to the more casual and ‘paced’ nature of free-to-play games. Joe Robinson finds out more.

Take an MMO. Focus on that bit where you get a bunch of guys together and go raid some dungeons. Remove the rest of the game, and then re-add in a simple but effective hub world for staging said raids – welcome to Might & Magic: Raiders. With Ubisoft really pushing the core Might and Magic franchise over the next year or so, spin-off titles like this have sprung up all over the place — we sent Joe Robinson in to check it out.

Let’s face it – The Cartel was a bit poo. We know it, you know it, and Techland probably know it too. Perhaps then that explains why the fourth entry in their gunslinging series is something a little bit closer to home. Announced last week at Ubisoft’s Digital Days expo, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, is a downloadable arcade title that takes players back to the Wild West, to the time of Billy of the Kid and other infamous figures in ‘Cowboy’ America…

Ubisoft’s Digital Days recently revealed an all-new F2P dungeon crawling-and-building game where you go on a mighty quest for epic loot. The name of that game? Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, of course. Joe Robinson was there in Paris for the reveal, and he explains how it all happened…

With the beta test for War of the Roses now in full swing, we’ve been getting a lot of hands-on time with it – it’s Paradox’s flagship product for this year and the game that they’ve spent the most resources on, ever, and we’re beginning to see why. If you’ve played Mount & Blade (another [...]

Ubisoft are all about Might & Magic this year – from known quantities such as Heroes VI’s first set of DLC and Clash of Heroes on iPad, to newcomers such as Duel of Champions. Amongst the other, so-far elusive new titles is Might & Magic: Raiders — a free-to-play action-RPG based on the franchise that delivers its own spin on the world of Ashan, and is composed of short, episodic bites of gameplay. We spoke to Jean Francios Vallee, Producer at Ubisoft Chandu, to find out more.

Ubisoft continues to try and reinvent the Might & Magic franchise, this time with a cross-platform, free-to-play card game title. Joe Robinson goes hands-on with the game at a special showing in Paris.

Ubisoft felt that they missed the mark with Might & Magic: Heroes VI, and now they’ve got a new developer to handle the first ‘Adventure Pack’ DLC, Pirates of the Burning Sea. Joe Robinson went hands-on in Paris and brought us back this report.