THE TURN-BASED GREATS

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS

» One of the more successful spin-offs from the core Final Fantasy series, Tactics created a whole new world along with its new style of play for the franchise. In doing so, it also created a whole new legion of fans for its supremely balanced, nuanced tactical play.

TACTICS OGRE: LET us CLING TOGETHER

» The SNES original was great, the Playstation and Saturn conversions were superb, and the PSP port took things on the road in spectacular style. Years before we had the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, Quest brought us Tactics Ogre. And life was good.

VALKYRIA CHRONICLES

» Eschewing the traditional isometric perspective for an over-the-shoulder view and removing grid-based restrictions, Valkyria Chronicles was taking a risk with the turn-based purists. Fortunately it was a superb little package, well worth a play today.

VANDAL HEARTS

» Back when Konami still bothered making games, it pushed out this overlooked gem on Playstation and Saturn. Vandal Hearts was an intense, gory, tactical delight – and thanks to its lack of rerelease over the years, has settled nicely into the role of rose-tinted legend.

UFO: ENEMY UNKNOWN

» It wasn’t just Japan that knocked it out of the park with turn-based strategy titles – this British-made classic contained all the tactics, depth, and abject terror you could ever hope for in a game about a nigh-on unstoppable alien invasion.