This was a great year for strategy games. While most were just excellent expansions we saw a few new faces. A great strategy game will have a fantastically balanced gameplay economy and an intuitive interface. A great story and memorable characters are a plus but are usually rare in traditional strategy games.

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Fire Emblem is Nintendo’s TBS pride and joy. Awakening pushed itself up and over PC heavyweights due to a fantastic battle system, and an amazing story. The combat was so addictive and fun and full of deep strategy that you couldn’t put the game down. Most of the other strategy games are ones we have seen before and are just better than their predecessor. Awakening is a whole new monster and one of the top 10 best games on 3DS.

Runner-Ups

XCOM: Enemy Within

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StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

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Total War: Rome II

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Civilization V: Brave New World

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