Recent reviews by coldboot

In my opinion, this is the most revolutionary leap forward ever made in the RTS genre. Nothing else comes close.

Learning lessons from their past games (Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander), the developers have reinvented this style of RTS with a completely new paradigm: inter-planetary warfare, which means spherical maps (no hiding in corners), and the ability to destroy entire planets. In this new spiritual successor, the interface and economy have both been streamlined and simplified, while still keeping to their original spirit. The elimination of micromanagement has been a fundamental design goal from the beginning, and the developers have largely succeeded.

One of the most significant features is the Chrono Cam, which gives the ability to jump to any point in a replay, or even a game that you're still playing. You can go back and forward in time, and even play the game in reverse. It's seamless and works extremely well. This Chrono Cam, in its entirety, is something that no other game studio has ever made.

The game can be difficult at first, and there is a high bar for multiplayer gameplay, but there is an excellent integrated replay system that will let you watch anyone's games, even the top-tier ranked games, so you can improve rapidly.

The interface is extremely powerful, which moves the emphasis away from micro-management to macro. This gives the greatest thinkers an advantage over the fastest clickers. This focus separates this game from most other real-time strategies, making it more about higher-order planning than quick reaction time.

The strategies can get quite diverse with 4 "planes" of combat: Land, Water, Air and Orbital. I often end up fighting battles on multiple planets simultaneously in bigger games, but if this isn't your thing, you can limit your play to small single-planet systems.

If you liked Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander, but are looking for a game with the potential for longevity, you'll find it here. If you've never heard of those games and are in to the RTS genre, you'll find this completely different from anything you've seen before.

I've been waiting 15 years for this game, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.