Posted November 15, 2009
I bought it in spite of the fact I have never liked RTS games. Not even the earliest ones. At first I thought I'd finally found one I could play. It starts off really good with a strong story element integrated into the gameplay which makes it feel unique. Missions, at first, didn't seem follow the old 'build & conquer' mantra. But by the middle of the game, that takes over. You're forced into new areas where you have to start from scratch and build the whole base over and over again. The story elements continue to pop up, and they are welcome distractions. Some of them are really sweet. Some are kinda mismanaged.
One comes to mind: As the Americans you are in the early stages of building your base when a group of newcomers arrives across the map. The object of the mission changes (which is a good thing). You have to get as many to safety (your base) as possible. The problem is, the entire Russian base is between you. There was no way to get around it. They had to stay there lying low for ages until I could build up my forces and destroy the whole Russian base. I kept having to save and restart when a Russian unit would stumble upon them and slaughter them all.
On the plus side, I really enjoyed the limited number of characters to play with. I really loved the RPG elements increasing their capabilities as time when by. Force conservation becomes a huge issue. You'll begin to build several defense perimiters and reserves to fall back on as retreat becomes the name of the game. It's very hard to actually destroy the enemy without suffering casualties on your side. In that sense, I experienced a sort of meeting engagement frustration. The enemy will retreat too and in order to wipe him out you have to follow, running the risk of meeting his second line troops.
There is a great game hiding here. When I say 'hiding', I realize my objections are completely subjective. After a few levels the base building and resource fetching intrudes too much on the story. For me that takes it from five to four. Oh, that and the fact that the apes kept killing my scientists for reasons unknown.
One comes to mind: As the Americans you are in the early stages of building your base when a group of newcomers arrives across the map. The object of the mission changes (which is a good thing). You have to get as many to safety (your base) as possible. The problem is, the entire Russian base is between you. There was no way to get around it. They had to stay there lying low for ages until I could build up my forces and destroy the whole Russian base. I kept having to save and restart when a Russian unit would stumble upon them and slaughter them all.
On the plus side, I really enjoyed the limited number of characters to play with. I really loved the RPG elements increasing their capabilities as time when by. Force conservation becomes a huge issue. You'll begin to build several defense perimiters and reserves to fall back on as retreat becomes the name of the game. It's very hard to actually destroy the enemy without suffering casualties on your side. In that sense, I experienced a sort of meeting engagement frustration. The enemy will retreat too and in order to wipe him out you have to follow, running the risk of meeting his second line troops.
There is a great game hiding here. When I say 'hiding', I realize my objections are completely subjective. After a few levels the base building and resource fetching intrudes too much on the story. For me that takes it from five to four. Oh, that and the fact that the apes kept killing my scientists for reasons unknown.