Ok, well over the last year or so I've been all about RTS's. Gaming seems to go with one genre for a few years, for the longest time I can remember PC gaming was all about FPS's with Quake, Doom, Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty, but recentally its been all about RTS's. So here's my list of most played and most loved RTS games.
5. Starcraft
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Now this dosn't go very high on my list for a number of reasons. Back in the day when this launched, and even with the launch of Brood War I never played SC. I'd heard of it but was too busy in FPS's and any RTS game I played was one of the many C&C games from Westwood. But with the recent anoucement of SC2, and the hype arround it I deceded to download SC and Brood War from the Blizzard store and have been playing through the single player. This was where I discovered that I'm really not about the single player RTS experiance anymore. While the single player missions where pretty good, pretty hard and long with the story being told with cut scenes and ingame voice over aswell as the breifing room I really just didn't care all that much and just wanted to see what crazy shit I could build. I tried the skirmish to try and check out the tech tree of each race, and it just was impossible for a n00b SC player to get anywhere as the AI will apprentally only attack you, and rush you at the soonest possible moment, which ends up being a very frustrating experiance. I've not played it online becasue without any friends that play it, I cant imagin I will do much better.
4. Command & Conqure 2: Tiberan Sun
This is again a pretty old game, but is one of the best RTS's out there, this shows off what Westwood could really do. Not only did they build on C&C1 they added countless new units and structures and the graphial jump was huge (although granted it was relised along time after C&C1). Its maps where huge and had bigger battles that alot of current RTS's have. Its one of the best looking 2D RTS's to date.
3. Dawn of War
Ok, I'm not a fan of DoW2 but DoW is one of the most fun RTS's out there. Its mechianic of capturing nodes was pretty fun and can be very fast paced. It also had a very low camera which meant it was very easy to micro manage huge forces in intence battles. Its also one of the best games to use races from Games Workshop which when I was a lad was all I cared about (sisters of battle hell yeah!). It even had an army painter which allowed you to make your side have the most repulsive battle colours, which was really... very cool.
2. Demigod
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This game rocks. It would be number one if it had more support. Yeah I know thats a little unfair as its a brand new IP from a company with a small gaming history but thats just how it is. This took the idea of DoTA and made it AWSOME. Every game is like an entire game of Diablo, but with co-op. AWSOME! I also love the fact that the game comes DRM free, and then when I got the Retail and download version of the game I got 2 serial keys so I can give it to a friend if I wanted! And I've not even mentioned the best bit... you can play as a massive upgradable castle with legs that can absorb buildings and thats armed with a massive hammer of dsetruction, a catapult, a light tower and a shoulder full of archers!..... AWSOME!
1. Red Alert 3
At first, I didn't like RA3 at all, infact I hated it and I hated EA for killing Westwood studios. But, the more and more I played it online co-op or 'deathmatches' the more I loved it. You really have to let it grown on you before you'll get it, and even more so if you liked RA2 (which I did, alot). EA and whats left of Westwood really have taken Red Alert where it needed to go, and instead of it being a C&C3 clone with diffrent units its a totally diffrent game thats heavily focused on the micro and small scale battles. But, if your handly with your reasouse managment you can still achive massive armies. Not only this but EA actually seem to give a shit about support, which from what I can tell, is a 1st! Who knows what the future brings for RA3, all I know is they keep making it more and more ballanced and keep on updating the C&C site, which is all good as far as I'm consered.
- Original War
- Ground Control
- Antaeus Rising
- Imperium Romanum
- Celtic Kings
All chosen on the basis of 'fun' had while playing. If I had to choose a list of the 'best' games in the genre, it would look differently. (Although Starcraft and C&C Generals would still make the top five.)
1. Starcraft / Brood War
This game ate up years of my life. It's still the best RTS I've ever played. Great singleplayer campaign, great multiplayer. Unmatched polish.
2. Dawn of War
Not as revolutionary as sometimes claimed, but a still very fun game. I usually dislike games with low lethality -- this is the exception. Expansions slowly declined in quality. Much better than the sequel. Vibrant modding community.
3. Dark Reign
Classic, Command & Conquer-style gameplay combined with unique factions and placed in an engaging sci-fi universe. Plenty of interesting unit mechanics. Also experimented with sophisticated unit-AI settings.
4. Command & Conquer: Generals
EA's concession to Blizzard's dominance in the RTS genre. Easily the best out of all the EA-made Command & Conquer titles. The expansion broke the balance, but remained plenty of fun. Has an extremely vibrant modding community as well.
5. Sins of a Solar Empire
Fully deserved its accolades. The best space empires game in a while. Excellent support. It's good to see a team of developers stick with their game instead of rushing towards a sequel.
Special mention. Battlezone
This would have been a sentimental choice. It was the game that introduced me to the genre. That said, it's still one of the better attempts to make an RTS/FPS hybrid. Plus, what better enemy than the Russians?
Games that almost made the cut: Command & Conquer, Emperor: Battle for Dune, Red Alert, Red Alert 2, Sim Ant, Warcraft II, Warcraft III.
Top 5:
1. Dawn of War (with expansions): One of the best video game ever made. Every single mechanic--including squads, leaders, morale, cover, animations, the resource system, etc.--works beautifully. Also, the game has a great deal of personality.
2. Battle for Middle Ear th 2: Fantastic skirmishes and good use of the Tolkien material. I wish that more games would copy its create-a-hero system.
3. Rise of Nations (+ expansion): The best history-based RTS game available. Takes the Age of Empires formula and improves upon it.
4. Age of Empires 1&2: pure classics.
5. Dragonshard: An extremely under-rated RTS game based upon the Dungeon & Dragons license. I really wish that this game had generated a modding community.
Honorable Mentions:
--Warcraft 3: great campaign, but just didn't hold my interest long.
--Universe at War: diverse factions and great gameplay, but another game that never produced a viable modding community.
--Demigod: well, it really depends on what happens next with this game. A great expansion which adds more demigods, maps, and items could propel this game into my top 5. Actually, a strong modding community with some ongoing developer support could do this.
1) Lords of Everquest
If we are able to lump Real-Time Strategy with Real-Time Tactical games, then here's my list:
1. World in Conflict
3. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War (Dark Crusade)
4. Sins of a Solar Empire w/ Entrenchment
5. Company of Heroes
I loved UaW but found that it was to buggy for me, the big walkers would always get stuck on stuff. Also the elf like faction was very limited, I could tech up very fast then spam the 2 best units all day long.
I have played that too and also really enjoyed it.
Oh, in my first post forgot about that one.
I played it too, and new it was a great game after the first mission to recover the "Hot to be a good NPC" book Hilarious, and one of the first ones to incoorporate RPG with RTS in a very interesting compelling way.
1. Rise of Nations - Hope they make RoN 2!!!!
2. Age of Empires 2
3. Age of Empires 3 ( I would drop the game because the random maps and map sizes left much to be desired; however the game play is just too good.)
4. Sins of a Solar Empire
5. Imperium Galactica II (Wish Sins would have taken a few ques from planatary management and ground battles)
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