RTS Game Review
Command & Conquer Series
From Red Alert to C & C 3, i'm seen one thing that goes and one thing only: Speed. In the command and conquer series, speed rules. Let's see, in Red Alert, whether you're soviet or allied, the faster you are at building whatever unit you love so much, you'll end up winning the game. Of course, this is counting in if you and your opponent are the same skill and stuff.
However, the winning strategy for this game was always the APC engineer rush. Why? You just need to build 4 buildings: Refinery, Barrack, power plant and war factory. Then? APC comes out with 5 engineers, rush their base and capture all their buildings and WALAH, you just won the game by selling all your opponent's buildings. Though, this is why players kind of "banned" this strategy when playing. Because it's just too freaking ridiculous. I see little sense of micro in the C & C series, but a whole lot of massing units and then going for the grande finale attack that'll just end the game there and then.
Yeah i know it sounds lame, but that's like how you kind of play it in the C & C series. Though, there's an exception when they introduced Yuri race in RA2. That one you can just play to capture all the enemy's units. It's way more dynamic compared to the other two races. But it's units are kinda weak, so you'd have to be a very tactical person to use them.
In C & C 3, new and improved version of RA2. It add elements from C & C generals to the dynamics that are a little similar to Dark Crusade. Though, i'm not a fan of the C & C series. It started to get kind of boring just rushing after Warcraft III came to be.
Warcraft III
When you hear the word "Warcraft" you'll think "DOTA!". Yeah right, i know a whole lot of people love to play dota, even if they are bloody noobs and just get pawned in the cyber cafes :P. But no offense to those people, it's just a game and having some RTS fun (you wish). :P.
But this game started off with its ladder matches. Though, i've heard critics and fans of the warcraft series become kind of dissapointed because of the new hero system. They say that the hero system completely unbalanced the game, but still it's one of the games that offers a whole lot of micro to be done.
Of the races, i'm absolutely a night elf fan, hehe. I love their heroes because they totally own. A pro night elf can turn his demon hunter into a monster, kind of "you just can't kill it" type of hero if you play it very well. Plus the moon wells are just awesome when defending and regrouping, it makes the night elf offensive a fast regenerative speed. Though, many matches of pros are settled within one grand battle. But, warcraft would be more of abusing the tactics to disturb your enemy's progress rather than total annihilation type of conflict. And, the one rule in wc3 is that numbers are everything, though night elf can be an exception with a pro demon hunter user. A demon hunter with 5 bears with master bear form can really own you. Though, because of the introduction of the hero-is-everything system, wc3 players go on microing to surround enemy units for the kill. It's all about the kill, you get a kill means your hero has extra experience and extra level, meaning extra skill to own your enemy with.
Dark Crusade
I got into this game very recently. Though i managed to pit my way through just enough to go agaist a hard computer, or 1 vs 2 standard computers. I tell you, this game owns any other AI that i've seen before. Brutal enemy in RA from the C & C series is like a standard enemy in Dark Crusade.
Each race has it's own capibilities and strengths. And each race also has it's own timeline sort of thing: meaning start game, middle game and end game. Yeah, i know it sounds a little like chess. Necrons, are strongest in the beginning periods of the game because of their necron lord. This hero is a friggin monster, it can teleport, has extra items for you to get him, one of which is a gay sun burst which blinds all enemies within the AOE. The enemies can shoot, and your units can shred them to bits. The the necron warriors are absolutely free, and have 2 upgrades. Plus, when you capture points, instead of getting resource you increase your build speed instead. It's so damned cool, when you get 100% build speed, your build speed literally owns every other race's speed. Well, maybe except the eldar with their avatar (that thing is gay). However, the necron lord also has an upgraded form. It's called the nightbringer, and is the gayest thing you'll ever encounter in the game. It's like you literally cannot kill it. It has 100% lifesteal of all damage it deals and it's armour is like immune to infantry fire or something. Too bad it's got a duration :P. Plus, they have their monolith that can transform into a mobile monster of firepower. It's blast sends all your infantry flying, and with a few pariah accompanying it, how can you even get close to that thing? Well, you'll most probably wont see it at all because most games with pro necrons can end within 6 minutes.
The eldar are middle game specialists. Why? Their banshee squad, after upgrade and seer council, are things you don't want to mess with. Seer council can see invisible units and banshee squad with upgrade and full force with their commander is a infantry killing machine. Their seer council can literally blow your buildings to bits. Though, eldar players have to play a little tactical in the middle game to hold on because their start is quite weak. At the end, they have that avatar, if you don't count in the nightbringer, this one is the strongest of all avatars. Increases build speed, all units immune to morale, man it's going to be hell of a thing to take down with that seer council and the banshee squads swarming all over the place.
Those are the two races that i'm more familiar with. But the other races are another thing. Though, the end game specialist would most probably be the chaos marines. If you let them get there, you're almost bound to lose to them because of the heavy weaponry rushing tactics. The only way you'll win them is by killing off their melee fighters first, the dealing with all the other stuff. The other stuff, are mostly weak against melee infantry, cept their tanks. But by then you'd have gotten an avatar and wouldn't have to worry much. Oh, their bloodthirster can fly...like the necron lord it's a teleport lolz.
Though, this game requires more tactics and holding on than micro. It's more of using what units to counter the opponent's stuff and winning the game by getting your avatar first. It seems whoever gets the avatar first has a very big advantage. Though avatars require a player to capture relics and these points can easily be captured back by the enemy, so becareful and take special care of them. Oh, defensive structures kind suck in this game, units own them. Though having one or two at the beginning would help a lot for middle gamers like eldar to fend off the initial attacks and buy some time. Though, one thing i admire about this game is the planning that players need to do. Buying enough time and getting the right units is extremely important in this game and it's a heck of a cool strategy game.
Starcraft
It owns!
It's a 1993 game and people are still playing it! It's even in WCG! I love it! Fav race is protoss. I used to use carrier rush, but now i'm combining it with a little defensive first and then rushing with dragoon and carriers. This is one of the most dynamic games i've experienced. There's tonnes of microing that you can do, and loads of fast paced rebuild and attack actions. If you really want to get intense, don't play those webmaps where there's unlimited resource and games can go on for hours on end. Play maps that require expansion and have limited resource. Now that's the kick of it. Cool!
I'm not going to give a huge commentary on this. But it's one game that i would recommend anyone to play.
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