Warcraft 3
MostnotabletodayforbeingthepointoforiginfortheentireMOBAgenre,WarcraftIII is alsoaninventive,ambitiousstrategygamein
itsownright,whichtookthegenrebeyondanonymouslittlespritesandintotherealmofcinematicfantasy.Thepioneeringinclusionof
RPGelementsin theformofheroesandneutralmonstersaddsa degreeofunit-specificdepthnotpresentin itssci-fistablemate,and
thesprawlingcampaigndeliversa fantasystory that – if not quite novel – is thorough and exciting in its execution. It also has the best
‘repeated unit click’ jokes in the business.
Rome: Total War
TotalWar’stransitiontofull3Dmarks
a pointbeforethegradualescalationin
complexitythatwouldleadtoEmpire’s
initialinstabilityandthelongstandingAI
problemsthathavedoggedthelatter
gamesin theseries.TheoriginalRome
presentsa simple,compellingimage
ofancientwarfareanddeliversonit
phenomenally.It’sa greatintroductionto
oneofthemostinterestingerasin military
history, and holds up to this day.Warhammer
40,000: Dawn
of WarII
It wastemptingtoputtheexcellentfirst
DawnofWaronthelist,butthebox-
select,right-clicktokillformulais well
represented.Insteadlet’sappreciatethe
experimentalsequel,whichreplacedhuge
unitswitha handfulofrock-hardspace
bastards,eachwitha clusterofkiller
abilities.In combatyoumicromanage
theseempoweredspecialforces,timing
theflyingattackofyourAssaultMarines
andthesnipingpowerofyourScoutswith
efficientheavymachineguncovertoundo
theOrkhordes.Theco-operative Last
Stand mode is also intense.Sins of a Solar
Empire
Sinscapturessomeofthescopeofa 4X
strategygamebutmakesit workwithin
anRTSframework.Thisis a gameabout
star-spanningempiresthatrise,stabilise
andfallin thespaceofanafternoon:and,
particularly,aboutthemomentwhenthe
vastcapitalshipsofthoseempiresemerge
fromhyperspaceabovehalf-burning
worlds.Diplomacyis anoptiontoo,of
course,butalso:giantspaceships.Play
theRebellionexpansiontoenlargesaid
spaceships to ridiculous proportions.TOP TIER