Poll: Which strat game to play now?

[wyvrn]

While I am waiting for Warcraft III to finally make it to the shelves, I am going through gaming withdrawal. I am trying to decide between AOE II, Ground Control, TA: Kingdoms, Starship Troopers, Warlords: Battlecry, and Red Alert 2.

I like the 3d graphics of Ground Control and Starship Troopers. However, ST lacks a multiplayer mode which seriously sucks. And GC looks like a mechwarrior game, which less RTS and more plain shoot 'em up.

AOEII looks fun, but I couldn't every really get into the first AOE. Too much micro-management, it was too much like CIV (which is not my piece of cake).

TA: Kingdoms looks pretty interesting but most reviews rip the gameplay and specifically the AI. And the diff. races all look the same (which was my main gripe with the original TA). That being said, I still enjoyed the original and still play it from time to time.

Warlords:Battlecry looks really good and the introduction of heroes looks interesting, not to mention the plethera of races. What I am worried about is that all the races will play nearly the same, just have different names. Could this really be as good as Starcraft?

Red Alert 2 looks fun, although basically a Red Alert upgrade. The graphics are dated (as with all Westwood RTS), and I absolutely hated Dune.

Anyone got any opinions/experiences they wanna share before I plop down my 40 smackers? Or do you have a RTS that you want me to add?

 

[outeredge]

From what you have listed and what you have said about your experiences, I would suggest Ground Control.

AOEII is much like AOE, so if you did not like the micromanagement, you may encounter the same troubles. Kingdoms has its charm, but is dated by now and can get repetitive. Its main worth is a strong and unique single player game. For me, Battlecry was not all others said it to be. It had its moment, but has not made it into the CD drive for months. RA2 is again much like it predecessor, so if you liked it, go ahead.

I give my vote to Ground Control for its beauty and fun. It is certainly not a mech game as you control squads of troops. No need for resources, but it does require tactical thinking. Plus, Sierra has an offer for the expansion, Dark Conspiracy, for the price of only the shipping and handling.

For others, I would suggest Sacrifice for a unique and fun experience, and Homeworld: Cataclysm for a strong story and solid play.

 

[Sunner]

I want WarCraft III!!!

Seriously, I've tried just about every RTS thats been released the last years, being a big RTS fan.

But in all honesty, nothing has even come close to giving StarCraft a match.

 

[wyvrn]

Thanks for the replies, I will have to give GC a serious try. I am one of the weird ones that likes resource management, just not too much of it. But the graphics in themselves should be worth the price of the game. Anyway, my wife bought Warlords:BC for me last night and it should make it to the hard drive tonight. I like Gamestop's policy here in Dallas, I have 3 days to try the game and return it if I don't like it. Hmm, maybe I will try all the above this week

 

[nekulturny]

I still love the original TA. I bought Kingdoms thinking it would be at least as good, whoa was I disappointed. The multiplayer wasn't that good, though the missions were pretty interesting. The final mission in the Kingdoms campaign is one of my all time favorite campaign missions.

I like Ground Control, but after all the TA, AOE, AOE2, and TA:K it's hard to play a game without resources. AOE2 was a huge improvement on the original, and a great game, but still very similar to AOE.

I played the homeworld demo, but I never got into it, so I can't offer much there.

Right now I'd recommend RA2. It has pretty fast multiplay and the campaigns are decent. It fixed nearly all my complaints about the original.

 

[wyvrn]

Hmm that seems to be the consensus. Well if I don't like W: BC then I mayl take a shot on RA2 too.

 

[Chuck]

I'm loosing all my sleep playing Cossacks Demo at the moment. It's sort of musket, cannon, cavalry etc.. era.

http://www.cossacks.de

I'm finding just the demo addictive.