Act of War (2005)

Well, silly game plots usually make for plenty of fun - I mean if his mate only had an inflatable dinghy it'd just be another FPS. Act of War does have some genuinely interesting features for once, and while the demo was suspiciously devoid of a lot of them and its plot and triggers ran on rails, it was still an okay play for an afternoon and offered some interesting tactics. There's no economy as such, although you have a budget, and the demo only had a scattering of techs to research, nothing but a barracks or two and only two types of infantry and two types of aircraft to build. The air strike system seems to work well, and fighting your infantry across the map building by building was a nice touch. Act of War as a game looks like the missing link between the Modern Day Battlefield simulator and all those sci-fi Dystopic Near Future Ruled by Heartless Mega-Corporations you've probably encountered over the years.

If you're feeling adventurous, you might want to try battling Atari's Flash site for the game, but its an obstacle course. The demo weighed in at a mind-bendingly inefficient 700Mb(!) for a single, heavily scripted, single player mission... There's a huge amount of cut scenes using actors and an endless parade of the glowing green screens with animated HUD graphics on everything. But as I mentioned earlier, think of it as a light airport read (as in light, shallow reading that's somehow 1200 pages long) in Real Time Strategy form, and you probably can't go wrong.

First expansion: Act of War: High Treason (2005)

Second expansion: Act of War: Direct Action (2006)

A Force More Powerful

Developed by BreakAway Games, developers of Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the expansions to Tropico and Civ III, A Force More Powerful is a radical depature from the usual violence prone real time strategy game. It ostensibily covers modern strategy, politics, resistance and liberty, but diametrically opposed to most strategy games, which, when you get down to it, are usually more than silly power fantasies.

This is a game about non-violent resistance to established corruption, tyranny or occupation - and there's not a military adviser, weapon, terrorist cell or any award winning experts on military technology and global conflict in sight. The game models fictional conflicts based on actual events, and offers you, dear player, a selection of tried and tested non-violent strategies to overcome what most games would consider impossible. In other words, peace movements and organised resistance.

For example: an "easy" level is one dealing with old fashioned corruption; where an established and cosy status-quo runs the country (into the ground) while the locals are determined to bring the city fathers to justice. A "hard" level is trying to get a military dictatorship, one propped up by a foreign power with unlimited resources and an interest in your country's internal affairs (not mentioning any names hewre!) to simply respect the results of a democratic election. Between these two are a variety of scenarios involving repressive traditions, segregation, womens' rights and a host of non-violent resistance movements. Scenarios deal with awkward situations where your cause might be unpopular, or the supreme ruler is extremely popular and/or good at winning elections (and/or vanishing people); while your own cause might have to deal with its own violent splinter groups running amuck and playing into the hands of the ruling elites.

Unfortunately, there's no demo, so I can say no more.

Red Alert series

The Red Alert series of games run in parallel with the Command & Conquer series, using the same game engine and mechanics. Command & Conquer dealt with an cartoon style battles between the Global Defence Initiative and the evil NOD. Red Alert dealt with alternative history centred around the Soviet Union and World War II. Both game series were pure cheese, with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

See the Command & Conquer series for full details.

Supreme Ruler series

Supreme Ruler (2005)

Since everything has come apart at the seams, you don't play with countries anymore but portions of countries called Regions. There's over 200 of them: you can, say, pit yourself against small European nations, or perhaps conduct a state sized squabble in the American Mid West. As you annex more territory, you start to create your own newly unified territory. While the military angle is important, you still have to lock horns with your economy, politics, diplomacy, social pressures and formidable AI's playing ambitious rival states. The developers themselves describe it as: Civilization meets Panzer General meets Sim City. It's a pretty apt description. They even claim their kids have had lots of fun play testing it. Perhaps, but Supreme Ruler is a serious contemporary Wargames, and first impressions are of a very complex and detailed simulation that'll spook most casual players. Unless you're a military aficionado, much of it is going to not make much sense because there's a bewildering phonebook of stats, numbers and management options for even your most basic units. Naturally, there's a steep learning curve trying to make learn it all.

It might look static, (and yes - those satellite game maps are full of old fashioned hexes) but this is a proper real time strategy game, complete with fog of war, malleable borders and a lot of small graphical touches. You can adjust play speed or pause it to make your moves - something you'll be doing frequently as you wade through menus and make sense of all your units. There's a passing resemblance to Civilization, but really, Supreme Ruler's ancestors are old turn based strategy war-games like Steel Panthers or the generic Empire Deluxe. Supreme Commander takes old world strategy gaming and drags it into the Twenty First Century with a huge upgrade along the way.

There's a mind-bogglingly huge amount of detail and numbers in this one, and with it a steep learning curve. If you're into something serious about conquering the world, then its definitely worth a look. It'll demand a fair bit of time and involvement (as all these types of strategy games do), but you'll more than likely be rewarded with deep gameplay and considerable depth. Besides, its a strategy game for (gasp!) adults.

Supreme Ruler 2020 (2008)
The sequel is now currently available, featuring improved graphics, features, AI's etc.

Supreme Ruler 2020: Global Crisis (2008)
An expansion pack hot on the heels of the sequel, doubling the number of scenarios, adding units, and all the usual extras. There's a Gold Edition that bundles 2020 and Global Crisis together.

Supreme Ruler: Cold War (2011)
The series goes back in time to the early days of the Cold War, around the time of the Korean War and just before Berlin was split by The Wall. Players get the chance to rewrite history and remold the modern world to their country's world view. Gee, its been a while since an old fashioned Cold War strategy game popped up.

War on Terror (2006)

Developed by Hungary's Digital Reality, this is a global RTS that sounds very reminiscent of Command & Conquer: Generals. Its pits three sides against each other: The Order (as in New World Order, I'm guessing), the World Forces (a sort of amalgamation of the West's biggest heavy hitters) and the Chinese, once again relegated to hostile outsiders. Other than some random disparaging remarks found on the InternetI know absolutely nothing else about this title. I'll have to assume it never had much of a release in the English speaking world.

World in Conflict (2007)

Multiplayer is where this title shines. This is a highly detailed game with many, many details and a lot of graphics to challenge your gaming PC. If you're looking for a contemporary modern war themed RTS, then this is probably the title for you.