Posted: 10th April 2006 16:09
|
|
![]() |
I'm more of a console/handheld gamer than a PC gamer, but I have to say I love a good RTS. Other than the Civilization series and X-COM: UFO Defense (which are TBS games), virtually all of my favorite computer games are of the RTS genre. So what are your favorites? I'll get the ball rolling by listing a couple.
Starcraft (both the original and the expansion) - Perfect balance. A tech-tree that isn't too exploitable, great unit variety and unit balance between three playable races, and an excellent storyline for an RTS. If you haven't played this game, then you are missing out. I will probably piss myself in excitement when Blizzard announces Starcraft 2. Homeworld - This game is simply overwhelming, not in tactics or tech-tree, but in sheer volume. I've seen online multiplayer maps that take literally dozens of hours to travers from one end to the other with a single unit. The fact that these maps are fully-3D star clusters with beautifully designed interfaces and unit controls make this game just damn awesome and fun to play, massive unit variety and complex tech-trees be damned. The storyline's pretty epic, too, and might be even better in the sequel. Speaking of which, the sequel is more of the same, but still good. Total Annihilation (only the original) - This game has probably one of the least complicated resource management systems ever - any place on the map with metal on it can have a resource-producing building on it, and metal usually takes up 60-100% of a map. Add a hilariously simple tech tree and scores of units for each race, and you have one of the hugest-scale RTS games ever, mostly because they throw the most important limiting factors of RTS games - resource management and tech/production speeds - out of the window. Totally awesome game, but the sequel blows. However, the REAL sequel to this game comes out next year, in the form of Supreme Commander. You see, TA mastermind Chris Taylor left Humongous Games after they finished the first TA expansion, and the series has been terrible ever since, but now he's making SA the true spiritual successor to this masterpiece. Age of Mythology - For some reason the Age of Empires games never did it for me, but this game totally delivered. The fun god-worshipping tech-tree system leaves for a great deal of customizability within three unique races (four in the expansion), but the balance gets pretty lacking, especially once you realize just how powerful Loki-Forseti-Bragi-Hel can get. Still, the mythology fanboy in me is jumps up and down whenever I summon Ymir or crush my opponents with an army of Colossi and Manticores (Hades-Ares-Apollo-Hephaestus is another old favorite setup of mine). Totally worth a buy. So yeah, those are my four favorites, but I also enjoy some Warcraft III and the Total War series. -------------------- |
Post #113639
|
Posted: 10th April 2006 23:02
|
|
![]() Posts: 619 Joined: 2/4/2004 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I play myself some StarCraft and Warcraft III on b.net all the time. Starcraft not so much lately, but I've been playing evrything from TD variation 1 to TD variation 2 on Warcraft lately.. The only other RTS I really ever got into was AOEII, which is still one of the best games I own for my PC. I loved the entire game so much, even if I suck at it. It seemed so incredibly deep and I felt so awesome re-enacting Ghengis Khan through his campaign. So yeah, I basically haven't strayed far from the mainstream, but I enjoy a match every once in a while.
-------------------- "We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox) |
Post #113658
|
Posted: 10th April 2006 23:57
|
|
![]() Posts: 60 Joined: 15/2/2006 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (if you want to play me send me a message)
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Starcraft Warcraft II Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds I dont know if this is considered a strategy game or not but I also play LEMMINGS. Age of Empires Empires: Dawn of the Modern World and thats about it for me. If I think of anything else I ll just add it later. -------------------- "Now! This is it! NOW is the time to choose. Die, and be free of pain; or LIVE, and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories. Your fate is in your hands!" - Auron, FFX "I'm telling you, people who eat pickles are nice people!" --Short Guard, FFIX |
Post #113681
|
Posted: 11th April 2006 01:48
|
|
![]() Posts: 1,488 Joined: 16/3/2001 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote (laszlow @ 10th April 2006 11:09) I will probably piss myself in excitement when Blizzard announces Starcraft 2. I wouldn't go around saving up any piss for that moment. ![]() I used to be real big on RTS games. I've probably invested more hours into Starcraft than any other game I own. There are some good memories of staying up late into the night playing countless rounds of Lost Temple, Hunters, or 7V1 COMPSTOMPLOL ![]() The most recent RTS that I have played is Rise of Nations. It's no Starcraft, but it's worthwhile. I hear there's a new version coming out, so I'll give that a shot. -------------------- I find your lack of faith disturbing... |
Post #113695
|
Posted: 11th April 2006 03:20
|
|
![]() Posts: 524 Joined: 3/9/2002 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I will always like RTS more than RPGs or any other gaming genre, particularly the games that are multiplayer oriented. I am a competitor, and it doesn't get any more competitive than playing real-time against an opponent that has no direct advantage over you from the start.
As far as I am concerned, StarCraft still remains king of the Real-Time Strategy games. It is absolutely perfect, there is nothing wrong with the game whatsoever for its time. A part of me almost doesn't want StarCraft 2 to be made since it would probably lose its perfect state in my mind, but thankfully an even bigger part of me wants SC2 so bad regardless of how it turns out. I've played some Age of Empires 2, and it is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to play it against another person, which would probably have made the game much more interesting to me. But the sheer number of units and siege engines available on the battlefield at any given time is awesome! ....as an aside, I would like to give an honorable mention to WarCraft 2. Those who know me here know I spend a ridiculous amount of time playing games, and yet I'm still not sure I've played any game more than WarCraft 2 (even though that was ten years ago!). I was of the perfect age when it came out where I could enjoy it all day and never stop for any personal responsibilities. I played online back in the days of TCP/IP and had to go to chatrooms just to find a game, but man was it worth it. Oh sure, the units were all pretty much the same, but this was the first time, in my point of view, that a game really transformed the genre to such a dynamic as to open up the market for it and its successors. I'll mention WarCraft 3 only because the storyline was actually not too bad, and the map-making abilities were endlessly fun. But in comparison to the other two games, I've hardly touched this game past the first year it came out. |
Post #113712
|
Posted: 11th April 2006 05:43
|
|
![]() Posts: 1,207 Joined: 23/6/2004 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Warcraft games are pretty cool, though I haven't played nearly as much to actually consider myself a fan of the series, but I prefer that over the Starcraft series.
A PSX game called Unholy War is a REAL cool strategy game that might be somewhat unpopular, but I like that game nontheless. Am I alone on this one? -------------------- "Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!" Seifer Almasy "The most important part of the story is the ending." Secret Window "Peace is but a shadow of death." Kuja |
Post #113719
|
Posted: 12th April 2006 19:54
|
|
![]() Posts: 1,838 Joined: 3/2/2004 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Starcraft, and a bit of WC series, unless World of Warcraft counts.
|
Post #113861
|
Posted: 14th April 2006 20:07
|
|
![]() |
Used to be a pretty big Starcraft fan. The game is probably still the best RTS out there, in terms of balance and strategic versatility. I'm one of the few dedicated Toss players in the CoN, so much so that I'm more or less specialized - my Terran skills are mediocre and my lack of ability with the Zerg is deplorable. I haven't played in ages, mostly due to time constraints and lack of interest. I have just as much fun with an FPS (Counter-Strike) or a fighter (SF3: TS), and it doesn't take two hours to play a match.
Outside of SC, I can't say I'm too attached to the genre. I played Age of Empires back in the day, and a little bit of Rise of Nations when Tom manages to sucker me into it. I also tried a bit of WC3, but couldn't get used to it. I guess I'm waiting for SC2 to rekindle my love for the genre, but it seems to be pretty low on Blizzard's priority list. -------------------- "I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking." ~Dorothy L. Sayers "The truly remarkable thing about television is that it allows several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely." ~T.S. Eliot "Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as reality - in your own mind!" ~ Bruce Lee |
Post #113983
|
Posted: 14th April 2006 22:49
|
|
![]() |
Starcraft, wow. From 7th grade until I got to college I spent ages on this game (always in bunches). There wasn't anything more fun to me, than having me and my buddy make a game named "FFA Newbs!" and then have only 1 other guy. Then we would ally and toy with him but making it look like we were still against each other, or what I liked to do was get into the guy's base and photon wall him all the way to his mins, while my buddy would march an army in from the front. Lol, people's reactions were priceless.
Oh, but I played Warcraft 3 alot as well. Unfortunately, no one else I know plays. If I play anymore, it's just to go into 4vs4's and own people (noobs). I always build a lot of hippogryphs and to me it's just ridiculous how you still have people building mass Chims or something with nothing to protect them. Them's good eatin' for hippos. To me, it feels like no one ever gets better at that game...I can jump right in after 2 months and people are still using the same strategies that never work and are comically easy to counter. For the record, my personal best was winning fifteen 4vs4's in a row. Takes a good chuck of luck, I only had people on my team drop 3 times. And I didn't get hung out to dry by an early bumrush or anything (this happens ALL the time in Warcraft now. People are so afraid of wasting their TP, that they just don't use it until it's too late.) This post has been edited by Tidu-who on 14th April 2006 22:59 -------------------- The clouds ran away, opened up the sky And one by one I watched every constellation die And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star I should've known, walked all the way home To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone -Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You" |
Post #113989
|
Posted: 19th April 2006 18:58
|
|
![]() |
Well, I never really got into the series, but this news will probably be pleasing for some of you: Command and Conquer 3 is in the works. I'm still on the Supreme Commander bandwagon, but C&C 3 is definitely something to look forward to for RTS fans.
-------------------- |
Post #114238
|
Posted: 19th April 2006 20:50
|
|
![]() Posts: 67 Joined: 17/4/2006 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
RTS is my favorite game genre alongside RPG, of course. (NOT MMORPG: played them, hated them.)
I've played Command & Conquer (the original) back in those days. Totally awesome. In fact, the only Command & Conquer game I didn't play was Red Alert (again, the original), 'cause I couldn't find it anywhere. Oh well. I've been playing Age Of Empires since day one, and I loved every one of them. My personal favorite is Age Of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion. I can't get enough of it. Empire Earth is a great game, but (in my opinion) WAY too vast, with too many things. Playing a full game through all of its ages is completely senseless and dull, since by the time I hit the Middle Ages, I'm totally bored and tired of waiting for the good stuff to come. I haven't played Rise Of Nations, though I've heard good criticism about it. As for Blizzard, I love both Warcraft and Starcraft. All of them. Sure, it was a complete change from Tides Of Darkness to Reign Of Chaos, but I liked it. Too bad they now have turned to MMORPG for it (damn them!) That's all I can think of, at any rate. -------------------- "But he's the sort of man who can't know anyone intimately, least of all a woman. He doesn't know what a woman is. He wants you for a possesion, something to look at, like a painting or an ivory box. He doesn't want you to be real, or to think or to live. He doesn't love you..." Alejandro Artiles AKA The Death Knight |
Post #114244
|
Posted: 10th May 2006 17:16
|
|
![]() Posts: 187 Joined: 18/5/2005 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
i like playing starcraft and warcraft and also army men rts, almost any single one i know of and can play they rock
-------------------- Why is it that rpg's are now a dying breed? |
Post #115989
|
Posted: 10th May 2006 17:46
|
|
![]() Posts: 2,098 Joined: 21/1/2003 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I have C&C the first decade, and I'm liking it all. Before I got it though, I had played all bar Yuri's Revenge, Firestorm, Generals, Zero Hour, and Renegade.
I also liked TA, AoE, AoE2 and AoM. However, I also liked Dawn of War for obvious reasons, though I've yet to play Winter Assault. Wondering if I should get Starcraft though... -------------------- "Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato." -George Santayana "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..." -Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony. |
Post #115999
|
Posted: 13th May 2006 12:31
|
|
![]() Posts: 1 Joined: 13/5/2006 ![]() |
I also have the C&C: The First Decade compilation, already had most of them, but C&C: Tiberian Dawn wasn't compatible with Windows XP at all, which is another plus of The First Decade, as it has this game on the disc.
From what I've seen and heard about C&C 3 from E3 trailers and news, the game seems to be heading in a more C&C Generals like approach. This worries me because, although the game engine and graphics will be brilliant (the games engine requires a lot higher specs to handle than that of Quake 4), the atmosphere of the tiberium universe seems to have been lost. For example, in C&C: Firestorm the world was clearly in ruins, and technology was advanced, although somewhat scrappy looking. Weapons such as bipedal tanks where used etc... however from what I've seen in C&C 3 the weapons seem less advanced and more 'clean' than scrappy. Also the effects of Tiberium seem to be less widespread than they were in Firestorm, which is a worry as the leading producer of the game himself said that tiberium has spread much more than in the previous games. Although I'm still looking forward to C&C 3, I don't expect it to do complete justice to the previous games. |
Post #116342
|
Posted: 15th May 2006 03:23
|
|
![]() Posts: 811 Joined: 18/1/2002 Awards: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I've had Starcraft for 5 years and I still play it every once in awhile when Phoenix gets me to play. I played WC2 for a bit and WC3 when it came out until WC3 FT then I played that for a bit. I don't really play the Blizzard games liek I used to.
My current RTS of choice is Rise of Nations; it's the best RTS I've ever played because it incorporates the best of everything. Playing a game of Rise of Nations is like playing three games in a row: a buildup game, an expansion/research game, and a destroy the other team game all put together. It's completely different from Starcraft where it's a "rush early and you win" game and it's different than C&C Generals which is "build some stuff then FOCUS ON ATTACKING" type game. It's a perfect combination of the best of everything! |
Post #116549
|