Looking for good recent RTS games.

FaintDeftone

FaintDeftone

CAGiversary!
I've been out of the PC scene for awhile and I just got a new computer recently, so I've been wanting to check out some newer RTS games. Can anybody name off some good ones? I already have the following:

Warcraft 2
Warcraft 3
Starcraft
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Command & Conquer: Generals
Dark Reign 2

I'm not too big into the Microsoft RTS games like Age of Empires or Rise of Nations. I haven't played Age of Mythology yet but I assume it's not much different. I'm into the faster paced sort of RTS games, like the C&C and Blizzard games. Anybody know of any newer/semi newer RTS games that I might like? Looking for some more obscure ones that I may not have heard of. Thanks.
 
I'd recommend Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War and it's expansion, Winter Assault. A gold edition containing both comes out on the 28th.
 
I'm a big strategy game player and actually have all the games you have except Dark Reign 2.

Although my only recent strategy game was Civilization IV, which obviously isn't what you're looking for.

IGN's TOP RTS GAMES

LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth 2 - 9.0
Empire Earth II - 8.9
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - 8.8
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault - 8.5
Blitzkrieg 2 - 8.4
D&D Dragonshard - 8.4
Star Wars: Empire at War - 7.6
- While reviewers aren't kind to this game, I've noticed a lot of people really enjoy it. It's a game I plan on picking up but waiting for a price drop (but I'm a big Star Wars buff so I'm a little biased here).
 
Cool, thanks Swingman. I'll check out some of those demos. I didn't like Star Wars: Empire at War very much though.

I just got done playing the Warhammer 40,000 demo and I definitely like it. I'll be picking it up sometime soon. Thanks again for the recommendations.
 
I haven't actually played any of those games, other than the Star Wars: Empire at War demo. I was just letting you know what IGN rated recent RTS games.

Might also want to check out Act of War. I received an 8.5 and was released March 2005. The expansion is about to be released called Act of War: High Treason. Ghost Wars looks interesting but isn't coming til May 2006.

I haven't really seen any RTS games recently that I can't live without. It seems like most of the good strategy games lately have been turn based. Civ IV and Rome Total War last year and Heroes of Might and Magic V coming soon.

My current RTS collection is...

Warcraft II
Red Alert
Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge
Starcraft
Earth 2150
Battlezone 2 (kind of a cross between RTS and action)
Warcraft III
Generals and Generals Zero Hour
 
Its pretty old but check out Total Annihilation, if you like Starcraft and Warcraft (which I do) I'm sure you'd like it. It has pretty good graphics for being nearly ten years old.
 
[quote name='Shayde']Its pretty old but check out Total Annihilation, if you like Starcraft and Warcraft (which I do) I'm sure you'd like it. It has pretty good graphics for being nearly ten years old.[/QUOTE]

I've played TA briefly. It seemed pretty cool.
 
If you wanna kick it old school, and I know you do, dig up Metal Fatigue.

Sweet game. You fight underground, on the surface and in the sky at the same time. You get to make robots from alien technology that are totally customizable- even mid battle. You can rip the arms off defeated mechs and throw them on your bots. You can get a robot with lazers on its legs, rocket launcers on its chest, a 20ft katana in one hand and a plasma rifle in the other.

Its aged fairly well too.

Theres also a fairly new game called Perimeter... its kinda cool but kinda ...lame. You build base units that shift into stronger units. Think along the lines of legos. You build a squad of about 100 single bricks and then you pick a stronger unit type and the merge into that new unit. You can also change unit types mid battle. So you can make all your guys into planes, fly to the other guys base and then turn into tanks. Combat can get troublesome though because you dont control the individual units. You have to build command centers that control one squad. You wind up with 2-4 groups of 200 shapeshifters. (Not as cool as it sounds)
 
Metal Fatique sounds very familiar... I'll check it out. Thanks.

So far Warhammer will definitely be a purchase. I played the Battle for Middle Earth II demo and it seemed fun, but I'll wait for a price drop on that one. It didn't wow me.
 
Age of Empires 3 is quite good, some did not like it though. I also recommend Rise of Nations, that game rocks. And I pretty much agree with all the games mentioned so far. Also Rise of Legends is coming soo and is looking really good.
 
[quote name='sketch226']I'd recommend Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War and it's expansion, Winter Assault. A gold edition containing both comes out on the 28th.[/QUOTE]

Great recommendation.
 
My recommendations (take it for what it's worth...)

Besides the Warhammer 40K, 'Craft, and C&C series,

1. Rise of Nations - great unit balance, awesome implementation of some ideas (borders and attrition), great unit pathing / AI, and best of all, you can finish battles in 30 minutes. Get the Gold edition.

2. Age of Mythology - great game. Age of Empires 2 with mythology. Get the version packaged with Age of Empires 2!

3. Total Annihilation (& sequels) - I played the crap out of this one. This game was great because of the literally hundreds of units available. Smart AI, for its time, as well. Not sure how it functions under XP though.

4. Homeworld series - fun. Brings 3D into the mix... and for me, it was a mixed bag. Some good strategy was capable, but was the extra axis really needed? Still, a good game and good premise.

5. Myth I & II - Man, this was good. Especially Myth 2. Cool use of topography and units were just plain cool. Again, not sure about XP compatability.

6. Earth 2150 - A little vanilla, but fun. Kinda as in depth as Dark Reign 2, IMO.
 
Have to concur with Myth 2, excellent game..

You can always get an emulator and play Herzog Zwei or Dune for Genesis..kidding, but not really.
 
I've been playing Empire at War today... I don't know if I can really recommend it.

Its a constant pain in the ass. Its not like Starcraft where you can build 200 marines and tear ass through a base. A group of 3 rocket infantry can take out 5 tanks. Its a very tactical game. You have to use unit counters exactly or else your squad is toast. This makes the game a real pain because you can't build units while you fight. Its like the Total War games. You lay out units on an overhead map and then switch to battle. However, since you don't know what the enemy has you never know what to bring.

Combat can be fun when it goes right, but it can also be severely agravating. You control squads of 3-5 or more in groups of 3-5 or more.
You always have to be mindful of their positions because not only do they fan out, but they wander during battle. So if you're sitting outside a base you have to mind every unit because they tend to follow each other in single file like lambs to the slaughter. The game would have benefited greatly from a hold position command.
 
If you're not into the Age of Empires type of game, then Warhammer is probably your best bet. I'd also recommend Battle for Middle Eart.
 
I hated Battle for Middle Earth. The unit counters were way to strict. One pike guy could take out a whole squad of cavalry in 2 hits... if you didn't pay total attention to the properties of every unit, you were fucked.


[quote name='vietgurl']If you're not into the Age of Empires type of game, then Warhammer is probably your best bet. I'd also recommend Battle for Middle Eart.[/quote]
 
I'm not liking the Battle for Middle Earth II demo at all. My main issue with it is different though. The enemy totally ignores your units and goes after your buildings. The more frustrating thing is my units can't stop them from walking right through them and by the time they catch up to the faster enemy, they've destroyed my building. I don't understand how an enemy can walk right through your forces without getting killed or even hurt.

What are players supposed to do? surround every building they have with units? Buildings also are destroyed way too fast. It takes them about 5 seconds to destroy a building.
 
One thing I did not like about Battle for Middle Earth I was the predetermined location for building structures...do you still have that limitation in BFME2?
 
You can place your buildings anywhere I believe unless there's a distance limit from town center but I didn't notice it.

For the mine, a percent comes up that gets higher or lower when move the mouse to different locations. I guess it stands for the quality of land for mining.
 
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