Dark Reign 2 (PC)

Advantages: Looks great, best looking strategy game so far
Disadvantages: Useless multi-player

First off this game looks absolutely amazing. It takes a step away from most strategy games in the fact that it is fully 3d, rather that then normal top down type view. The camera that you view through can be moved up and down as well as left to right, allowing you full views from normal top down to being right in the action with your troops. Although it does take a while to get used, once you are it makes the game so much more immersing. The game ...
...scenery, along with great explosions/laser etc, with very little slow down even on lower spec machines. My celeron 300 with a voodo2 card ran it VERY well. It follows the normal build base/destroy enemy vein of most of these games. With the single player missions being challenging and rewarding. The only real fault with the game is its abysmal multi-player gaming. Although you are given wonderful toys to play with you get no chance to use them ... Read review

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Adding it all up, Dark Reign 2 weighs in as a worthy successor to the original. I am especially pleased that Pandemic and Activision pulled off the technical side: fully implementing a traditional RTS within a 3D world. Though the game lacks the compelling narrative of StarCraft, the technology tree of Age of Empires, or the sheer number of units available in Total Annihilation, it is one heck of a game. It is the most visually pleasing of any RTS ... Read review

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...a spunky-yet-honorable rebellion. In fact, Dark Reign 2 is a prequel to Dark Reign and each mission documents the foundation of the evil empire. The first few single-player missions introduce you to the various units and methods of attack and defense. Dark Reign 2 offers very little in the way of training missions - especially compared to Sierra's Ground Control. Instead, early missions are milquetoast, not true "training" missions. As the campaign ...
...but very little narrative ever develops as in StarCraft. For the most part, the game lacks characters and a compelling storyline. The 20 missions (ten for each side) are linear, meaning you must complete one mission to move to the next, and the results of each mission are largely irrelevant to your success in later missions. On several occasions, however, a mission will include multiple goals - many of which will not be known when the mission is ... Read review