Krush Kill 'N Destroy Xtreme

So you came here, looking at this game, you have checked out the screenshots, saw what appears to be a typical 'run of the mill' RTS, and now you are thinking about wheather you should get this game or not? It sure looks like a generic RTS (with a cool setting). Why would you care about it then (unless you are a complete RTS freak - like myself :))? That's what I'm writing this for. To tell you how incredibly well-exectuted this game is, and that it should *not* be swept under the rug as 'just another rts', since it surpassed everything that came out around the same time and before (including all C&C's, their clones, warcraft's etc). I'm not going to write about things like setting, plot and all that, because you can read about it in the game description, and it's not the selling point of this game. All the greatness of KKnD is in it's game mechanics. First of all, units that have an independent turret weapon on top of them can shoot while moving, so you don't have to babyseat your tank army like you had to in many other RTSes of that time. Secondly, you can set your factories to produce units constantly, so you don't have to do stupid mundane things, like clicking a picture every 30 seconds. Another interesing feature is KKnD's take on economy. You have oil deposits on the map, that you must send a mobile oil derrick to deploy there. Once its deployed, you send oil tankers there, that collect oil and return them to 'power stations' in your base (base building is similar to c&c, when you have to build your structures in a near vicinity to each other). But here's the catch: You can only have up to 4 buildings of the same type at one time, that means - only 4 max power stations at the same time for resource gathering. Why is that really good and not stupid and dumbed down? Read on. OK. It's time to bring the pieces together, and finally tell all of you why KKnD is so great. You have a very straight-forward economy, so you know that if you control 4 oil deposits you have 2x as many resources as your oponent who has control over 2, and your income is soely based on how much of strategically important parts of the map you have onder your control, as opposed to a completely random value (I do agree that the limit of 4 power stations is a little to steep, although it is not as bad as it might sound). Then you add up that all your production is automated, and can be very easily managed via a very well designed UI, so you can quickly specify how many of each unit you want, and the game will do everything for you. And finally - you have smart units that you don't have to babyseat all the time, so if your army got smashed - it's because your enemy had better position/unit combination/numbers. So here is what you get: An RTS where you are constantly making large amounts of units, fighting over map control and resources, and you can really focus on REAL STRATEGY. You will make strategic and tactical decisions almost all the time, fighting over few battle fronts, engage enemy differently depending on your goals, unit combination and terrain, as opposed to 'blob vs blob' type of gameplay, which a lot of RTS seem to embrace, and finally - victory will come to you because you have OUTSMARTED your enemies, not "outclicked" them. Worth mentioning is that you can do all these things with very simple controls, and you dont need to know hundreds of 'tricks', so even if you are only casually interesed in RTSes and/or you are not very good at them, you can still very easily make big armies and have a satisfying feel of crushing your oponents with swarms of unis, because the interface and mechanics are so simple, intuitive and easy to use. Now of course the game isn't perfect. There are some balance issues, and in the case of bigger units (namely survivor autocannon tanks, and evolved giant crabs) the game has some pathfinding problems i.e if you select a bunch of them and order them to fit through a tight space they might have some problems (other units work fine though). You can't also set rally points from your factories, but it's actually not that big of a deal, taking to account that you still have to send your units in groups, and the game's collision system works in such way that even if you forget about your factories making units for half an hour, then you go back to base and you see 80 tanks - they won't clog your base, and you can easily divide them into groups and send them on the front line. ------------------------------ Would I recommend the game? There is one ENORMOUS problem: it says that multiplayer isn't working.... NOOOOOO! That really sucks, because the game strongest point is its multiplayer, which is extremely great for both noobs and pros. Although there is something magical in seeing 200 rockets (really) flying out of your barrage crafts, and then a group of autocannon tanks (big tank with a huge gatling gun mounted on it) moping the place from whats left - its really a though thing to recommend KKnD knowing it's multiplayer component is not functional. Don't get me wrong - the campaigns are well designed, and the extra missions from Xtreme addon/expansion really add to game length, and there is a nice number of maps to play skirmish vs AI (called kaos mode here for some reason), meaning that singleplayer is very solid - still playing against other people is way cooler. ------------------------------ So here is a conclusion: Without multiplayer KKnD Xtreme is a very solid RTS, without any major flaws. If you like RTSes or feel like playing one - pick it up, even for its singleplayer. I would also really recommend it for really anyone who even thinks about trying the RTS genre. It's easy to undestand, yet sufficiently deep, and it controls very well. Even though my personal favorite RTS of all time is Total Annihilation (it's also my favorite game of all time), I wouldn't recommend it for beginners, considering it's complexity. Neither I'd recommend something like Starcraft, which has a nasty learning curve for new players, and it also requires very high speed and precision from the player. KKnD on the other hand - I'd say it is the best game to enter the great RTS world. Oh, if somehow multiplayer gets fixed - EVERYONE GET THIS GAME !!! (unless you *really* despise all RTS) ------------------------------ p.s It has the best infantry squishing mechanic ever implemented in RTS :D