Posted on: April 15, 2013

foxchild

Games: 252 Reviews: 1

A diamond in the rough

There are naysayers here whom discount this game as a bad game caught within the transition period between RTS's in 2d and 3d. By modern standards, they're more right than wrong, but by the standards set at the time of this games release, this was a large leap forward. This game came around when the two big names for RTSs were "Command and Conquer: Red Alert," "Starcraft Broodwar," and "Warcraft 2 BNE" were simply what dominated the market. Released near when C&C Red Alert 2 was, this game tried to innovate in different ways than where Westwood Studios and Blizzard Entertainment went. Instead of going for upgrades in the 2d environment, they transitioned into 3d. They kept the familiar interfaces and mechanics of RTSs in that day. In modern RTSs, it's all about the attack, but here; base building is equally as important. You build fences, turrets, and AA while managing power instead of unit supply. Without those fences and turrets, a small handful of units can slowly decimate your production, farming, or tech tree with little you can do. What you don't hear is how well they ported the type of AI for your units and enemies had, Matches felt on par with the 2D counterparts. This does lead to occasional pathfinding issues, additional micro of units, but that was part of the game back then. At times unrefined, I still find this to be a gem here on GOG. 4/5, as this game is not timeless, but still a cut above the average.

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Posted on: June 1, 2019

andreasaspenberg2

Verified owner

Games: 1042 Reviews: 120

multiplayer works perfectly

i ran one test of its multiplayer mode and i had no issues apart from a false error message saying that the game was out of sync(it was not out of sync). when i moved my forces on my system, they moved equally on the other system.

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Posted on: June 3, 2013

DownwardBullet

Verified owner

Games: 511 Reviews: 3

Overshadowed

Dark Reign 2's problems aren't in the graphics, storyline, or tech trees. Its the fact that it doesn't do anything exceptionally well yet it does its damndest to stand on its own two legs. Map designs are memorable but with heavy repetition grow old after a while. Despite that its fun to create new tactics each time you play. Sometimes simply overpowering the enemy won't be enough. If you want to play a skirmish map on something new, there are still sites online that offer dozens of community-made maps. The graphics are dated even for the time but (and I can vouch for this because I still have the game disc and I first played a Windows Me PC) it never lags, never glitches, and never crashes. The storylines, both of them from the viewpoints of the opposing factions, are long and as they progress deeper they show more and more of the desperate situation that the earth is in. The gameplay offers a decent variety of units which are unlocked through a rather clunky tech tree but are different enough to keep things interesting. Air-strike player? You can do that. Resource hog? Keep building. Excessive use of low-tier soldiers? Its possible. Moving large amounts of forces is unfortunately a terrible process for two reasons: you can't group forces together and some of the maps are too narrow to move several rows through at once. This causes a traffic jam that puts the first-to-arrive on the chopping block. In spite of all of its flaws, the atmospheres, music, and presentation all make it worth checking out. It can't hold a candle to the RTS's of the same age, but it is fun even after all these years.

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Posted on: February 17, 2011

mattbazooka

Verified owner

Games: 144 Reviews: 1

The futuristic battle.

The all mighty, clean-looking JDA has the best defensive looking units at its disposal but will ground dwelling, hard hitting Sprawlers be the ones to take the victory over the land? This is a game I have enjoyed over the years , battling away as the sprawlers was always my first priority, always wanting to play missions over and over. I didn't play as the JDA as much but when i did, i was always on the missions. A friend of mine loved to play as JDA but i could never get why, maybe i just never played them as much as him. But now the game is on gog and they have really under priced this game, a game with stunning graphics that work with the maps and ever changing day/night environment, even the building and units work well with day/night cycle, evenly balanced teams and an amazing set of missions for you to enjoy. This is one of my must get games, i would even pay double price for it!

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Posted on: February 21, 2011

ebunderle

Verified owner

Games: 301 Reviews: 1

Stole many hours of my formative years

This game is definitely a classic! When GOG put up Dark Reign + Expansion, I instantly began chomping at the bit for the sequel. So glad they finally got it released! This game took a lot of my time back in High School (jumped on the wagon a *bit* late). Sure, there are issues with pathfinding, but the gameplay overall holds up very well. If you go into it understanding the year that it was released, and how amazing it was for the time - you'll love it! Highly recommended.

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