Dark Reign 2

Having been part of the Dark Reign 2 closed beta team, I played this game months before it ever hit stores as it was shaped into the game it was. I am no fan of Command and Conquer, and Starcraft just never did it for me. Dark Reign 2, while not what you'd call an interesting game in terms of story, the gameplay and multiplayer were fantastic. This is a game best played against other people, which sadly short of LAN games, really just isn't possible anymore. The AI even on its hardest setting is sadly not that difficult, so do not expect a challenge if you're good with RTS games. That doesn't mean it isn't fun to play custom games against the AI though. So if you want to get the most out of Dark Reign 2, play your own custom games. You can use the campaign as a reference to learn the ins and outs, but that's about all it's good for. Throw yourself in a custom 1vs3 or harder scenario. Personally I'm fond of 1vs1vs1vs1vs1vs1vs1vs1 (me vs 7 AI) on the hardest settings. Maybe I'm biased because of my time during the beta, but Dark Reign 2 is my favorite RTS of all time. It's not about the quality of the story or the graphics or how hard it is, but how much fun you have doing it. Dark Reign 2 was and still is exactly that. Fun!

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.

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.

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!

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.