Tooth and Tail

I've been enoying playing this with a controller on my couch. This is one of the few RTS games that are comfortable to play like that. The one thing I really like about it though is that there I don't have as much mental overload playing compared to most RTS games. compared to what I'm used to, the game is so stripped down, there is nowhere near as much to hold in your head or concentrate on at once. Games are also mercilessly short, so it doesn't matter as much when I stuff up (at least in single player). I love strategy games, and prefer being forced to not agonise and overthing every move, which is what I do in turn based 4X games. But most RTS games I can't actually be any good at, as my working memory is not so great. If you relate to this paragraph, I recommend checking out this game.

What you get: An amazing RTS that limits the amount of actions one can do per minute. Low APM was the biggest issue for me with getting into RTS games, but here it is simply not necessary. People saying this is no stress however are wrong. The game still wants you to micromanage and be a quick thinker, as the pace is quite high. Skirmish matches can be last anywhere between 2-15 minutes. Yes, the population is really low, but the community is still active and is organising various championships, leagues and so on. Plus, the campaign is pretty good, now that a difficulty slider has been added.

The campaign is very enjoyable, every mission has an extra objective called Heroic, which are harder and usually requires a good understanding of how to play the mission. The game starts out easy for the first 1/4th of the campaign with very basic Heroic objectives, and after this it starts ramping up, with the Heroic objectives getting harder, with some missions having Heroic objectives so hard, that once you know what to do you still need to get a good seed, which means that the first 30ish seconds of the maps consist of scouting to decide if you have to reroll it. Despite this the random maps also mean that you can replay the missions without it being to much of a pain, due to it being different every time. The gameplay itself is much less APM focused than most RTS games, due to the mechanic of using your commander as the cursor, this means you can't really split your army, but you can control an individual unit type, or your entire army, this moves the focus of the game very much towards scouting, due to beng able to queue farms you get a good amount of time to do so to start, as you can queue a farm, scout and then "teleport" home to your base once you are close to 60 food or have gotten the information you wanted, so you can eiher buy another farm or build something else, based on the location and buildings of your opponent. There isn't a need to micro your units and most of the campaign you can win purely by knowing what the AI is going to do, and what you need to do to achieve your win condition, and then getting a seed that allows you to do this, which mostly becomes a problem on a couple of missions. Overall I find the game great, despite being very poor at RTS games, and generally despite loving the strategy of them i have a hard time completing them, as i have a hard time not just having a ball of an army and then rolling it into the enemy, at best moving everything back and forth a little. Great for those who can't micro units but love fast strategy

Try play without internet, the game calls for Galaxy the moment you press play at the beginning and crashes out with a lengthy Galaxy related error. Could be a perfect game for the kids and I to play once in a while, otherwise.

Aside from a few minor forays into C&C, I never got into RTS games -- too much APM focus, having to jump all over the map constantly, annoying economy buildup, etc. Where was the strategy? I'd much rather have my Civ, thank you very much. Well, Tooth and Tail is different. First of all, it exists in a wonderfully realized world. The campaign has a great story if you follow it to the end. Second, the pixel art and music are sublime. Most importantly though, the RTS conventions have been rethought here. Hate jumping constantly all over the map, since it gives you a huge advantage? Well now you control a commander mouse (get it? your mouse?) who limits which part of the map you can see. It's a constraint that makes it so you don't have to hop around all the time, and APM doesn't matter. Confusing controls in RTS games and endless keyboard shortcuts? Well, the controls have been simplified to the point that you can play with a controller on split screen. Sick of spending every game building up your economy the same way? Well the economy has been simplified to the point that you just plant farms, grab gristmills, and create warrens. It's there, but it doesn't bog you down. What remains is the strategy, pure and distilled, in quick 15-minute matches you can easily have online or with your spouse on the couch. Buy it, and get it for your friends -- you won't regret it IMO.