-=The Good=- >skippable cutscenes >new, far more stable, engine >native widescreen >multiple UI customization options >bindable hotkeys with presets for gridding >visible hotkey overlay option >fixed mouse cursor for Windows 11 >new accessibility features like more colorblind friendly colors on the minimap, large mouse cursor mode, various levels of 'help' detail, ability to turn unit responses off, sticky selection, auto-attack-move, and larger numbers for your resource supplies. >Units much faster to respond to orders, especially queues >ability to turn chat off >flying units overhauled to no longer get stuck on the terrain (since they were just skimmers with a vertical offset) >Saves from previous titles are compiled and imported if they shared a user name. >Campaigns are balanced to match their relevant expansion pack >Game comes with pack-in Mod Maker and Custom Mission Designer tools not unlike WarCraft III's "WorldEdit", as well as a unit editer for easy fan rebalancing -=The Bad=- >Double the price of the originals (equal price if you're upgrading) >Game appears to run in borderless-fullscreen and lacks mouse binding, for multi-monitor users, this puts edge-scrolling out of question >Skirmish is restricted explicitly to Soulstorm v1.2 (so those wanting the classic experience must buy the originals or wait for a mod) >LAN support is still missing (removed by SEGA to 'prevent piracy') >No cutscene viewer despite cutting XP intros -=The Ugly=- >Game is 18 GB install, but has updated content for all four previous installments (clocking in at 2.6, 2.7, 4.2, and 5.4 on original release, for a 3-6 GB profile increase total depending on version) >new textures with reflection mapping, making the game look 'newer' but shinier >AI can now use unit abilities (this, theoretically, makes the game harder) >Load screen art replaced with screenshots of the new units in gameplay >Game uses a mix of assets to match what devs felt were most 'iconic',
campy cutscenes are enjoyable - shame you can be attacked out of them and there's several repeats. Story if serviceable, doom engine styled play but in a contiguous map - this leads to "where the f♥♥♥ do I go?" syndrome. And despite spending a good chunk of my time completely lost - the game was still only 5 hours long. Weapon variety is also quite dull, and due to ammo placement 80% of your fighting will be done with a slow firing shotgun. The other 20% will be flamethrower (basically the DOOM plasma cannon) and tommygun (DOOM chaingun)
I was here with 22 hours of gameplay before the funny African man reviewed the game. Fun RTS by the way, heroes carry over between missions so you can run campaigns to build up characters before facing off against your friends Go find the community patch that fixes the game for widescreen and never play random gen 'smallest' maps unless you're on the minimum resolution - it WILL crash otherwise. (Dark Dwarf Alchemist for life...)
Good -Pathfinding is well fixed compared to previous games, units are very readable due to their cartoon'y art style. -There's three unique factions who all build completely differently, leading to variety in gameplay and more options of strategy. Bad -Campaigns were stripped out, favoring a "domination" mode akin to Dawn of War Dark Crusade and Battle for Middle-earth 2 Witch King. While not bad on its own, the game had such a massive departure from previous installments, and such a short tutorial, that there's no good way to 'learn as you play' like most RTS games specialize in for good reason. -UI was reduced for simpler gameplay and readability, sacrificing many RTS aspects in the process, like formations and attack-moves. Some can be circumvented (ordering a patrol command into an enemy base effectively attack-moves, like we're playing the original Command & Conquer again.) but not everything can be compensated for. -There's three unique factions who all build completely differently, coupled with Epochs being reduced from 14 to 5 this means there's effectively the same amount of units as before, they're just locked to different groups. Ugly -Unit callouts are horribly obnoxious; all puns, subversions, or jokes. Nothing serious. If it weren't for the over-the-top blood of combat I'd assume this was rated E for Everyone targeting 8-12 year olds. -Inconsistent framerate by instance. That is to say, some units are animated at 30, others at 60. The UI is at 60, but the weather is at 20. Screenshots look great, but in motion it's a bit messy. However, it is still readable from a birds eye view which is important. -There's three unique factions who all build completely differently, in a series based off Age of Empires, not WarCraft, making it quite jarring for returning fans.
