AI War: Fleet Command

A real-time strategy game involving large fleets and a goal of expansion. The AI you face may be the most advanced ever developed for a game. It will challenge the best of us. Unlike most strategy games, this AI doesn't cheat or get padded stats at higher settings. It simply gets more aggressive and reacts more carefully to what you do. It will study your fleet composition and decision patterns and devise appropriate counters. The AI assigns you a threat level that slowly but steadily rises as you play. Any hostile action from you will raise it, and once it reaches certain thresholds the AI will step up its game. You start off with a command station orbiting a planet and must expand into AI-controlled territory with the ultimate goal of finding and destroying the AI home-worlds. Expand too quickly and the AI will improve its defences and send ever-growing waves that will eventually defeat you. AI War has beautiful backgrounds and nice 2D sprite graphics and boasts a wonderful musical score that really fits the mood of whatever is happening in-game at the time. The interface is easy to use and the learning curve of the game, while high, is manageable. Multiplayer is supported, although you may need a program like Hamachi to make it work. Final verdict: Great value for money if you like epic, large-scale space battles, careful planning and high, customizable challenge. Perhaps better avoided if you get emotional when you lose, because you will many times.

AI War has been around since 2009 or so and is indie dev studio Arcen Games' flagship product. It's a masterpiece that plays by its own rules. It's the Dwarf Fortress of fleet command RTS games really - the options are overwhelming especially with all the expansion pack DLC content. Start simple and grow into it. You can supplement the game or make completely game altering changes including an alternative win scenario and an extensive campaign mode. If you overestimate your ability with a difficulty level that's beyond your experience you will NOT have a fun time. OTOH, it may be a very short game :-) There are strong elements of RTS, tower defense and grand strategy, even a bit of a twitch factor in the combat and fleet handling. It does them all really well and it's a unique formulation. The downsides are the steep learning curve (ease into it), the brutality of some of the optional features can create nasty surprises, and games of AI War are LONG - expect to spend 14+ hours on even a small campaign. Also it's pure 2D, which may bug some folks, and the graphics quality vary from amazing and detailed to uninspired white blobs, but they all do the job. I love the soundtrack but some don't care for it - a lot of moody piano/orchestral scores that are almost too good and too melodic to sit well in the background. In short - it's amazing, get it.

Me and my friend spent hours grinding down at the AI on NORMAL and it was a rewarding feeling taking down the AI and winning the game. So much attention to detail has gone into this game along with awesome developers that actually listen. This game even though its age is constantly updated and enhanced. The expansions included add so much to the game that it's mind boggling. I'm not a hardcore gamer nor have I mastered AI War but I can tell you this is a game worth getting. 5/5 from me without a doubt.

As one that has been burnt in the past by those that are easily satisfied with what, in my opinion, is mediocre game design - I testify now that this game has what the reviewers before me have claimed it has. The complexity and depth of the game is impressive. This is an indie game, and it's one of those indie games that delivers.