Video:Overview of Real Time Strategy PC Games

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Transcript:Overview of Real Time Strategy PC Games

Hi, I'm Shane Murphy, your technology Guru for About.com. Today we'll look at some of the best real time strategy games out there to get started with.

Various Real Time Strategy PC Games

The current king of RTS's in terms of popularity, critical acclaim, and competitive challenge is Starcraft 2. This sci-fi title allows you to control one of three factions in what at first glance will seem like the standard drill of gathering resources, creating specialized units, and micro-managing fights. Starcraft stands out because of the immense depth contained in their simple rock-paper-scissors approach and the carefully imagined universe their colorful characters inhabit.

Warcraft 3 is also produced by Blizzard and is last release in this venerated series that first established the Warcraft fantasy universe of elves and orcs. Playing as one of four sides, you must train and level up your super-powered hero unit to lead your minions into battle and crush your foes.

Another classic is Age of Kings from the storied Age of Empires series. In this mid-evil RTS, you take over one of the major powers at the time and command your knights and archers in your conquest of Europe. Having a strong historical side helped make Age of Kings unique – the game allowed you to play through bygone events like Joan of Arc's journey

The best starting point in the long running Command and Conquer series must be the original Red Alert, still the strongest entry after over a decade. You'll command either Russian or Alliance troops in an alternate history scenario where Hitler never comes to power. The game is set in the modern day but has plenty of interesting units based on made up technology.

More Real Time Strategy PC Games

Another truly awesome space age RTS is Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2. Although the limited single player campaign only lets you command the space marines' storyline, you have three additional alien factions at your disposal. This game artfully combines RPG elements while removing or streamlining other RTS staples such as base buildings. Company of Heroes is a WWII strategy game that pits Germans against Americans in the struggle over the fate of Europe. This RTS offers a uniquely realistic take on the genre, where infantry can perform a variety of functions besides just shooting and battles between armor take into account weak spots and accuracy.

Sins of a Solar Empire didn't make much of splash when it was released, but it deserves mention because of its uniquely slow paced action and games that can last days. As a space combat game, you assemble your fleet according to your race's strengths and use them to take over the galaxy.

World in Conflict casts you as either the commander of either US, NATO, or Soviet Forces in an alternate universe where the USSR stages an all-out invasion to stay in power. Rather than building a base, you select a specialized combat focus to contribute to your team's side and build units from a large cache of funds that slowly replenishes.

The draw of Empire Earth is that you can literally start your game in the Stone Age and continually upgrade your technology until you and your adversary are duking it out with jets, nuclear warheads, and mechs. Every era in between is faithfully represented, making this RTS perfectly capable of representing your favorite theater of war.Homeworld is a classic RTS that confronted players with the challenge of navigating their space units through the z-axis, introducing a whole new layer of complexity. You'll engage in huge space battles as you control the Kharakid species on their quest to discover their native planet and the truth.

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