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The campaign is a little hokey but (in my humble opinion) is fairly challenging and long enough to be worth it. To top it off, Theater of War adds a ton of replayability and allows those who don't like competitive multiplayer or who have friends that aren't great at RTS games to get a lot of value out of the title. I'm looking forward to seeing them add onto this feature. The game is gorgeous for an RTS even on fairly low settings, though it can be a little too muddy at times. The UI is chunky but well rendered and really informative (those unit cards at the top left make army control quite easy). Gameplay is excellent, if unforgiving (just like all of Relic's titles). People, I think, are understating the effect that some simple changes will have on the game. Requisitioning destroyed vehicles and heavy guns is huge, and vaulting obstacles makes infantry a lot more mobile. Add in all of the ColdTech stuff (destroyable ice, units freezing in deep snow, and blizzards) and I think there's a lot here to keep people occupied. The music and sound effects are just stellar. I usually play on fairly low settings to make gameplay smoother and am not experiencing game-altering slowdowns, though mileage is sure to vary here. I'm totally hooked and look forward to years of stoming the Wermacht for the glory of the Rodina! :p

First off, boo on Metacritic for treating BfG and Rise of Immortals as the same game. Battle for Graxia is a relaunch of Rise of Immortals, and is for all intents an purposes a completely new game. Oh well.... moving on. Battle for Graxia is a solid MOBA or ARTS game with many things you'd expect from the genre, but they've done a couple of things that DoTA and LoL currently aren't (yet, at least). Primarily, the White Knight feature can be a real game saver. This feature lets people queue up to either enter a normal game or alternately drop into an ongoing game that has had a player drop. The "White Knight" has the same character that the leaver had, and these players typically drop in 15-30 seconds after the leaver. Nice touch. Also, I appreciate that the in-match item shop is more streamlined than the item-combining item shops from most other MOBAs. It's got a ways to go still but it's very solid, with interesting artwork and character designs.

**** is an ambitious project from an independent developer that's in fact just 1 guy! In light of that, it's quite an accomplishment. Pros: Great artwork, especially in the diplomacy interface You can design your own starships from the ground up Robust planet management interface Solid 4X game, and there aren't many of these Comprehensive faction creation process that allows you to choose the bonuses and issues your civilization will have. Cons Some UI (such as game speed, pausing) is missing Diplomacy is oddly limited, economic prosperity alone doesn't mean anything. You have to have things like artifacts, technology or colonies to trade to make other civs like you more. late game slow downs which really impact performance/enjoyment of the game As others have mentioned, it's stellar for an indie game and it has a lot of playability. Once the lategame stability issues are fixed and if people start modding it, it'll have a really long lifespan and a bright future. I'm also hoping for some sort of multiplayer mode (the kickstarter mentioned some sort of DOTA/MOBA/tabletop inspired game where you compete in quick matches with prebulit fleets) Overall, it's well worth the price, and I do not regret the $26 I put down to play it.

I am an RTS fan in general, and have fond memories of playing Age Of Empires and Age of Empires 2 as a kid. In my humble opinion, this is a good game. The in-game gameplay is what we have come to expect from an Age of Empires title, given a unique graphical update that I find fun and refreshing.