I came across this game through Frank Klepacki himself, and that it was C&C related (unofficial of course) and thought I'd have to give it a try. I'm not much of an RTS player, but I do like them time to time. (I played a good deal of classic starcraft, and tons of C&C95 and Red alert) The music is pretty decent in this and while it's not quite the C&C of old, it definitely does have a similiar and very familiar sound, has the technorock feel (of course) but with this weird chippy squarewave type thing thrown in at times in some of them.. It's too bad you can't select tracks in the same way (wouldnt that be nice?) via options menu, not that i would be doing it often, there is just something within me that immediately would like that! As for the game, it is pretty standard and simple game. You have the same keyboard shortcuts (at least some i recognize) and control units in the almost exact same fashion as classic c&C. So you will immediately feel somewhat 'at home.' A lot of the units you know and love are here. The mammoth tank, Artillery, flame tanks, stealth tanks, nuke silos, turrets. etc. they work in similiar way. Now, there are a few things that are 'off' While the unit and structure types are very C&C like in their 'role' and the control of said units is very much the same, Production is a main focus in the game (yes, even more so than it was). Every additional factory you produce shaves off the production time. You have essentially a goal of moving your 'supply line' (expanding your building radius, building closer and closer with powerplants or turrets to new refinery/resource areas) and building as much forces along the way as you can (at some point lag will become an issue, it was for me :( ). A few missions in i noticed something that gave cause for concern

No saves or loads! (you can save 'on quit')

Fortunately it's not too terribly hard (at least at first) Essentiall in 8BA, you play scenario by scenario unlocking your scenario as you progress through the campaign. There are no saves or loads. So later in the game you just have to pace yourself (Most of the timed missions aren't too nasty) I did notice a Co-Op mode, which is cool, (co-op is always a big bonus in my book) but for some reason the co-op mode is a seperate campagin. (balance?)

There are enemy bases, and small outposts along the way, and civilian cities beyween you and 'them'. The cities are empty but rather elaborately modelled. seemingly doomed to be collateral damage with no purposes whatsoever other than maybe being a drop zone for a crate time to time. (and yes, sometimes there are crates hidden in there, look for their shadows!) A new feautre is land slope, but i dont like it: enemies can remain out of field of view if they are on a hill or something and that mean they can attack you but you cant see them.

In the end the mission objectives are kind of bland, but the maps are alright. (It's a bit too stripped down maybe?) It's an average game (i'm not a big fan of RTS) but all things considered it's well done enough, it could certainly be something much worse and this is at least playable, and i had fun with it. Yet This wont be for everyone. This is not a very involved RTS... and If you are currently playing Red Alert or Tiberian Sun and running some souped up mods (or hacked yourself), this is most likely not for you, because it wont feel right and there are less micro nuances here. This game is lightly stylized in the classic games but under the hood its less quirky and more smooth and simplicated (i'm not complaining). This is about churning out 100 minigunners, 100 humvees and sending them out to do some damage! (some units do have quirks and balancing issues though your mastery of them is not a required.) There are three difficulty levels. There are secondary objectives added onto the normal and hard difficulty (they are both the same?) completing objectives gives you various permanent unit and base bonsues at the start of each mission. I learned that this is a way to buff your starting forces (and encourages replayability of each mission in the 'campaign') so as to make the later game missions a bit easier... maybe. It is in fact maybe the only way possible to complete the campaign, as it gets extremely difficult... (i'd say impossible)

My only minor criticisms would be that there is not a hotkey to switch from structures to units, or queue up units outright. and that there is a sepeartely purchased soundtrack and DLC. while it's cheap enough, i figure frank klepacki is a big enough selling point for this particular game that it would be nice gesture to go ahead and include it within the game in an easily accessible manner (it's not many tracks). the DLC is simple the Brotherhood of Nod faction/campaign. The guardians DLC is really difficult. It's suppposed to be brotherhood of nod but it's not exactly. You get flame tanks, but so does the enemy. Also some of the maps are recycled from the other campaign. I got tired of it rather quick. Disappointing and not reccomended. It just wasn't that much fun and after the main campaign i had enough.

As for the graphics i dont know what the deal is with the blocks or the '8bit' you really dont notice it much and just play the game. as you play you are zoomed out a bit and it's not a major observance to be made during gameplay (IOW zero 'minecraft aesthetic' or... whatever?)

the $20 (or less) you might pay for a kelpacki+game or game+nod DLC is a fair price. I liked the game well enough and what was done here. I will play the warcraft version (8 bit hordes, I am guessing warcraft 2?) just to see the orcs, just cuz they look so orky and i like orky orks enough to see 'em.

I liked the game well enough for the price. I've played pletny of stuff inspired by or based off things that was just awful and this isn't bad. Still theres things that the audience of people who play this sort of thing are going to want:

-It would be nice to have a bit more music, a bit more access to the music and an ingame player through the options menu just like the good old days. A guardians/NOD faction soundtrack at the least.

-It would also be nice to have more variety in missions. There are diff objectives but nothing too much so. The going back to pump up your starting retinue at the beginning is a nice idea, but it's not interesting enough.

-Some interesting mission situations where you have small units, or there are 'events' take over enemy base/infiltrate, etc would add a lot of spice. (there was one mission in the DLC where you could not produce units, other than that they are more or less the same)

-unit responses and acknowledgements. There's nothing at all other than death screams. I'm a little let down my commandos don't say nothing witty.
-silly Cutscenes. Even really cheesy ones would have been really cool. (We are more than used to appreciating really bad acting in said cutscenes) even if it's just 1 or 2. This alone might be enough to turn people onto the game who would otherwise not appreciate what was done here.

at 15.00 (20 for the whole thing) is a fair price. tho some of this fell a bit short it's a notable attempt and cool idea. Though some of these things would have turned a decent idea into something much greater. I can't reccomend this game to someone who wants a good RTS. Because it's not a good rts. it's an average rts that sells a a gimmmick concept. and well, i liked the gimmick enough for the asking price. It's still a better gimmick than most. I'd be interested in a sequel and would have high hopes as to where petroglyph would aspire to take it.