Palmer Sturman: The real time strategy genre is no stranger to the PC community. In fact, it’s long-standing roots go all the way back to some of the most memorable games ever available on the platform. With such a rich history it was really just a matter of time before a developer came along and borrowed pieces from the most prominent releases in the genre and combined them into something that feels new and full of promise.
Welcome to Etherium, the new RTS by developer Focus Home Interactive. By taking the tactical map control of Company of Heroes, the terrain strategy of Dawn of War, and the massive army scope of Starcraft, Focus has honed in on all the elements of what defined these stellar titles and managed to place them into one game that feels quite unique in spite of its borrowed parts.
While it is not a bad game, for the price, there are numerous titles which do Etherium's best elements better, and often with: cleaner language, less stability issues, better maps, and a far more capable A.I.
If you fancy some free RTS this week then now might be the time to give Etherium a look. It's entirely ours to play for nothing at all until next Monday, July 20th. It's also been discounted 50% for the promotion.
Outpost building, resource management, fancy sci-fi units to unleash upon our enemies... the only thing to top that would be giant colossi. Oh wait, it does have giant colossi.
GamingLives takes a look at Tindalos Interactive's real-time and turn-based strategy game.
"Company of Heroes, a game that was released nearly ten years ago, offers a better single played and multiplayer experience, with improved graphics and audio. I’m still playing that today and, unfortunately I probably won’t remember Etherium in ten years’ time."
