A new fan.
I have never been a fan of RTS games in any way, whether it on console or PC. The pacing just never did it for me. Im more of an action game or racing game kinda guy. I ended up buying this game mainly for my Girlfriend who I have yet to let play.
Never has a RTS made me want to keep playing but I just couldnt stop. The controls are simple to use and the interface is quick and clean which is not something we see very often on console RTS games. My only gameplay gripe is the game can end too fast. I was going for a culture victory but the game forced me into winning via domination when it told me the game would end in 5 turns. There are far too many details for me to explain here, i'll leave that up to the pro's but suffice to say the gameplay is finely tuned and never feels cheap.
The graphics are not mindblowing but they are functional with an overall animated style look to them. There is a bit of slowdown here and there but in this genre it in no way hurts gameplay. The sound design is decent enough, plenty of battle cries and explosions to go around and music that never seemed to drive me crazy. You wont find yourself humming along either but thats not a big deal.
Overall I'd say pick this one up even if you're not a fan of the genre. Its easy enough to get into and deep enough to keep you coming back again and again to try different tactics and ideas.
