The Company of Heroes series. Warhammer 40k Dawn of War. The beloved Anniversary Edition of Age of Empires 4. Relic Entertainment certainly has a solid pedigree when it comes to strategy and turn-based tactics games -while CoH 3 faced a cool reception, alongside the likes of Paradox, Firaxis, and Haemimont, Relic is still one of genre’s heaviest hitters. And now it’s back with an entirely new game. Seemingly inspired by the superlative Advance Wars, and maybe a little XCOM, this is Earth Vs. Mars.
Far from the bleak, realistic history of Company of Heroes, Earth Vs. Mars is a colorful turn-based strategy game where Martians have snuck onto our planet and begun harvesting us for resources. People are being abducted. Bizarre alien hybrids are rampaging across the globe. It’s up to you to organize a defensive force and push back the invasion. Of course you can use tanks and other artillery, but there’s a twist.
You have a unique weapon: the Splice ‘O’ Tron. Using this, you can create hybrids of your own, mixing human soldiers with rhinos to create ultra-strong, fast moving flesh tanks, or a cross breed of a cheetah and a fly who can rain acid from above. Relic also mentions a “squirrel-cow”.
As the war rolls on, you’ll unlock new and deadlier combinations. There are 30 hand-crafted missions, a versus mode, a map editor, and multiplayer battles. Squint a little, and Earth Vs. Mars’ vibrant, grid-based maps look a lot like the classic Advance Wars. Given that the last ‘Wars’ game was 2008’s Days of Ruin, it’s good to see the series return in pseudo spirit. We don’t have a release date for Earth Vs. Mars yet, but you can already wishlist it right here.
Otherwise, you might want to try some of the best 4X games, or maybe the best RTS games on PC.
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