one can clearly see, the first tutorial missions are designed for absolute game beginners. for that, they are very well made. in the later tutorials, you get a nice understanding of each spell and unit, which is a plus. i give in, all in all they could be a bit shorter, though.

once i got some practice, i quickly got addicted to the intense “capture-the-pig” gameplay. every minute playing, especially against human opponents online, feels so packed with hectic exitement (and also gave me important lessons in stragegic thinking yet;).

As regards the looks: I also noticed that it looks like Warcraft 3 and I never liked that (fatty-colors) look. I like a clean look in which I can more clearly see the units.
Settlers 3 and 4 had a similar problem.

As regards the gameplay: I don’t like the capture-the-flag principle for RTS games, because it means you have to build, defend and attack at the same time and that is not natural. In a real RTS you start with building, then defend and build for a while and then you attack. If the attack fails, you may have to defend and build again before you attack again but you don’t have to be everywhere on the map at once.

I do like the capture-the-flag principle in a game like for example Unreal Tournament III but in that case you are playing as an individual soldier and can choose every time anew if you will defend the base or will attack. (Or first defend it and then go for the offense).

Well, I don’t know about Sacraboar. Didn’t Arena Wars use the same concept? I was reminded of it a lot whilst playing. Same kinds of maps, also energy generators that are vulnerable, also some kind of capture-the-flag.

BTW. I was wondering if this game is based on some sort of open source code. It reminded me of a game like Highland Warriors.

For those new to RTS’s: Here in the Netherlands you can buy the complete Age of Empires 1 and 2 plus their extensions for 2.49 euro at the ‘Action!’-store and also Command and Conquer Generals. In Mediamarkt they sell Starcraft
(including the extension) for about 13 euro. Also try to buy
Warcraft 2: The BattleNet edition!

Red Alert 3 is also very good (available for about 20 euro). A lot of the older Command and Conquer games are quite outdated…