I just picked this RTS up today, and I must say, Im very impressed. The game is similar to Empire Earth, and Age of Empires. It blends the RTS and other Strategic elements quite well, and the level of micromanagement, and volume of settings and options is impressive. The gameplay is smooth and polished, and can be tailored to your own personal preferences for how fast and intense the game is. The graphics and sounds contribute well to the game, and the music is very appropriate. A couple of features that particularly struck me (I dont know whether they are in any other games) are the Conquer The World Campaign, and the city function. The Conquer the World campaign is an interesting feature that I haven’t seen anywhere else. You play a campaign on a map of the world, complete with diplomacy, trade, international borders, and domestic development. The best part is, whenever you invade enemy territory, or your own is invaded, you go into a battle that plays out as a regular scenario, that is, one that you might play in a Quick Battle. This allows for a strategic element, that plays out with a larger level of realism, as well as an RTS element that lets you get right into the battle. Your actions in the battle effect the campaign in more ways than control of territories as well. If you use a nuclear weapon, you may find yourself with trade embargoes levied on you by other nations. And the use of a nuclear weapon starts and armageddon countdown. if any other nuclear weapons are used during the countdown, it speeds it up. if the counter reaches zero, the game ends for all players. The city function is also very interesting. The RTS element plays out like many others, but building is done in cities. again, I do not know if this has been used in any other games, but it still intrigues me. You need cities to expand your national borders, and provide resources and troops. A particular quality of these is that each city is limited in the number of a particular building you can place there (i.e. you can only build one university per city, only 5 farms per city, etc.) so you are forced to build multiple cities if you want to expand your nation. All in all, I am thoroughly impressed and pleased with this game, and I am interested in hearing anyone else’s thoughts, opinions, or questions on the game.