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Have we seen the end of the traditional RTS genre?
To start off, by the traditional RTS genre(Real Time Strategy), I'm referring to the top down view which started off with Dune 2 early in the 90's. By today's standards, Dune 2 is pretty dodgy. Graphics were terrible, cut-scenes were just as bad and the ai wasn't much to write home about. But Dune 2 was the first step for some of the greatest games ever. It lead the way for classics such as Warcraft 1 & 2, Command and Conquer, Dark Reign, Total Anniahilation, Starcraft and many more. Last year hasn't been a great step for the traditional RTS genre. Sure we had Age of Kings, Tiberian Sun and TA Kingdoms, but apart from Kingdoms, none of them broke any new ground, or had features we've never seen before. The thing with TA Kingdoms is that it is the first trad. RTS game that took advantage of a 3d graphics card. But other than that, it wasn't much different from the other games. This year, we expect Dark Reign 2 and Warcraft 3. Both come off the heels of their very good predecesors. But neither will be a traditional RTS game. Dark Reign 2 will adopt a Populous 3 sort of view, but better, while Warcraft 3 will be a Role-playing strategy game. Whatever that means.
All in all, if you compare Dune 2 with something like Age of Kings, you can really see how far the RTS genre has progressed. Will there ever be something better, something that breaks new ground, something that we've never seen before? Or will the genre be turned into games like Dark Reign 2 or Homeworld?
One thing is for sure, I will always love the genre and keep playing it.
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