Where Machines falters most is in the single-player campaign and unit intelligence. The solo missions feel more like loosely connected skirmish levels than a cleverly woven campaign. With little continuity (often you must research the same technology over and over across several missions) and even less storytelling, Machines' solo offering lacks the rewards to inspire you to continue onward.
As for unit intelligence, the computer-controlled opponent offers little challenge, typically tossing a wave of two or three units at your defenses, rarely doing significant damage until later levels when the quantities are greater and the technologies more powerful. Unfortunately, your own troops aren't much better. A simple three-setting "initiative" meter can be adjusted, but it doesn't affect important gameplay aspects like BMU transports moving to a new mine once their designated resource has been exhausted or a healing machine acting on its own to mend your troops. Instead, they just sit there, waiting patiently for your orders.
Poor unit pathfinding, a bane of real-time strategies, rears its ugly head once again. BMU transports move slow and often get hung up on one another and other base structures when trying to reach their assigned mine or smelter. Further, when ordering your military units around the map, getting them to actually follow the order can be a patience-trying task. Units will stop for no apparent reason or navigate so poorly around objects or terrain features that they'll fall significantly behind the rest of the pack. And the lumbering, mech-like gorilla seems to occasionally walk on an invisible treadmill, a frustrating occurrence during a hectic battle. Pathfinding issues are compounded when engaging in one of the indoor missions; the structure's layout, filled with narrow corridors and tight doorways, is enough to send your machines into pathfinding overload.
Pitting your Machines skills against up to four human opponents can be accomplished over modem, serial, LAN, or TCP/IP connection. In addition to those protocols, a matchmaking lobby has been set up at Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone - so finding an online adversary shouldn't be too difficult. Multiplayer gameplay has some interesting features, such as the spy unit, which can covertly plant explosives in enemy structures, and the need to build special locator units to discover resources. Numerous options and game styles (including "gorilla jousting") help diversify the action and strategy, but apart from the 3D engine and colorful visuals, not much new ground has been broken here. There's only one army of machines to choose from - though the colors are different, each player receives the same units and technology tree.
For players new to the real-time strategy genre, Machines might be a worthy entry point. The single-player game starts off quite easy and doesn't really offer a challenge until well into the campaign. Veteran players, however, won't be impressed, apart from the camera angles and pyrotechnics, and will be less forgiving of the game's pathfinding and AI shortcomings.
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Acclaim Machines CD:
$40.99
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