KKND 2: Krossfire review (PC)

The basic gameplay is a combination of old school and new school. There's no attempt at a plot, and each mission is basically the same: build base, gather resources, destroy enemy. You might have a mission that gives you a handful of troops, and you need to make do with just these units. Overall, though, expect a lot of build base, gather resources, destroy enemy. Thankfully the game is infused with enough new-school play to keep up with the competition. Take some Red Alert, mix with Starcraft, stir in some Extreme Tactics and Total Annihilation, add a pinch of Dark Reign, and cook until all flavor is lost. Whatever feature you can think of from your favorite real-time strategy game can be found in KKND2. Waypoints, marshaling points, production queues, squashing infantry with tanks, map bookmarks, making your own units, the list goes on. But except for making your own units (which has been done before but never done so well) none of it's new. Sure it's all well executed, but no new benchmarks are set.

You'll also find plenty of extras. You can make your own scenarios, skirmish against the computer, and edit unit stats. A few cool extras pop up in the actual game too, like finding helpful hi-tech units hidden in bunkers or units, which when repaired, go back to the spot they came from automatically. But once again the extras are all pretty much stuff we've seen before or are simply not that exciting.

There's nothing really wrong with KKND2 as a whole. In fact, in terms of clones, it's at the top of the list. Graphics are nice, the sound effects are decent except for the repetitive unit acknowledgments, the AI is truly good, there's a heap of features... but it's all old news. It's not horrible, as in Conquest Earth horrible, but it's not the type of game that causes you to make exclamations of glee while playing. If you've been in a bomb shelter for the past year and haven't played Total Annihilation or Starcraft, you'll consider KKND2 a fantastic game. For the rest of us, it's too much imitator and not enough innovator.