Crusader Kings

Crusader Kings is a non-friendly strategy game to beginners. Also there is no specific goal that has to be accomplished. What you have to do in this game is to ensure the survival of your dynasty. At the beginning of the game, you have to choose a dynasty and after that you have to gather gold and also earn prestige points. You can appoint your own advisors and each of them should have a particular trait for them to be appointed to a post. You can gather army and conquer other areas and this will also increase your prestige points. Likewise other non-player countries will also do the same and the course of the game depends upon how you interact with the other countries. The most disappointing point in this game is there is no turorial.

Axis and Allies

Axis and allies is a strategy game which can be a little bit hard at first but once we get used to the units, then it becomes easy. In this game, we have to conquer or occupy as much of the area as possible. If an area is vacant, then we can occupy it and if contains enemies, then we can battle them and conquer the area. The more land that we occupy, the more revenue we can generate. Although the revenue generated primarily depends upon building revenue generating buildings. This game suffers a disadvantage like other strategy games in that when a regiment is involved in battle, some of the units will stand simply. Altogether the game is playable

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg is a strategy game which can be totally different for those who have played warcraft and red alert. Unlike the other strategy games we encountered, this game does not give us an option to build a base. We have to play with only the units which were given to us at the beginning of the mission. Though we can call for reinforcements, we are forced to plan a strategy at the beginning in order to complete the mission. Apart from this the graphics is very good and the most promising aspect of this game is the clarity of sound. We can easily distinguish between the firing sound of our own units and that of enemy units. Except from the fact that we cannot create our own units, Blitzkrieg is a fun to play.

Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes is the most entertaining game of all the real-time strategy games. Unlike the other games where you can win with sheer brutal strength of the units and a little strategy, this game can only be won by carefully planned strategy. This game teaches the ups and downs of war. Apart from good graphics, the excellent sound makes us wanting to play this game. The game is interesting because it allows us to achieve the goal in more than one way. In short, one could say that Company of Heroes is an evolution of the previous real-time strategy games.

Battle Realms

This game is a traditional Japanese style real-time strategy game. The storyline is good which keeps the player interested in the game. In this game you take a good or a bad path of your choice and this is what makes the game interesting. The game's graphics is good but not the best and considering it as an old game, it has pretty good graphics for its age. Overall this game is pretty good to play in single player mode although the multiplayer mode is not up to the mark but this game did not sell well due to tuff competition from other strategy games.

Armies of Exigo

Armies of Exigo can be regarded as a copy of warcraft with little variations. In this game we play three campaigns : the humans, the beasts and the fallen. The storyline is also not that clear and the game has several glitches. we often think what makes a unit stand simply while the other neighbouring units are involved in combat. The graphics is clear with crisp clarity but the game lacks imagination. The background throughout the game doesn't have any interesting sceneries. Altogether the game is a fun for warcraft lovers but a waste if someone is bored after playing warcraft.

Act of War: Direct Action

Act of War is a real-time strategy game which is much more similar to Red Alert except that it makes us think seriously. It is rather a normal game where we gather resources to make money and use the resources to train new units. There is also another way to earn money in this game and that is by capturing enemy units as prisoners. The 3D graphics engine used for this game is nearly flawless without any distortions except in some places and the sound is pretty good. Overall the game is fun for strategy game lovers.

Combat Mission: Shock Force

Combat Mission is a classical style realtime strategy game which takes place at an imaginary time when US fights against Syria. The game makes us feel real and you can already feel the heat during the battles. The most striking point isn't the sound but the changes that have been made to their previous releases. Although the game looks good to play, it has several glitches and the most important one of them is the path finding. Most of the time vehicles and units tend to loose their path and sometimes they lag from others. Also the game is not well balanced meaning that the US weapons and units are far superior when compared to Syrian units that most of the time victory may be achieved easily.

War Front: Turning Point

War Front is a realtime strategy game that is similar to Red Alert and the biggest advantage is that any new player can get used to it in a flash. The main story is based on a imaginary world where Germany had successfully won against England in World War II and occupied it. The game is a clash between Germans and Americans. There is nothing new in this game that differs from a regular real-time strategy game.

Universe at War: Earth Assault

Universe at War is a real-time strategy game and it is more or less similar to Red Alert. This game lets you play as humans, the Novus, the mystical hierarchy and the mystical masari. The most important part that makes this game very interesting is that by the time you become comfortable with a particular faction, you will end up finishing it and you will be introduced to the next faction which requires a different strategy.

Rise of Nations

Rise of Nations is a classical strategy game like building up the army and fighting against the enemy and gathering resources. The best part of the game is that it allows us to play in different times of civilization. As we proceed forward through each age, new units are available and the game features a good design of all the different units. This game does not have a storyline. The objective of this game is to unite the world either by diplomacy or by conquering them.

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth

The lord of the rings BME is a highly different game which lets you play either the good side or the bad side of the story. The game features a very detailed look and it has great graphics but beware that the hardware configuration must be very high in order for BME to run smoothly. The game sticks to the original story and also there only a limited number of units in the game. Heroes can gain experienc through the game and level up to 10. Each level up gives them some ablity to do magic.

Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars

Cossacks is a game with good graphics and it lets you play as a British officer who organizes and fights with his enemy. Winning each mission can be very difficult and time consuming. Some missions may even take 3 to 4 hours. Here is what strategy comes into play and you should organize your troops in such a way that the weakness of a particular unit is compromised by another unit. The most important shortcoming of this game is that it does not feature naval warfare.

League Of the Legends

This is a warcraft similar game. It is better to say that as of the day of this writing, the game is still not yet complete. All you get in the retail version is the same thing that you can get as a free download. Essentially if you buy this game, you are not paying for what is there already but what comes in future. This game is similar to warcraft and here you choose your champion and proceed on your path to destroy your enemy and your greatest threat is not the enemy itself but the other characters that guard the pathway. Every now and then a group of automated units are sent to defeat the enemy and your goal is to assist them and destroy the enemy. The biggest disadvantage of this game is that much of the game is AI controlled.

Civilization

Civilization is a very addictive series of strategy games. The latest of this series is civilization iv. Civilization is more or less like Caesar which lets you play as a political leader and build a city from the scrap and develop it. The game features many ways to do this. You can either conquer neighbouring cities with your army or you can improve the culture of your city and make it the most civilized city. There are different opportunities for the player to choose his path in achieving his goal. The game has good graphics which makes it even more addictable. Overall the game is a treat to all strategy game lovers.

Red Alert

Red alert is a strategy game with a moderate level graphics and it is a game especially for those who love Age of Empires. It is in a way similar to Age of Empires. You gather resources using a tank and build buildings and train different types of warriors in order to defeat your enemies. This game features characters with ability to do mind control and other such stuff. The game follows a good story. The only pitfall in this game is with its graphics. The characters seem very small to those who played warcraft.

Caesar

Caesar is a great strategy game for those who love sims. In this game you start off as a small level officer who is given a small empty land to build a village and attract people to it. Your mission is to attain a particular population and also to satisfy the given ratings such as favour rating, culture rating, etc. When you finish each stage you attain promotion and you are given a bigger target to achieve. As you proceed through the stages, you may have to fight with enemy army and finally your goal is to become caesar.

Warcraft

Warcraft is another series of strategy games from Blizzard entertainment. The game series became very popular after Warcraft III Reign of Chaos. The game follows a real world based story where different clans of people fight against each other. As we go through each stage our hero gains experience and grows stronger to face stronger challenges. The game features a mini map that shows our location and the whole game terrain. The game has a nice cinematic ending. The recent game of this series is World of Warcraft which should be played online which simulates a real world with each player representing a player in the WOW.

Risen

In this game you are a nameless protagonist washed away to a remote island shore after a disaster in the sea. The island is ruled over by a don and you are given quest after quest to complete. You are also given many choices to take and depending upon the choices, you are given quests and the entire game evolves differently for different choices you take. All through your way, you meet many teachers who teach you a great deal of skills which you will be needing to complete the quests successfully. In this game there is no minimap to see where we stand and this makes us explore every nook and corner of the game area. The graphic design is pretty good and overall, the game is very good to play

Starcraft

Starcraft is a classical and by far the most exciting strategy game that has ever been created. It was from the makers of the well-known popular series of warcraft. The ultimate aim of the game is to complete the given mission within the limited resources. Starcraft is an addictive strategy game which takes lot of planning to win a game. It has an extension called broodwar which continues the story from where starcraft left. Starcraft 2 will be released in the first half of 2010