Savage 2

Savage 2

I've never played the first Savage, but after hearing GFW's Shawn Elliot gush about this game, I couldn't help but give it a whirl.

The premise is simple: Imagine an RTS pitting a steam-age human group against a chaos/nature hybrid race. The commander calls simple waypoints and building placement. At his disposal, the commander leads builders, ranged units, stealth units, siege units, tank units and magic users.

Now imagine all of the commander's units are played by other players. These players can choose what class they want and gain experience depending on what decisions they make.

This twisted version of RTS, FPS and RPG has much in common with the Natural Selection mod for Half-Life, but it's on such a huge scale. I actually ran out and played as a builder, and I still had a blast.

The demo version allows you to play as the basic units without any of the items or levels being persistent. For $29.99, you gain access to the Hellbourne units, persistent items and levelling, and the ability to play as the commander.

It's such an awesome game, but it's just a little too rough around the edges to warrant the asking price. Give the demo a shot, though.