Do you miss the RTS games of old? Ones that actually had a plot driven and LARGE single player campaign for EACH faction? Ones with maybe not top of the line graphics but definately appealing charm in the art style that was pleasing to look at? Ones with awesome sound effects that actually made sense? Ones with UNIQUE factions let alone unique game design? If you liked old school RTS games I'd pick this up... I honestly can't even say WHY I have so much old time video game fun feeling when I play this... but I do... at least 15 bucks worth thats for sure. I own every wargame especially RTS ever made, I'm not even kidding.

For 15 bucks after the first mission I knew this was worth it.

If youre looking for a company of heroes type matchmaking system and crap like that this isn't your RTS game, this is oldschool.

GREAT NEW RTS GAME, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all the OLD and NEW RTS FANS

Punches EA in the gut and asks, "Why did you ruin your CNC franchise and not make a GOLD like SunAge?"

SunAge Review:

PROS:
++ Great 2D Graphics
++ Interesting three distinct factions/sides
++ Fun RTS elements like squads, upkeeps, multiple resource types
++ Nice looking maps
++ Nice intuitive UI with complex learning curve
++ HIgh Resolution capable
++ Cool Research system
++ Cool Map Zoom system
++ Worth buying on Sale or Regular price

CONS:
++ No LAN Multiplayer? This should be added since the server itself may go down at times
++ No Save and Pause in Skirmish
++ No restart button in Skirmish
++ Very small number of maps to play in Skirmish and Multiplayer
++ No 8 Player in Skirmish and Multiplayer (Come on, it's 2015!)
++ No ability to turn down the build-up sounds made by the BMRs (It's annoyingly loud!)
++ Water/Sea texture is very bland (please improve this)
++ Make a GUI to adjust Graphic settings
++ BUildup and Destruction animations of buildings can be improved

SUGGESTIONS:
++ Deploy some type of modding tools
++ Create mapping tools
++ Medic or Mechanic for Units or Repair or Hospital Buildings
++ Dead corpse animations may have some variations

I hope the devs are listening to their customers/subscribers.

This is a in progress review. I will add/change more as I go.

TDLR version: This is a solid 2D rts game with Tiberium sun/starcraft vibe to it. Singleplayer is solid so far from what I have played. This is not a replacement to C&C or starcraft. Its fun and entertaining never the less.

Recommended towards people who want to get into the genre and hardcore fans of the RTS genre for right now.

Wall of text version: This game as stated in TDLR version is a solid 2D rts game. The singleplayer is solid and sort of interesting. The gameplay is fun but the control scheme is a bit weird and something to get used to. As for Multiplayer not much of a scene at all as of right now. The selection of units is pretty good. Gameplay wise its a interesting take but nothing really innovating. There is nothing mind blowing from the game. Here are the upsides:

+Solid gameplay
+Art work and graphics
+Story looks promising
+Sound effects are so far good
+Content for the price

Now on to complients and feedback. I hope if the developers read this:

Negative:
-Ai pathing (I ran into a mission when trying to avoid posion clouds the AI had some major problems to taking commands to going around and getting around the map in general)

Feedback:
It would be awesome if you guys could add modding tools. It would extend life of the game and I can see a amazing star wars mod to this game. It would sell like hot cakes.

As for now its all I can think of. I will add as I can go along. When I have beaten the game I will finalize the review. This is my first time I have done a review like this and I hope some of you find it helpful.

Played a bit of the campaign and skirmish so far. Pretty good game, better than I expected it to be after what I heard of the original release. I like the aesthetics and lighting and I like that the weapons sound like weapons :)

Controls take a little getting used to. Squading up and selecting different unit types in particular has led to a few mis-clicks but it'll grow on me :P

Gameplay feels solid. Mostly everything feels and responds as I expect it to and the fighting is fun to watch and play out.

There are a couple things I'm not too keen on. Lack of AA capable infantry is a bit odd but I was caught off guard in my skirmish game so I'm not sure if it will prove to be a balance issue. Also, I don't like how the music goes quiet when there's an audio cue (units being attacked, Need more storage etc.)

All in all, a pretty good game :)

I tried. I got through one of the campaigns. But in the end, I gave up for two reasons.

First, unit selection and control is incredibly weird, and I was never able to get used to the seemingly needless limitations and weird control schemes involved in selecting and moving your units around. I absolutely think the traditional RTS control setup has deep flaws and needs to be innovated on, but nothing in the control scheme here struck me as trying to solve any of the problems of traditional RTS control schemes. It just felt like it was being different for the sake of being different, and it ended up being hard to learn and inefficient. Selection limits, the way you add or subtract units from selections, the way abilities and commands and formations are issued, control groups... these and much more are all done in ways that feel unintuitive, and despite playing and succeeding at several missions, I never felt like they got more comfortable.

And, second, the story felt pretty bland and generic. I kept looking at this in my library and thinking, hey, I should go back and finish the other two campaigns. But every time, I remembered that, frankly, I had no reason to think it would get any more interesting. The characters are too pulpy, the setup is too bland, there's little sense of atmosphere aside from "drab."

It's too bad - I love seeing indie RTS games try things out in the genre. And there's nothing wrong on a technical level - I didn't encounter bugs, and this technical approach to graphics could have been great. This clearly comes from a team that has the skills to make a good game, but they made unfortunate decisions about what exact game to make. All the problems are in design - awkward interface design, bland art design, shallow narrative design. It really is too bad.

As a beta-tester I can openly recommend this game. Refined classic and simple RTS which was already in development in 1997 finally on one of the major platforms.

In this game you play as one of three races: Sentinels - mechanized robots that will destroy everything in its path Raak-Zun - mutants who live in deserts or radiation contaminated Federation - the last normal people who are trying to survive in bunkers. Each one has different strategies and units. Of course there is multiplayer, albeit still poorly done, but I think that this is not the biggest problem because it is possible to play. One of the best things about this game is sooooo long campaign of all three races and (at least for me) a great post-apocalyptic story. For those who complain about the short and simple game - I recommend a campaign where you will spend some good time :)

I recommend this game very much, the game is great! :)
(A review created by SzalonyRandom, not me!)

Summary:
+ Pretty 2D graphics
+ Interesting story (even if not the most original)
+ 3 different factions with unique units
+ Old-school RTS spirit (4 different resources, slower pace, interesting base-building mechanics and etc.)
+ Beautiful soundtrack (even though there are not many different songs)
- Very glitchy unit controls and pathfinding which makes you frustrated from time to time (especially air unit control... Nightmare)
- No 8 player skirmish mode and in general - not enough skirmish maps
- Enemy AI sometimes behave weird and doesn't function properly
- Some bugs there and there...

It needs more polishing but I would still recommend this game to RTS fans.
I hope to see some patches :)

Sunage: Battle for Elysium is a fantastic indie RTS. It does NOT deserve mixed reviews on steam. Sunage is mostly a one guy game, developed over the course of 18 years apparently. It's like what Command and Conquer COULD have been after Tiberian Sun if they didn't transition to 3D. I do love Tiberium Wars but this game is the Tiberian Sun sequel I have always wanted. Absolutely a fantastic RTS, has an amazing Campaign, interesting units, factions, building mechanics. Combat is fun and fluid with just the right amount of Micro IMO. The artstyle is just incredible, basically a true high fidelity 2D RTS, looks ten times better than C&C Remastered.

People are mostly complaining that it doesn't have the exact same controls as C&C. Took me like 5 minutes to learn the unit selection controls and it's not difficult. If you want to select all units you simply hold shift and double click anywhere. You can assign units to squads, and also control groups. Control groups can be made up of multiple squads if you choose, simply clicking any unit in a squad grabs them, and holding shift and box selecting grabs all units in the box. It's not the same as C&C but it actually offers a lot more flexibility with unit selection and grouping.

Another complaint is pathfinding, and while I am a firm believer that poor pathfinding can ruin an RTS, I personally haven't experienced any major hangups from it. With large units like tanks to avoid them getting hung up I simply shift queue their movement path and they almost always follow. Ideally that wouldn't be necessary, and it isn't very often, but it hasn't caused me much grief. I will concede that it is not perfect, and therefore dock the game a point, but I have played much better reviewed RTS games that had god awful pathfinding, in Sunage it's an occasional minor annoyance and that's it.

Overall Sunage is an easy 9/10 for me, and I highly recommend it to any RTS fans. If you are a fan of Tiberian Sun or Wars in particular you must purchase this game.

Good, super fun, and simple RTS made in the style of an old 2.5D Command and Conquer game, yet with enough features and UI improvments in recent updates to make it feel like a modern game which is recreating the nostalgia of older games. This is a very well made(I've had no crashing issues or anything playing it so far), and well supported(frequent updates addressing issues, including even one just this morning), indie game that I'd argue should be rated with Star Craft 2 as one of the best, TRUE, RTS games to come out in a while. The plot is fairly boilerplate, but is well executed in the cutscenes, and despite its "stereotypical" framing, is well written and an engaging experience. Graphics, are well, they are the graphics of games ten years ago, only with high deff sprites and partical effects for once, which, in its weird 2.5D way, does look gorgoues during the fire fights. Sound quality is amazing for what the game is, actually really impressed by this aspect of the game.

If you've got nostalgia for the old days of RTS games, or are sick to your stomach as well with EA for shutting down their online servers...then buy SunAge: Battle for Elysium.

I gave this game a fair chance, and it started off good: the isometric graphics are obviously glorious, the story is simple but engaging enough, voice acting is okay, I even liked the the half-baked comic cutscenes where the main character looks like a different person in every panel.

But the game itself is almost unplayable: the first thing I noticed is the strange unit selection scheme. Drawing a rectangle across the screen should select all units inside the rectangle, right? No, that is for putting units into squads, but only units of the same type, except for commander units. It doesn't add anything to the gameplay, it just makes things more complicated.
Then I noticed the units horrible pathfinding. If there is any obstacle between them and their destination, or a tight corridor, they'll go somewhere completely different, or take a step back, or refuse to move at all. This is especially awful if you take into account that in this game, bases are tightly built clusters of buildings, literally touching each other, or they don't have power. My units also ignored attack commands regularly and didn't pursue enemies. Sometimes they stop just ahead of their target and take fire until they are dispatched.

I had reasonably high hopes for this game, but it's a complete disappointment. The most amazing thing is that even though it came out in 2008, there are still patches coming out for it. The devs apparently care about their game, so why haven't they fixed these glaring issues yet, or given up entirely?

TLDR: Don't buy this!