State of War: Warmonger

Real-time strategy games put you in a position where you have to take control over an entire base, as well as expand it, gather the necessary resources and build an army from the ground up. When you feel confident enough, you can take your troops and attack the enemy, or use them to defend against an inevitable invasion.

State of War: Warmonger is a sequel that aims to take the story from the original title even further and spawn new conflicts, characters and events. While the first game featured the evil cult that deactivated the powerful OVERMIND mainframe, this installment tells the story of a few terrorists groups that have formed after the said events and they desire for the war to continue, rather than enjoy the peace that emerged.

Among these groups, the most dangerous seems to be the Crystal Brotherhood, who also includes Mr. Rahman, who betrayed you and sold the OVERMIND secrets to the terrorists. Naturally, the task to stop them falls into your laps once again, which means that you happen to be the world's last chance for peace and the final enemy of the ruthless terrorists.

Just as it was the case in the previous game, Warmonger keeps the same old, but functional mechanics that have made the RTS genre so beloved. Thus, by controlling your units on the battlefield and taking care of your home base, you must gather enough troops to achieve various goals across the campaign, which now spans over eleven new missions.

Because this is a stand-alone title, there are various improvements when it comes to the graphic engine as well, which is now capable of producing much more realistic smoke and flare effects. The terrain is much more susceptible to the destruction that happens on a regular basis and you can witness some impressive debris effects, which really make for a more intense atmosphere during the battles.

On a closing note, State of War: Warmonger brings enough improvements and new elements to satisfy the fans, while also managing to continue the story in a pretty plausible manner. However, the mission count is still rather low, even if this is just an expansion.