Trash Demo

Although the Cold War has been over for quite a while now, the arms race did yield some interesting results, as well as a very large number of nuclear warheads that apparently have no use at the moment, yet they are still kept around. On the other hand, everyone knows that the planet is done for if one side launches its missiles, so we are more or less safe for the time being, thanks to self-preservation.

Thrash is a real-time strategy game that takes its inspiration from classics like StarCraft, Command & Conquer, and WarCraft, but it also adds a bit of originality into the mix. The core mechanics are basically the same as they are in the aforementioned titles, since the main goal is to gather resources, build an army, and destroy your enemies, but the road to victory can be interesting and full of surprises.

The story talks about a peaceful Earth, one on which every nation on Earth decided to put away their nuclear warheads and work together toward harmony. As things got slightly better, a race of powerful aliens arrived in the solar system, only to attack Earth and start a war. Naturally, the world’s leaders decide to throw every bomb they’ve got at the alien spaceships, which in turn kills off most of the people and causes a terrible fall out. Soon after that, mutants start appearing around the world, which start a power against the remaining humans.

In order to be successful, you need to follow the classic RTS formula: gather resources, build a base, and train a powerful army. Obviously, there are two races you can choose from, since you are allowed to play either as the humans, or the mutants. The two factions differ when it comes to technology and units, but they both use the same main resource to get by: garbage. As it happens, the Earth is full of garbage after the nuclear winter, so there’s plenty of it to turn into war machinery.

Gameplay-wise, everything seems to happen either too quickly, or too slowly. The enemy A.I. can attack you in the first few seconds, which means that you need to pay attention to early rushes almost all the time. Naturally, the game supports multiplayer as well and it even has an online ladder which displays the best players in the world.

Overall, Trash is not a bad game and it has the right intentions when it comes to RTS mechanics and gameplay. However, everything feels a bit rushed and shaky, or at least it does until you manage to get used to it. There’s no question about it, however: a bit more work could have went into the technical presentation of the game, as well as the visual aspect.