Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising is a real-time strategy/action game hybrid that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, but, to developer Rage's credit it manages to be refreshing and fun. Part of the reason for that is because it uses under-appreciated innovations like Battlezone and Uprising's 3D perspective and Urban Assault's ability to take command of individual vehicles in the heat of 3D combat. And it uses them to great effect. Antaeus Rising features a story written by Warren Ellis, best known for his comic book work (Planetary, (Transmetropolitan, The Authority) and he spins a tale concerning junk salvage, a chain of islands and the struggle to control them. On the side of good we have the massive Antaeus, an advanced battleship/aircraft carrier/factory that bears a resemblance to Robotech's SDF-1. The Antaeus's factories build war machines piloted by long-dead soldiers who have had their skills and personalities encoded into computer chips. These soldiers mouth off during battle and their comments make the game livelier than other strategy titles. On the side of evil we have a motley collection of bad guys, who may or may not be aided by aliens.
Throughout the mission-based campaign you'll be creating defences and attacking units (tanks, helicopters, boats, etc.) and sending them into battle. Using a joystick or a mouse you can jump into the cockpit of any unit to personally take care of difficult objectives. This helps a great deal in the later, harder missions.
The graphics are clean, the game is stable and the strategy is as thrilling as the action. The only thing really wrong with Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising is its lack of multiplayer of any kind. That means, once you've finished the campaign, the game is over. Still, it's a good long ride while it lasts. -Andrew S. Bub
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