The Evolution of the RTS

1992 - To my mind Westwood's Dune II was the first clear step in to the RTS genre we know today. Three factions, each with unique units, base contruction, training of units, overview map, all the elements were there.

1994 - Following the success of Dune II, Blizzard created Warcraft, based in a fantasy world rather than futuristic setting.

1995 - However it was Westwood's next creation that really ushered in the new genre. C&C was very impressive. Large armies of tanks and infantry, video cut sequences and impressive visuals, Westwood created a masterpiece given the hardware limits it had to work with.

1995 - Although Warcraft was well received, Blizzard dramatically improved on it with Warcraft II. Taking the same units, they polished the look and feel of the game bringing a balance between factions not present in C&C.

1996 - Released the following year, Red Alert felt at first as if it was a side step. A very tongue in cheek story line and retro units indicated an attempt to cash in on the first game. The multi player however was even more fun than the first, with larger maps and more strategic options due to sea units.

1997 - Chris Taylor's original RTS deserves recognition as the first really epic RTS. The game included three levels of resource and military structures, each providing a significant improvement over the previous. Games could be fought with up to 5000 units after patches, providing for truly epic games!

1998 - Blizzard took their game in to space with its next incarnation StarCraft. The most important aspect of this game was the three distict and well balanced races, a feat rarely matched since. South Korea was the true consumer of this game, with almost half the world's copies sold there and top StarCraft players becoming celebrities!

2002 - Building on its predecessor Shogun, Medieval successfully brought together two aspects of strategic game play - turn based and real time. With the macro campaign played on the turn based world map, but importantly with individual battles played as real time games.

2003 - Finally stepping away from Westwood's futuristic style of the previous games, EA brought out a modern day version of the series. One of the few games to successfully emulate three distinct factions.

2003 - Relic took the RTS genre in to a more three-dimensional space environment with its Homeworld games. Like most attempts at space based RTS, the 3D aspect was restricted.

2004 - Relic took a new approach to the genre when THQ bought it. The result was the beginning of the Dawn of War series, the first success in a number of attempts to bring Game Workshop's table top games to the computer.

2006 - An RTS for world war 2 combat seemed inevitable and Company of Heroes stepped in to take up the challenge. Building on the Dawn of War style system of capturing points, it made the terrain particularly important, by having key choke points and tactical value to different areas, forcing combat between sides where other games allow players to sit back and dig in.

2007 - The C&C series returned to its roots with Tiberium Wars. Taking many aspects of the previous tiberium themed games and updating them, the game was a worthy successor.

2007 - Chris Taylor finally got to make an unofficial sequel to Total Annihilation. Supreme Commander continued the epic feel of the first game. It introduced the strategic zoom, where no mini map was necessary, you could zoom in an out fluidly on any part of the map. It also added super units that could take out entire armies.

2008 - Following on the space theme, Sins of a Solar Empire gives a real time view of multiple systems, with strategic zoom allowing you to smoothly move between systems and moving fleets.

2009 - Even with the base building aspect of the game noticeably absent, Relic managed to still work its magic and produce a worthy successor to the original games.

2010 - How the mighty have fallen. This entry in to the C&C franchise is one best left forgotten. Attempting to introduce a new innovative style of game-play that could have worked, the game designers failed to address obvious issues before release. I include it here as a monument to how NOT to design a game!

2010 - After taking its sweet time, Blizzard finally released the sequel to StarCraft, and what a game it was. With powerful AI, an excellent mix of units and yet still managing to keep the same feel of the original, StarCraft II was an instant success. A high quality game all round, it has set a new standard for upcoming RTS games.