Iron Marines Cartoon war, real tactics

This is strategy stripped down to the fun parts. You capture bases, harvest resources, summon squads and send them after the enemy, all in real time, without juggling a hundred hotkeys. The trick is that your troops are not locked in: change a ranger into a sniper or flamethrowers into missile launchers right in the middle of a firefight, and the battle turns with you. On top of that you call in bomb strikes, lay intelligent mines, plant turrets and pick from eight special weapons. One well-placed missile is good. A rain of fifty explosive ones from orbit is better.

Fourteen heroes lead your forces, each with their own powers to unleash and their own tree to train. Around them sit more than forty upgrades: defense drones, napalm rockets, ricocheting blasts. Nine unit types and three tower types keep the roster tight but distinct, so choosing what to research and what to field is a real decision, not a checkbox.

The campaign runs 21 missions across three very different worlds: bold assaults, holding ground, rescuing civilians, hacking supercomputers, and a huge boss waiting at the end of each planet. Each mission wants its own tactics. Beyond that sit 21 Special Operations with their own combat rules and no mercy, plus an unlockable Impossible Mode for the truly reckless. The first planet eases you in; the third one will send you back to the mission select screen a few times, and that is where the game earns its keep. Three difficulty settings, from Casual to Veteran, let you set your own bar.