Real War : Rogue States is the stand-alone sequel/expansion to pretty mediocre real-time strategy game from Rival Interactive and Simon & Schuster (you may have read my review of Real War last year). The plot behind this game continues the plot of Real War. The United States has learned that the Independent Liberation Army (ILA) is being backed by a rogue state. It was thought the ILA was destroyed, but this new sponsor has re-energized the ILA and equipped it with even more lethal technology. Your task is to destroy this alliance and punish the offending country. Of course, you'll be able to play on both sides of the coin. Terrorist or US. Surprisingly, the terrorists have the same weapons available, except for a couple of units like the Stealth Bomber.

Real War : Rogue States features 14 new single player missions, 20 new skirmish maps (Tactical-Players, Area Control-Players, Local Supply and Pre-set Rules), a few new units, slightly improved AI and interface (some useful new hotkeys) and a new multiplayer options. The most noticeable improvement is the AI system called "advanced orders." Finally, there's actually some pathfinding code in place :) Unlike the original Real War, the player is able to order individual units to perform very specific tasks such as destroying anti-aircraft emplacements, sabotaging buildings, or destroying power depots. Once player orders a unit and is waiting for that unit to arrive, he can select that unit's arrival timer and issue an order to that unit before it arrives to his base. Sadly, some portions of the AI suffer from the same problems as the first. For example, some units still have a hard time picking targets, units also remain idle as enemy units and vehicles pass by, or they sometimes ignore commands to attack :( This "Improved" AI simply doesn't work well :(

Due to the incredibly stupid AI, the single-player is rather frustrating. Fortunately the multiplayer portion of the game seemed to be much better. There are pre-determined rules for each map and also two new modes - Alliance and Component Commander (cooperative mode). The Component Commander lets players partner up and take control of portions of the fighting force. One player takes the air and sea while the other takes the land and special forces. If you've got some friends over, it can be a pretty fun experience. Overall, I cannot recommend this game much, especially if there are much better real-time strategy games on the market. Anyway try this playable demo (117MB).

System Requirements:
Pentium III 600 MHz (recommended Pentium III 800 MHz or better), 128MB of RAM, 3-D Graphics Accelerator Card with 16MB of RAM (recommended 32MB RAM), 600MB on the Hard Disk, DirectX 8.1 or higher, 4X CD-ROM