Dark Reign 2

Strategy Real-Time Sci-Fi General

With a new 3-D engine and a host of features -- gorgeous 3-D terrain and units, traditional top-down and immersive "on the battlefield" camera viewpoints, true line of sight, and unprecedented battlefield control -- DR2 will innovate the RTS genre and give gamers the most exhilarating war experience ever. [Activision]

Birth of America

Strategy Turn-Based Historic General

The year 2005 marks the 250th anniversary of the start of the French & Indian Wars. Twenty years later, the War of the American Independance began. These two events marked the real start of a new era, the end of an empire, the birth of a nation. In Birth of America, the player controls one of the major contenders of these 2 conflicts, trying to achieve military and political victory. It is a rather complete and detailed simulation of the two most important wars in Colonial America - from 1755 to 1783 - but with a simple and elegant new simultaneous turn-based engine. [Strategy First]

Orcs Must Die! 2

Action Strategy General Real-Time Defense

Orcs Must Die! 2 begins days after the ending of the original game. With the rifts closed and the magical Order dead, the War Mage finds himself suddenly thrust into a new battle against the mindless orc mob. He has a powerful, if questionable, new companion in the Sorceress, an ex-War Mage responsible for the destruction of the Order.

Spore

Strategy Breeding/Constructing General

From the mind of Will Wright comes SPORE, a journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space. Begin your odyssey at the dawn of life as a simple microbe just trying to survive, then use the fun, intuitive Editors to evolve the creature from its microscopic origins into an intelligent, tool-using race. Guide your species as it builds (and the player designs) villages, buildings, cities, and vehicles. Along the way to becoming a global civilization you can choose whether to hunt or forage, attack or trade, be nice or play rough. All the action takes place in a huge, lush world populated with creatures evolved by other players and shared over SPORE's central servers. When it's ready, your one-time pond scum launches into space in its UFO on a grand voyage of discovery, planet forming, or destruct-ion. As you explore and play in this limitless universe of unique worlds, your personal Sporepedia tracks all the creatures you've met and places you've visited. Take complete control of your creature's fate as you guide it through the following six evolutionary phases: Tidepool phase: Fight with other creatures and consume them to adjust the form and abilities of your creature. It's survival of the fittest at the most microscopic level. Creature phase: Venture onto dry land and help your creature learn and evolve with forays away from your safe haven. Carnivore or Herbivore? Social or Independent? The choice is yours. Tribal phase: Instead of controlling an individual creature, you are now caring for an entire tribe of your genetic craftwork. Give them tools and guide their interactions as you slowly upgrade their state of existence. City phase: Bring your creatures' race into a new golden era by building up the technology, architecture, and infrastructure of their city. Civilization phase: Once your city is established, your creatures begin seeking out and interacting with other cultures. You can have them do so with an olive branch or a war cry—either way, the goal for your creatures is to unify the planet. Space phase: The time has come to move on to other worlds in your solar system. Make first-contact, colonize, or terraform, then venture further to find other solar systems scattered throughout a magnificently rendered galaxy. A 'mission' structure provides new goals and paths to follow as you begin to spread through the universe. [Electronic Arts]