Three terrains on offer – snow, desert and forest.One of the cool new things you’ll find are the set of fully narrated ‘boot camp’ style tutorials. The player has the option of playing several introductory missions in which almost every aspect of the game is covered. (This is especially nice for those who consider the manual a last resort.) Once the tutorials are finished, though, the single player game gets steadily more and more repetitive. The plot line is weak, to put it mildly. The premise is a war between the evil Imperium and the small but resilient Freedom Guard. Before each campaign mission is a short briefing saying how the battle fits in with the general storyline.The AI, unfortunately, isn’t as innovative as one would have liked.

• Dark Reign 2 Maps

Apparently the computer’s favorite strategy is to try to irk the player into submission by annoying him with tons of unprepared random assaults. But fear not, fellow humans; the computer’s evil plan can be foiled by a few strategically placed gun turrets. After that it’s wave after wave of dead enemy troops as a huge strike force is built to finish the mission. The lack of an engaging singleplayer and questionable AI are forgivable considering this game is mainly geared towards multiplayer, and despite the lacking in some areas Dark Reign still contributes on several key fronts. For instance there’s a nice waypoint feature, which includes the option for looping the waypoints around to create a patrol path.

With limited fields of vision being further constricted by different terrain, patrols around one’s base can be useful. Another option is the scout order; simply tell a unit to scout and it will explore the map, avoiding any enemies it encounters.

Also, there are two derivatives of the scout command: “harass” and “search and destroy.” Harass orders a unit to irritate and generally annoy your opponent by numerous limited attacks while “search and destroy” makes a unit go find an enemy and try to kill it. An alpha shot of the game, when it still looked like a so-so Red Alert clone.Elevated terrain makes an appearance and different types of terrain – mud, water, rocks, etc – affect the way units bypass them very differently. Sadly, the perspective is so close to being top-down that it’s hard to make out where the hills are, giving the game a somewhat two-dimensional feel.

At times the only way to tell there is a hill is because it’s blocking the line of sight of your units, which is actually done quite well. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the terrain is the use of trees for cover.

Quite And Not Quite C&CDark Reign has all the standard fare in weaponry – tanks, infantry, mobile fighting vehicles. But also included are some novelties. There are scouts that morph into trees, and the devastating Sky Fortress that destroys tall buildings in a single blast. What makes Dark Reign nice is that almost all of the units are actually useful. Infantry are not squashed by dozens of oncoming tanks. The artillery has such long range that you can actually have it shelling the enemy base from within your own territory. Buildings in Dark Reign are notably volatile.Another nice aspect is that the Imperium and Freedom Guard have significant differences in their kinds of units.

Although the basic forces are roughly equivalent, each side has a few special weapons that the other lacks, and they’re well. One final thing I’m thankful for is that neither side can engage in ‘tank rushes’ on a whim – gone are the days when a factory just spews out medium tanks.Yes, Dark Reign is a good product, with a long list of features putting above many of its competitors. If you’re looking for new graphics or a good plot line, it may not be for you. But if you’re interests lie in the multiplayer arena, it’s a definite classic.System Requirements: Pentium 90 Mhz, 16 MB RAM, 110 MB HDD, Win95.

Teac5: I saw this the other day and was going to refer to the Wayback Machine. Nice work teac5!Now if there were only a way to resurrect a few other Dark Reign 2 sites.See:(Here's the Wayback link to the 'Best Dark Reign 2 Site') -Though all the download links are dead as far as I can tell.I can also upload the mods I have in a zip archive if anyone's interested. I have collected the mods from Pandemic Studios' defunct Dark Reign 2 website and the few listed at the bottom of Dark-Fun0's site as well. I'll go as far as downloading extra maps if someone wants me to.I enjoy preserving gaming goodies plucked from internet history. Someone worked hard and held dedication towards something in hopes it would bring someone else joy in the future. I think that deserves to be preserved.:).

Terrapin2190: I saw this the other day and was going to refer to the Wayback Machine. Nice work teac5!Now if there were only a way to resurrect a few other Dark Reign 2 sites.See:(Here's the Wayback link to the 'Best Dark Reign 2 Site') -Though all the download links are dead as far as I can tell.I can also upload the mods I have in a zip archive if anyone's interested. I have collected the mods from Pandemic Studios' defunct Dark Reign 2 website and the few listed at the bottom of Dark-Fun0's site as well. I'll go as far as downloading extra maps if someone wants me to.I enjoy preserving gaming goodies plucked from internet history.

Dark Reign 2 Maps

Someone worked hard and held dedication towards something in hopes it would bring someone else joy in the future. I think that deserves to be preserved.:) all of that would be awesome:). Never got to really play the game after all but I collected the official addons last year too. Lately the 'Interface' addons are also downloadable through WaybakcMachine.Here's a link to my OneDrive with a zipped folder with all addons (I've kept their filenames as is):And the link to the website, through WM:Note that the links may seem like they're dead at first, but give them some time and downloads should start.If the link doesn't work anymore, just copy-paste the actual website address (starting after the number list) into WaybackMachine's search engine and try to find a date which 'works'. Darucas: Never got to really play the game after all but I collected the official addons last year too. Lately the 'Interface' addons are also downloadable through WaybakcMachine.Here's a link to my OneDrive with a zipped folder with all addons (I've kept their filenames as is):And the link to the website, through WM:Note that the links may seem like they're dead at first, but give them some time and downloads should start.If the link doesn't work anymore, just copy-paste the actual website address (starting after the number list) into WaybackMachine's search engine and try to find a date which 'works'.

Holy shit dude, this is perfect.Thank you so much man.