Publisher: Vulcando Games
Developer: Vulcando Games
System requirements: Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or a Dual Core CPU; 512 MB RAM; 3D graphics card, 300 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Release date: Available now

Do you remember the first time you played a real-time strategy game? Did it take over your life? Would you stay up late every night just to get a couple of wins and only a few losses (because you were a stud)? Would you battle your friends for glory and hold grudges against them if they defeated you? Can Vulcando Games’ Hive Rise provide all these wonderful memories to PC gamers?

Hive Rise, a free-to-play RTS, takes place in the year 2023. Enemy nations have stopped fighting with each other. To feed the population’s hunger for violence, a television show called “Hive Rise” is created. Small teams possessing the latest military technology battle it out in a world of pure warzone chaos.

In real-time strategy games such as Hive Rise, the main focus is on resource management. You have to gather various items around the map to build an army and destroy your opponent. Hive Rise does this a little differently than other games in the genre. Your resources are stored in a pre-constructed base, and are upgraded by completing microtransactions. There are two different kinds of upgrades: boosts and actions. Boost upgrades are passive skills that range from increasing your unit cap to getting 10% more resources when you collect them. Action upgrades are real-time effects such as sending a unit directly to any point of the map or revealing invisible locations.

Hive Rise is easy and fun to play, despite its complex RTS format. I enjoyed the way the user interface is set up. I found it to be non-flashy and easy to use, with everything in the right spot, which is helpful while in the heat of battle. Both new and hardcore gamers can find pleasure in the fast-paced gameplay because it’s mostly about the battles. Resource management doesn’t have a huge role because it’s all in the bases. This allows you to worry about just one thing: destroying your opponent.

There are some problems with Hive Rise that are hard to ignore. The single-player mode is a snooze-fest because there’s no incentive to win. This game was built around multiplayer, but it has disadvantages. Overpowered upgrades are available for the right price, but they ruin the balance necessary for the game to be fun.

This game grows on you. A free real-time strategy game with microtransactions isn’t usually very much fun, but for Hive Rise it works. I suggest you enlist some buddies and check it out; at free-to-play, the price is certainly right.

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