Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity may be a technical triumph, but it also delivers an experience we’ve not seen in this genre for at least a decade. The single player may lack a bit of personality, but the skirmish mode and seven AI levels take RTS to the next level.

Escalation capitalizes on the highs and stumbles on the same lows of what made the original Ashes of the Singularity good. Between the new aircraft, cool new orbitals, and fantastic design of the Strategic Zoom function, there’s a lot here to love for any fan of the mass real-time strategy. It’s a shame that the story still can’t always keep up with the stellar additions to the gameplay and that some of the new ground units get swept up in the sheer way that the game is built, but Ashes...

As it is now, Ashes of the Singularity is a solid RTS game that will only get better with age.  The game delivers large scale battles but falls a bit short in the personality department.

Once you break free from the tactics-focused mindset of most RTS games, Ashes of the Singularity is a challenging, engrossing, and cerebral exercise in strategy that has me mentally iterating on army compositions, build timings, and board deployment schemes even when I’m not playing it. The campaign comes across as an unwanted stepchild beside the strong multiplayer, and the terrain art is dull and uninspired, yet Oxide has delivered on the promise of bringing back capital-S Strategy to the RTS space. This is a warzone where the shrewd general looking at the bigger picture will triumph over th...

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Ashes of the Singularity is truly a mixed bag of RTS goodies. Its strategy tactics and large scale battles draw you in but the lack of unit variety and drab campaign really keep from engaging you. Though a fun past-time for new players, strategy veterans may not find much lasting appeal.

Thousands of units rush into battle, scrambling to take over a valuable cache of resource nodes. Drawing upon the sensibilities of titles like Sins of a Solar Empire, Total Annihilation, and even what feels like some Supreme Commander 2, Ashes of the Singularity takes advantage of the PC environment to bring battles that involve mind-blowing numbers of units, all unleashing mass destruction on the planetary stage. Does this sound awesome? Yes, it does. Unfortunately, outside of the novelty of the large-scale carnage, the experience feels flat and uninspired. Ashes of the Singularity plays thin...

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From the Ashes

Overall, Ashes isn't bad, it's just very plain. Gorgeous, but plain. There's nothing here that hasn't been done before and done better. And I certainly don't think it has the spark that made Company of Heroes so excellent, despite what the developer may suggest (even if you can make a "veteran" of your biggest tank). You can win the battle here with speed, and maybe a little strategy. But, being entirely honest, I wouldn't recommend battling at all, in singleplayer at least.

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