This year’s new game changers

Quality over quantity seems to be the motto for 2010’s Real Time Strategy (RTS) titles. In 2009, we saw some awesome ones like Halo Wars on the Xbox 360 and the more combat-focussed Dawn of War 2.

Quality over quantity seems to be the motto for 2010's Real Time Strategy (RTS) titles. In 2009, we saw some awesome ones like Halo Wars on the Xbox 360 and the more combat-focussed Dawn of War 2. But there were few releases. Here's what we can expect this year.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty (PC)
With Blizzard employing almost all of the same gameplay mechanics that made the first game such a classic and improved graphics that are finally in 3D, Starcraft 2 is bound to please a lot of old timers, appeal to newbies and prevent South Korea from waging war on Blizzard.Wings of Liberty is the first of the three campaigns focusing on the Terran side of the conflict with the Protoss and Zerg campaigns shipping separately. While there's no fixed date for its release, expect it in the first half of 2010.

Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC)
Tiberian Twilight promises to be the last installment in this seminal franchise concluding the GI-NOD war and being the final game to feature charismatic villain, Kane.If this wasn't enough, the folks at EA have decided to discard the classic command and conquer formula for an approach that has more in common with the cult DOTA (Defence of the Ancients) mod for Warcraft 3 and Dawn of War 2.How this will work for the series remains to be seen. Tiberian Twilight should be in stores this March.

R.U.S.E (PC, X360,PS3): As the title suggests, a key element of this World War 2 RTS is the ability to 'ruse' or bluff your opponent. RUSE appears to be one of the more innovative titles this year.Even though it's World War 2-based, the folks at Eugen Systems have utilised clean art direction with very little of the grit and grime that's synonymous with World War 2 games.Those of you without a PC can get your strategy fix too, as this hits consoles sometime this year.