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The late 90's were a particularly fruitful time for strategy games: The Command and Conquer series was in full swing, as was the hugely popular Age of Empires series. StarCraft and Total Annihilation were storming the charts, and myriad other games rode on these titles' coat-tails. The catch? They were all 2D and that brings us, rather neatly, to SunAge — the first 2D RTS title that I've seen in any prominence since, well, almost the turn of the millennium.

Lighthouse Interactive's throwback title aims to bring back some of the classic elements that made the genre king almost a decade ago: explosive battles, fierce tactical gameplay and a strong story. The plot is typical futuristic science-fiction with a hint of cyberpunk. The Federation — the last remaining humans — live in gigantic, protected spheres, similar to those in The Truman Show. Aiming to halt their progress are the Raak–Zun, descendants of people cast out into toxic wastelands — who have now adapted to their surroundings — and The Sentinel, who are the typically mysterious race of futuristic beings with stunning technology.

As the ethos of the 2D RTS almost demands, the gameplay revolves around base-building, unit creation and warmongering. Each race, as expected, has their own buildings and units, but they're full of cliches — although the rock/paper/scissors balancing is decent enough. When each unit is selected, a giant blue circle surrounds them, indicating their range of fire. In theory, it's a helpful tool that can take some of the guesswork out of engaging in combat but, in practice, it merely overshadows the rest of the screen.

Units can be selected, as usual, but only one type at a time — so choosing a group of mixed soldiers is out of the question unless they're hot-keyed. It's something that no RTS game has ever stooped to, and is an odd design decision.

Bases are designed around grids of power, and you can always construct a building if it has a source of electricity. This streamlines base construction, allowing HQ's to be built up quickly and efficiently, making for interesting tactical decisions. It's a shame, though, the the artificial intelligence can't match up to the games that SunAge so obviously aspires to be, otherwise it would have been more enjoyable.

Graphically, it's a game that very much looks to the past, rather than the future. There's a decent amount of detail in the sprites — sprites! In 2008! - and the environments are pretty good, too — if a little drab. Animation is poor, however, with units hobbling about and totally failing to convince. The various light and particle effects that are employed for the numerous explosions are great,though.

If you're hankering for some seriously old-school 2D strategy, then SunAge has the requisite ingredients: a schlocky sci–fi story, three warring factions, a static viewpoing, base-building, fighting and graphics made from backdrops and sprites. However, despite its rival titles being a decade old, you may feel better off playing them: Command and Conquer, Age of Empires and rest of a resolutely more enjoyable and worthwhile experience than this deeply mediocre RTS.