The world is 50-years older, and in much worse shape. Factioned into three united fronts – the United Continents of America (which includes South American, drawn into the union after invasion by U.S. troops), the Asian Federation, and the Southern Block (comprised of Middle East countries) – and the insults, and cyber troops are moving all over the world.

Robotic units are the key to combat, mostly because countries disdain the waste of human resources. However, that doesn’t prevent countries from a barrage of weapons, not only ground and air, but space-based as well.

Your mission is to conquer the world.

Boris Games and JoWooD Productions offer up a blend of arcade play and quick PC real-time-strategic gaming in Mayday Conflict Earth. While there are some similarities to JoWooD’s recent release of Thandor: The Invasion, this product has more graphically in common with Westwood’s Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun.

It also boasts different playing styles for whatever faction you decide to represent. The battlefields are spread across the continents of the Earth.

You choose to play as the UCA (United Continents of America), and enter into the new campaign. The mission briefing pops up: a base in Turkey as been attacked by Southern Block forces. You job is to repel the invaders, and fortify the base without wasting resources. The scene shifts. You see the barricaded base, with a lone assault tank sitting near its front gate. The three-dimensional looking terrain is shrouded in the fog-of-war (that means you can’t see it until you explore it). Hmmm, might as well have a ‘look-see’ off to the left of the base. Your tank rumbles that way, turns the corner as though to do a quick run around the perimeter of the base.

Suddenly alarms go off. A female voice, supposedly that of the computer, announces calmly: “Unit under attack, unit under attack.” You try to turn the tank as small explosion rock the landscape. Then, in the blink of an eye, it’s gone.

“Base under attack, base under attack.”

Frantically you scroll over to the main entrance to the gate, only to see that it is down, and red units are swarming all over your camp. Twenty seconds into the game, and you’ve already failed the first mission.

Yes, this game is incredibly fast-paced. While war is the primary focus of this product, there are enough of the resource management requirements to give it the same feel as a host of other RTS games. You have to manage resources, collect ores, research weapons, build and fight.

If you have ever played any other RTS game, you will find the controls intuitive. For the newcomer, the learning curve is 10-15 minutes to get a handle on the control elements. There isn’t a tutorial, so you may suffer numerous defeats before adjusting to the rapidity of the game play.

While the graphics and sounds of this program are quite good, Mayday suffers from the lack of anything innovative in the game itself. It is a rehash of other successful games, and will suffer by comparison. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with this product. It has all the elements of solid program that will entertain players. It features multiplayer action (in a server/client format where you either host or join a game – Net address required, and up to four players allowed in any scenario), an in-depth manual, and a wide range of missions (more than 40).

The game is built so that each mission leads to the next in an evolving storyline, and units will learn from previous battles, making the AI progressively skilled.

The game takes place 50 years from now, on May 1, 2051. While some may scoff that developments such as portrayed in this program are unlikely to happen in that short span of time – just look at what happened in the last 50s years. It may be unlikely, but it is possible.

This program is rated Teen due to animated violence. 

Install: Easy
This product does require additional installs, aside from the main program. But each is contained on the disk and moves smoothly, and quickly onto your hard drive.

Gameplay: 8.5
There are some stalls in the set-up of a scenario, but once launched, this program moves quickly, forcing the game player to be able to adjust and react in seconds.

Graphics: 7.5
Nicely rendered, though not innovative. The terrains are lush and have a three-dimensional feel, and the elements all move quite well.

Sound: 7.5
Again, this is a solid addition to the game, but not original. Mission briefings and intelligence are all given in QuickTime format, while the rest of the program features stock battlefield sounds and warnings.

Difficulty: 8.5
 You really have to be on your toes to survive in the rapid-paced structure of this game. It tends to be mostly reflexive gaming, though you have to engage the brain to think on a number of levels – which means not only managing the conflict, but keep your bases advancing through research and construction.

Concept: 6.5
Too much is borrowed to make this a sparkling, innovative game.

Multiplayer: 7
You have to link up with others in a host/client format, but the rewards are that human foes don’t often think as ra