The war of the future will be fought in the past – actually 2,000,000 years in the past. And that is thanks to a time traveling machine known as an EON.

Original War, a PC release from Virgin Interactive and Altar, is a real-time strategy game that features solid graphical elements and three difficulty levels, although it rehashes the age-old conflict between the United States and Russia.

The year is 2010, and the discovery of a machine has led to a startling revelation – the past can be altered, thus destroying the present. The EON was taken to Area 51 for study, but by the time scientists realized what they had, they had exhausted almost all the material that makes the EON work. However, there is a plentiful source in Siberia. Thus a plan is hatched to send a group of Marines back in time, to 2,000,000 years B.C., recover the Siberite and transport it to Alaska, where scientists in the future can safely retrieve it.

There are some problems with the EON though. Though it can target a certain time, there is no guarantee that a unit will arrive at the same time or in the same place. John Macmillan finds himself in prehistoric Siberia alone – or he thinks he is. A mysterious radio message crackles across the air, telling him to move or he will die.

As Macmillan races for the shelter of the forest, a Russian soldier appears (accompanied by several others as well as a futuristic mobile artillery unit), looking for the U.S. soldier. Macmillan is able to rendezvous with two others and the trio is ordered to make its way to a checkpoint – which is at the other end of the initial mission’s mapboard. Oh yes, there are quite a number of deceptions, false messages trying to lure the soldiers into a trap, as well as numerous Russian combat units. It would appear, in the American perspective of the game, that the Russians have been in the past much longer, and have superior equipment and numbers.

Of course, there are two sides to every conflict, and players can also take the Russian side, if so inclined.

Original War is a two-disk game that comes with an electronic manual. You can access it during game play if you have questions about how to accomplish assignments. One of the earlier objectives will be to capture enemy buildings. You will have picked up engineers by this time, and though it interrupts the flow of the game, you can easily access the information needed to figure out how to accomplish this task. That can be a problem. The game stops while you are looking up the information, and you can save the game at any point. Still, while troops are crawling through the undergrowth scouting for enemy soldiers and hoping to be able to win without losing the few units they have, running to an electronic manual really dashes the mood.

Another drawback is that while you can group the entire unit and move it as one, some of the individuals won’t drop to their bellies and crawl through the tall grass. The engineers walk upright, as does the scientists (which are invaluable as medics). The only thing you can do is separate your unit into combatants and noncombatants (the engineers will fight, so think of it rather as those who crawl and those who won’t), hold the upright characters back in the trees and send your firepower inching along the ground to scout or flank and attack the enemy.

For those who have played RTS games before, the player interface is somewhat intuitive, and you should have little trouble figuring out how to move elements around, and how to set up attacks. For those who have yet to venture into this genre, you will have a learning curve ahead of you.

The game is somewhat linear. If you are killed during a mission, and restart that mission, you can count on finding the mission objective elements in the same areas. For example, in the first mission, if you die right after finding the third soldier, you can restart the mission, go straight to the positions where there were before, and there they are.

Graphically this game is very solid. Think of civilization games like Age of Empires or Civilization, or battle-oriented RTS products like Command and Conquer, and you will have a fair idea how this game looks. The soldiers are animated very well, and the environmental elements are wonderful.

However, the sound track leaves something to be desired. The music is good, and the effects are typical or what one would expect, but the vocal characterizations are not that good, and the game is laced with strong language (profanity). The Russian accents are horrible, and whining – as well as sarcasm – is lost because the voice actors seem to lack conviction when they utter the lines from what can be perceived as a less-than-sterling script.

That is not to say that the game lacks a good plot. On the contrary, the storyline for Original War is interesting, and really sets the stage for an ordinary RTS.

Is Original War original? The storyline is somewhat fresh, but the game play is typical of some of the like battle games published in recent years. But Original War is entertaining, and enjoyable.

This program is rated Teen for strong language and violence.

Install: Easy.
This game can take up to 500 megs of hard-drive space, and is contained on two CDs

Gameplay: 7
For those familiar with RTS-style games, the play will prove somewhat intuitive, and you should be able to work through it easily enough. The electronic manual can prove a hindrance, or interruption, to those who need to clarify how to accomplish a certain task. The mapboards for each mission are not that big, and the game itself seems somewhat linear.

Graphics: 7.5
The environments and animations are very well done.

Sound: 6
The sound effects are average, the music is well done, but the vocal characterizations leave something to be desired. The “strong language” also seems unnecessary in moving the game along.

Difficulty: 7
Again, the electronic manual can be a hindrance. There are three difficulty levels, which should challenge most players.

Concept: 7.5
The time travel back to prehistoric times adds a nice storyline touch to a typical RTS battle game.

Multiplayer: 7
This game does feature multiplayer gaming with up to five participants choosing either the American or Russian side for strategic war gaming.

Overall: 7
There are drawbacks, to be certain, but if you overlook them, you will find the plot intriguing and the game enjoyable. The linear nature of the game makes it easy to take chances and then try another tack – if you guessed wrong. Saving the game at pivotal decision points is wise.