I'd agree that this premise is an original one, but don't hold your breath if you're expecting original game play to go along with it.  Immediately you'll notice that the game play is very similar to that of the C&C series, only it's not nearly as solid.  Although, Steel Soldiers is noticeably different in that, instead of mining or harvesting, credits are generated by the acquisition of territories.

Each map contains a series of defined land areas, which are each controlled by a flag.  Either team has the ability to take over the area by touching the flag, which causes the outline to turn the corresponding team color.  When you take over territories you gain access to the buildings present in the area - often this is very helpful.  Additionally, these territories are assigned numerical values that allow you to earn more credits (multipliers), so the key is to control the territories that have the largest numbers on the flags.  Don't think that you can simply take over a territory and forget about it because if you do, it will be back into enemy control before you know it.  I think they may be on to something with this concept, but just don't expect perfection quite yet.

With the credits generated from territory control, you are able to invest in your war efforts in many ways: new structures, vehicles (land, sea, & air), and robots (foot soldiers).  The air vehicles, including various helicopters and planes, are noticeably cooler than the others you can create.  Though there are some unique robots that can be strategically utilized in the game, such as the spies.  A spy has the ability to plant a virus in the enemy systems, a tool that can be quite beneficial.

The command center is the central building (HQ) and here you're able to create construction robots.  These robots have the ability to build the other buildings that are included in the game, such as: the vehicle factory, robot factory, airstrip, and more.  Once created, these buildings allow you to build the respective units inside the different facilities.  This process is simple and it, along with basically everything else in the game, is easily controlled using the mouse.  The left mouse button controls most of the primary functions, but the right button is also essential in accessing the additional options of an object.  The cursor changes depending on what you click, which can be useful, but many times you'll click on an object and get no response.  When the battle is raging such a flaw isn't very pleasing.  Also controlled using the mouse is the highly adjustable camera view, an option that has not typically been present in other battlefield style games.  You're able to change the zoom, angle and even tilt of the camera, which can be useful in many battle situations.

Another annoying property of this game occurs when units won't target the close-by enemies.  Sometimes they'll even be getting shot at and they'll just sit there like nothing's going on - until they blow up, of course.  Even when two robots are practically side-by-side and one of them is shooting at the enemy, the other one will often just chill and do nothing to help.  Could the AI use some additional attention?  I sure think so.

A feature that I enjoyed was the different color rings that surround selected units.  These rungs indicate a robot's line of site and also the weapon range.  Units are supposed to act on enemies within this range, but as stated above, this doesn't always happen.  Similarly, construction robots will work on damaged buildings / units that are in their site range.  This is helpful, especially when the battle requires your attention (if it works out like it should).

The ability to easily group multiple units has been included and these groups can be later accessed simply by pushing the number key that you assign to them.  I found this to be very helpful when controlling various different squadrons.  The only problem with traveling in a group is that often the various units split up, despite the orders you issue.

There are a few minor functions in the game that I was really excited about.  First of all, you can set a rally point for units that are built inside a factory, so they don't just gather around the structure, as we've all seen this occur once too many times.  Also, there is an option for "build repeat," allowing more of the specific items to be build without continuously clicking the mouse button.  Though even with this feature enabled it still seems like units take forever to be built.  Too much waiting and too little actual fighting yields very little fun.

Included are three levels of difficulty: easy, normal, and hard.  Typically, easy allows a beginner to compete while adapting to a new game.  Well, not the case in Steel Soldiers, as you may find yourself being overtaken even on the easiest setting.  There are three game modes, which are: single player, multiplayer, and skirmish.  Skirmish is basically like a multiplayer game where you can set most options, but it's against one or multiple computer players.

If you're used to having the ability to play with two discretely different teams, you can't forget about doing so in Steel Soldiers.  All players used the same units, buildings, and everything else, as only the colors vary.  This makes the game play a little too monotonous and lessens the ability to come up with varied plans of attack.

There are various windows on the main screen, which are used to view radar and other areas of the map.  These are helpful when you want to observe the action in areas outside your viewing range, allowing you to click on them and be taken to that area.  The windows and other available menus can be arranged to your liking, rather than always interfering with your ability to control your team.  Even with this feature, it's still often difficult to navigate the terrain and the available units.  Everything just seems too slow.  Besides air units, all others seem to move at about the same pace.  It seems to me that ground vehicles be significantly faster than foot soldiers.  I know they're robots, but come on now.

Graphically, Steel Soldiers isn't bad, but rather a little boring.  Sure, there are some impressive shadow and reflection effects, but is that enough to win most people over?  Probably not.  The landscapes are plain and simple.  Of course there's water, hills, and various terrains, but everything has a washed out appearance.  The explosions are decent, but they are too opaque to really stand out.

The sound is just average.  Included are the basic battle sounds, some so-so music, and phrases that the robots say during battle.  They are comical in nature, but they get old after you've heard them repeated too much.

To me, not enough of the content or ideas in Steel Soldiers seems extremely new or innovative.  Instead, it just reminds me of a few other strategy games from a few years ago, which no one plays anymore.  This concept has already been done too many times.  Resultantly, an extremely unique twist must be put on the game for it to stand a chance.  At first glance, Steel Soldiers seems like a game that has done so, but once you get into the actual game play, you'll quickly think otherwise.  An old game with new graphics doesn't make for a likeable game - something that publishers should keep in mind.

Install: Easy
This one eats up about 650MB of hard drive space.

Gameplay: 6.5
Overall the game play isn't very fun.  Although it looks like your typical strategy warfare game, the actual game play just isn't up to par.  Everything seems to run a little on the slow side and unfortunately there is no adjustment for this.

Graphics: 7
Respectable, but they don't catch your eye as much as they could.  Everything possesses a washed-out quality to it and detail is often lacking in the open territory.

Sound: 7
The sound isn't any different than you'd expect, boring music and typical war sounds.  The repetitiveness of the phrases yelled by the robots doesn't at all help to mix things up a bit.  Although, I can't say the sound is necessarily bad.

Difficulty: 6
This game is very difficult overall.  Even if set on the easiest level, you'll be running to defend your base more than you will be going on the offensive.

Concept: 6
An exhausted concept, which has been done no better than it had been a few years ago.

Multiplayer: 7
Better than single player (skirmish mode included), but this one still doesn't possess enough variability to make it a worthwhile multiplayer game.  It's good for some laughs, but not too much more than that.

Overall: 6.6
If you're still satisfied with a similar classic strategy game, my advice is to stick with what you have for now.  Steel Soldiers doesn't pack the necessary punch for success.