Reviews - AnarchyDom

My team hangs back - leaving a few soldiers on the frontline to feign an attack. Back at the Northern Faction base, we begin producing jeeps in bulk. Everyone changes to the grenadier class - soldiers focused on explosives. We assign drivers to the jeeps and jump in, filling the speedy vehicles with bristling rocket launchers.

We line up, and the commander says something on mic; "Go". With this, the jeep at the front drives at full speed towards the enemy base. Everyone else follows in formation. As the convoy reaches the centre of the map, however, someone notices in the distance, and to the left, an enemy jeep. A few seconds later, and it is clear that the enemy is attempting the same tactic, their command vehicle leading their brave rush. Chuckles erupt on voicechat as we follow their unknowing formation; driving back on ourselves.

As their troops spill out of their jeeps and begin firing on our base, they notice the absence of our command vehicle. One soldier turns around, noticing with a shriek our jeeps, subsequently pinning them in in their enemy's base. We destroy their commander, winning the match. Laughing, sweating and grinning at their keyboards, the players prepare for the next match.

I have experienced a lot of great moments in Empires, from turning the tide of a battle with just a single, skilled squad, to the jeep rush that went (amazingly) not according to plan. Finding the right group of people to play with is fantastic - the game can be tense, tactical and downright hilarious with a good crowd.
For the uninitiated, Empires is an FPS/RTS hybrid, with one player playing as the RTS commander, and the rest of the team playing as FPS soldiers. The gameplay is varied - one moment you will be sniping and sneaking, the next rolling around in a huge tank.

Empires is a truly classic Half Life 2 mod.