Ground Control

Ground Control is a real-time strategy game that does something wonderfully civilized: it removes the need to spend half the game constructing farms, factories and increasingly ridiculous numbers of power plants. Developed by Massive Entertainment, it focuses directly on commanding military units across detailed battlefields, with terrain and tactical positioning playing important roles. You choose forces, deploy them and concentrate on battlefield decisions rather than traditional base construction. The result is a more tactical flavor of RTS, rewarding players who think about positioning and unit composition instead of simply producing enough tanks to solve every problem. Its 3D presentation was impressive for its era, while the campaign provides a substantial science-fiction military setting. If you prefer tactics over economic micromanagement, Ground Control remains an interesting classic.