The third time may be the charm for the Empire Earth series. Developer Mad Doc is cutting the fat to make Empire Earth III a lean and mean RTS machine. The series' premise remains the same. Your battles will span the history and future of warfare as you progress through epochs of primitive cavemen to futuristic assault mechs. But instead of throwing a massive amount of new units and epochs at Empire Earth II and calling it day, Mad Doc has instead taken a close look at how they can refine and synthesize the Empire Earth experience into a more streamlined package.

Everything from the number of civilizations to the amount of epochs to progress through has been trimmed down, bringing focus to the sprawled out feel of Earth Earth II. Even the number of hot keys required to play have been cut down, and the entire UI has been scrapped in the name of smoother gameplay.

There are three factions to choose from this time around. The Far East army has a bit of zerginess to them, and excels at overwhelming their foes with cheap and plentiful cannon fodder. Their future tech has a techno-organic appearance, and later units look like the love child of a Zerg and Protoss. In contrast, the West will bring more expensive and powerful units to the table, with huge walkers, space ships, and mechs to look forward to. The Mid East will appeal to sneaky players who like raiding bases through the back door with stealthy moves. Their last epoch has a Mad Max look to it, with rag tag and battered vehicles.