You'd think with all of Hollywood's disaster movies we'd already have a dozen or so games that highlight how much the Earth is pissed off at us. The upcoming strategy game Maelstrom plans to give us every possible disaster all at once. The human race is split into two warring factions fighting over the last remaining resources after multiple global cataclysms... just before an alien invasion. Nice timing, guys.

The residents of Earth in 2050 look and control quite differently from one another, down to their on-screen interfaces. Each possesses something that will satisfy nearly any real-time strategist's style of play. Every army is led by an extremely powerful Hero unit, but heavy dependence on them becomes a double-edged sword - losing your faction's leader is a crippling blow.

The newbie-friendly Remnants are led by the ex-Navy seal James Buchanan. If the Remnants can't set it on fire, they'll just blow it up. Their ranks are filled with numerous expert human hackers; they can modify nearly anything, including abandoned US Army helicopters, tanks and jeeps. Meanwhile, the high-tech Ascension clan is like a global corporation that has grown out of control. Led by the power-mad Maximilian Khan, their cybernetically enhanced troops are few in number but extremely versatile. Their weakness is clearly a heavy dependence on energy, but these high-tech, skull-crushing robots possess the most destructive weaponry in the game.