ParaWorld - hands-on

We can't quite put our finger on what makes ParaWorld 's unique brand of dinosaur stomping real-time strategy gameplay such pure awesomesauce. Sure, commanding a legion of ballista-launching Triceratopses made our inner third-graders swoon, but the delicious visuals and attention to details satisfied our grown-up side at the same time.

Digging into the long, dry tutorial was a bit of a stumbling start, but our patient mentor gave us a thorough layout of the building types and units. Keeping our settlement well stocked in lumber, food and stone enabled us to construct barracks, lumber mills and stone quarries. We began to really build momentum for our army when we recruited heroes, but had a growing feeling that the all-too-familiar Warcraft III gameplay would tire us out early. Then came the dinosaurs.

In this parallel world (hence, ParaWorld), dinosaurs are the heaviest hitters, and that offsets the all-powerful hero game of WCIII. Gathering enough resources unlocked new epochs of technology, and allowed us to build "zoos" that raised battle-ready beasts and new weaponry. But our high-tech breakthroughs had a fossilized flavor to them. The sweet smell of gunpowder in the air came from our giant, armored Triceratops Titan that came complete with a mounted mortar on top. Our previously pedestrian archers now rode shotgun astride lumbering allosaurs. Everything suddenly became bigger, faster and struck with untamed ferocity.