The coolest RTS game of the 90s is now available to you for less than a dollar

The late 1990s were a real heyday for strategy games. Command and Conquer, C&C Red Alert, StarCraft Brood War, Commandos, Age of Empires 2, Total Annihilation, the original Homeworld – it can be easy to get lost among all the big names. But for my money, to this day, the coolest and best RTS games of all time have come from British development stars The Bitmap Brothers. Fast, bold, funny, and with one of the most unique gameplay systems you'll find, g It remains one of my favorite PC games of all time, and it's available to you now for less than a dollar.

I still remember the day a family friend visited us for dinner, and after the meal, he took out a jewelry box and showed it to my mother. He said that as a huge fan of RTS games – he also introduced me to both Commandos and Total Annihilation – this was one of the best games he had played. He explained that it would be right up my alley, but there was a little bit of expletives in it, so he wanted to pass it on first. Fortunately, I trusted his judgment and was handed a copy of Z's book.

Its opening scene, in which a pair of roving robot soldiers named Brad and Alan are reprimanded by the loud-mouthed Commander Zod for their indolence, was more than enough to hook me. But aside from the silly presentation and attractive crew of robots that even create your own armed forces, what makes Z tick minute by minute is its complete deviation from the traditional RTS formula of resource gathering and base building.

Battles in Z are about controlling territory. Each map is divided into regions, and touching the region's flag turns it into your region. When you control an area, you control the facilities within it – radar stations show nearby enemy forces, robot factories and vehicles let you expand your army, and so on. You decide what you want to build, and the more areas you control, the faster it will be completed; You lose control of the area at the last minute, and this unit is now created in the name of the enemy.

The units themselves are easy to learn and each have distinct strengths and weaknesses, and there are some interesting tricks that can lead to some interesting strategies. Jeeps and grunts, with their light machine guns, won't last long against heavy tanks and enemy turrets – but they have the ability to shoot the driver, allowing your units to take over on your side. It's a fast and frenetic game – and it gets quite difficult at times – but once you try it, there's nothing else quite like it.

Z is on sale for 87% off on Steam until Thursday, March 21. This means you'll only pay $0.90/£0.64 for one of the best strategy games of all time. You can too Get it Bundled with the sequel Z: Steel Soldiers at an 85% discount, priced at $2.24 / £1.91 – 2001's follow-up was a more traditional RTS, and inherently less interesting as a result, but a solid game in its own right if you want to go all out something.

For more of the best strategy games you might have missed in 2024, we've got a comprehensive list of the essentials. And if you want to go back to the glory days, we have the best retro games and PC classics that you can still play today.

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