Empire Earth

This real-time strategy epic by Age of Empires creator Rick Goodman, lets you control the development of your chosen race from the Paleolithic era to the futuristic Nano Age of the 23rd century. You can choose from some of history's best known civilisations, such as the Greeks, or evolve your own as you play by choosing from well over 100 unique attributes.

You can train more than 200 types of combat units and take advantage of the military savvy of some of the humanity's most notorious leaders, from Charlemagne to Churchill. You can fight them on the beaches, you can sink their battleships, by engaging in naval battles with more than 40 different ships, from 16th-century ships-of-the-line to modern aircraft carriers, or you can reach for the skies, with over 30 types of aircraft, such as Sopwith Camels, Spitfires, F-15s, Apache Gunships and B-2 Bombers. In the future you can even train colossal and intelligent 'mechs to ward off the alien invasion.

The game also makes good use of atmospheric effects and terrain, allowing you to take advantage of the cover of night in a stealth mission, or gain the upper hand by taking the upper ground. But military might is not the only way to win the day. Religion is also a good way of conquering enemy forces and you can surreptitiously convert an enemy's citizens with furtive priests and if you are feeling particularly Old Testament, you can instruct a prophet to invoke devastating calamities such as volcanoes, earthquakes and plagues. Empire Earth gives you great freedom to rule exactly how you see fit.