This spring has been particularly busy for the real time strategy genre, with many titles bringing new tricks and innovations to the table in an attempt to rise above the others. Some of these new ideas have worked out pretty well. Some, like Gas Powered Games' newest title Demigod, have been a bit more on the iffy side.

Obvious effort has been put into the game, and I can appreciate the level of polish that many aspects of it possess, but it's been an uphill battle the whole way to figure out exactly what it is about this game that's supposed to be so much fun.

The gameplay pretty much boils down to running around the map and trying to hold the flags positioned at various points in the world. These flags convey bonuses such as an increase in the experience you earn or extra gold production for as long as you hold them, as well as create hot spots where much of the combat will occur. The overall goal is to slowly but surely push your enemy back into their base before crushing their citadel to win the game. Several other multiplayer modes round things out a bit, but there's really nothing new or exciting. They are, however, tried and true RTS mechanics that work well with the other pieces of the puzzle.

Building upon ideas first seen in mods like Warcraft 3's Defense of the Ancients, Demigod doesn't put you directly in control of most of the action. This is where my irritation begins. The variety of demigods to choose from (each with their own differing abilities and stats) is good enough, and at times it can certainly be fun to unleash some of the more impressive powers, but overall the whole thing feels like an over glorified Diablo clone. I walk around, kill some bad guys, get some experience, level up my stats and equipment, then do it all over again. The modest number of direct powers that each demigod has to choose from means you're often spamming the same spell or attack over and over, and things get boring in a hurry no matter how good it all looks.

Perhaps what irritated me the most is that your demigod is pretty much the only unit you'll ever have any control over. Aside from some minions that several of the demigods can summon to assist them, every other unit on your team is controlled completely by the game's AI. It does a fairly decent job of doing what you'd expect it to, but it's often frustrating when it doesn't. It also creates a sense that the game is playing itself, further complicating my search for the entertainment value that must be here somewhere.

As I mentioned, most of the game revolves around your demigod. One of the big problems I had was that I'm supposed to be this big, magical powerhouse of a guy (or girl) yet I never really got a sense that I was all that powerful. Small groups of seemingly normal creatures armed with just swords and shields can beat down lower level characters within seconds. Towers that some of the demigods could crush beneath their heels tear you apart faster than you can run away sometimes. I went in to the game wanting to wreak havoc as this almighty being, yet came away feeling like a complete wimp. Things do admittedly get better at higher levels, but even at the highest ranks I was only just beginning to get a sense that I had any real power.

Like most other multiplayer games there's a bit of a learning curve to Demigod, especially when you're going to be working together with other players towards a common goal. This apparently completely slipped the minds of the developers, as there is no single player campaign to ease you into things, or even a basic tutorial to teach you the game's concepts and controls. Plenty of games have had success as multiplayer only titles, but the complete lack of a tutorial really is inexcusable. I'm lucky enough to know people that own the game and thus have someone to teach me the ropes, but I can imagine that there are many frustrated gamers out there that would've loved some sort of an introduction.

Aside from my concerns about the gameplay, Demigod suffers from some technical issues that I think potential buyers should be aware of. I never encountered any crashes or weird bugs while playing, but the game's multiplayer code has been the source of much rage directed towards Stardock, the publisher. Everything from people who can't connect to one another or others who can't connect at all, to people who are completely disconnected from the internet for a few moments when trying to join a game, there have been issues galore with Demigod's online system. Stardock is a company with a great track record of putting out mostly bug-free software as well as doing a great job of supporting it after release, but they really sort of dropped the ball with Demigod's launch. The situation has improved somewhat due to a handful of patches, but there are still friends who I'm completely unable to get into a game of Demigod with because it simply refuses to allow us to connect.

I'm still trying to find the fun in Demigod. I don't think it's a bad game, not by far. Perhaps it's just not my cup of tea, who knows? Fans of the genre will surely find it to be a solid title that hits many if not all of the right notes for them. As for me, I'll probably give the multiplayer a few more attempts, but chances are that Demigod won't manage to hold my attention for too much longer.

Title: Demigod
Price: $39.95 (Download) $49.95 (Retail box)
Platform: PC
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Score: 6.0 out of 10

 (Check me out on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/emajkut )