Marrying two substantially different genres often ends in disaster. Nuclear Dawn, a game by InterWave Studios, merges the first-person shooter with real-time strategy. Annulment seems imminent.

Although that sounds like a mismatched union, it works surprisingly well.

All but one player are the essential-but-typically-useless (when it comes to fighting) resource gatherers from a standard RTS. But this is a FPS; the resource gatherers are armed-to-the-teeth with guns, grenades, and special abilities.

The one absolved of the bloody, brutal task of accumulating resources is the commander. Although this player can still move away from the command center and engage the enemy, it isn’t wise: The commander’s role is absolutely vital to victory. Filling this role is as easy as applying for position while choosing a class. And if the current commander is doing a lousy job, there's an option to start a mutiny. 

Basically, the commander directs the resource gatherers toward objectives, enemies, and choke points. At the same time, the commander is building Transport Gates (spawn points); plopping down all manner of turrets (machine gun, rocket, flamethrower); strategically placing Supply Stations for healing and restocking ammunition; and networking all of these with Relay Towers, the structures that expand the commander’s area of influence.

Once the area of influence increases, it allows more structures to be built further and further out, which in turn allows the gun-toting resource guys to spawn closer to the enemy base, the commander to build more turrets at strategic locations, and so on.

In order to do this, the team has to secure and hold Resource Points. Resource Points generate energy that the commander can use to power the different types of structures. Think of it in terms of base-building in a pure RTS, where a steady flow of resources means a rapidly expanding base, and a bigger base means more control of the map. Once one team can enter the starting area of the opposing team and destroy the command center, it’s round over.

Playing on a full server significantly increases the essentiality of working together. Undeniably, Nuclear Dawn is meant to be played with a full team. I know this because my first few matches were played on sparsely populated servers; many of us didn’t know what we were doing, but I was able to understand the fundamentals of the game. And the community was great when it came to helping out new players. At least, that’s been the case in every match I’ve played.

But the community is really the only problem that I foresee in Nuclear Dawn’s future. Basically, there isn’t a very big one. As you can imagine, this can become a problem in a multiplayer-only game.

I did see several people during a match commenting on a single-player update at some point, with the addition of selectable and controllable units at the commander’s disposal. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find this information on the forums or on the main website, so I can’t confirm this. Plus, I’m not sure how beneficial this would be to the longevity of the game. If an update added a great single-player component, there would be even less people playing multiplayer.

Despite this, Nuclear Dawn is a fascinating foray into the realm of genre mash-ups. I believe if the price is lowered (it’s kind of steep at $25) the community will grow; once that happens, I could foresee this becoming a game that a dedicated community will come back to over and over again.