Destroying robots with lasers, bombing buildings into the ground, and artillery bombardments are all a part of Total Annihilation, and they show up in P.U.R.E. in full force. All of the conventions you knew and loved in the original Total Annihilation are back in freeware form. In fact, the comparisons seem a little close, just with switched names. However, P.U.R.E. offers some great rebalancing and variety, turning it into more of just a Total Annihilation clone.

The story behind P.U.R.E. is very generic science-fiction fare. You choose either the human faction or the robot faction and participate in a series of skirmish missions to win the war for your side. The story and setting are completely forgettable, but that isn't the point behind the game. It's not designed to tell a great story, but rather deliver some excellent gameplay for skirmish and multiplayer modes.

The basic gameplay of P.U.R.E. is unaltered from its inspiration. You collect Minerals and Energy at a constant rate, and when building things decrease it at a constant rate. You can store a stockpile of resources if you want to build things faster than you can generate the resources for them, but maintaining an economy that never exceeds its production limit is usually a good thing, so you won't be using stockpiles much. Unless you are partaking on a particularly large construction project, of course.

The most readily noticeable thing about the balance in P.U.R.E. is that there aren't many units that replicate another units function but with a different look. You have bipedal robots and tanks performing similar tasks, but that is the closest you come to having units with the same function. There are units to shoot down air units, blow apart ground units, detect enemy units, or bombard locations on the map. Each one is useful to furthering the goals of your war effort, and using a single unit type is a sure way to end up on the losing side of a conflict.

Units tend to counter each other fairly effectively and without much variation in the standard formula. Snipers counter turrets, normal units counter snipers, artillery and air counters normal units, and anti-air and turrets counter air. Everything has a tool-tip that tells you the general idea of what the unit is supposed to do. It would be nice if the tool-tips were more descriptive, but they are serviceable enough to let you discover the usefulness of certain units on your own. It does make navigating the tech tree rather baffling, though.

The graphics are average and the unit design is functional but not particularly notable or memorable. The entire art design of the game, from the menus to the interface to the textures, follows this pattern, which is disappointing. However, the music in the game is great, fitting greatly to the mood and accentuating the elements of Total Annihilation that the developers focused on. It's the best part of the art design on the game.

The one extreme annoyance with P.U.R.E. is the incredibly lackluster interface. While games like P.U.R.E. often have an interface similar to other games within the same genre, they almost never take up as much of the screen as P.U.R.E. does. Instead of looking at the battlefield with a wide lens, it feels very narrow and constricted, even when zoomed out. A much better interface would make the game infinitely better and reduce the learning curve significantly. There is also no main menu, which is practically inexcusable. The main menu is actually outside the game and can only be accessed by exiting the game proper. And even then, one can only quit by using Shift + Esc. There has to be a main menu!

The major downside to P.U.R.E. is the absolutely abysmal AI and pathfinding. Just about every RTS has had pathfinding issues, but P.U.R.E. is especially bad. Units will go the wrong way, slow down and stop for no discernible reason, making coordination almost impossible. Not only that, but units have awful AI, often responding slowly or attacking a target that poses less threat to it than something two feet away. It's a freeware game, and AI issues are present in just about every RTS imaginable, but it's a little ridiculous even for a freeware product. It is forgivable, though, thanks to the great gameplay and game's nature as an open beta project.

The multiplayer in the game is average, consisting of what you went through in Skirmish but with a human on the other end. The game utilizes Spring's online multiplayer lobby service, which is admittedly mediocre. There's plenty of desyncing for the discerning online player to wade through in order to play. It's loads of fun on a LAN, though, especially since the small size of the program and free nature make it perfect for those playing together through a LAN.

Games will inevitably be compared to the games with which they share the most similarities. Games like Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft, or Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space. This isn't a bad thing, though, and neither is P.U.R.E. With satisfying strategic action and a fairly decent re-imagining of the Total Annihilation gameplay, it is definitely recommended for any fan of FTS games. You can download the game through our downloads section or through Wolfe Games. Make sure to let Wolfe Games know how you feel about the game, as player feedback is continually being incorporated back into the game!

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