Future Wars is as straightforward as strategy games get. The 16 level campaign has players taking the role of Max, a freshman student at a futuristic military academy. Over half of the levels are used to slowly unlock new units and ease players into using them. The story itself is a pretty cheesy and generally forgettable, but the strategy component is solid, albeit simple. Each unit has unique range, damage potential and limitations. So, it's up to players to deploy them strategically so that they can back one another up. There are two ways to win: Capture the enemy headquarters or eliminate all the opponent's units from the map. Capturing cities increases the amount of resources collected per turn and factories allow players to churn out units at a faster rate. Most of the campaign missions are set up like puzzles, where enemies have a significant advantage, like having more units on the ground or access to technology that the player doesn't. Players need to outsmart the puzzle and figure out a means to victory. Unfortunately, if you have any experience with games like Advance Wars, Future Wars comes off feeling very shallow and easy in comparison.

For starters, there aren't any commander abilities or super weapons to help liven up gameplay. Without that, there main character lacks a strong sense of identity, and it's difficult to care about anything that goes on in the story. There are two armies available, and apart from aesthetics, they're mirror images of each other. The units have a very generic feel that include small selection of infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft that are all designed with the rock-paper-scissors philosophy. It's no exaggeration to say that there's a dismal selection of units. There are only two air units, made up of an attack chopper and an unarmed infantry transport. This is supposed to be a sci-fi themed game, so where are the jets, heavy bombers and vehicle transports? Infantry units are similarly disappointing, since the least expensive unit is practically useless and the cost stops being an issue for getting heavy troopers after the first turn. It looks like the developers went too far in trying to capture a casual audience, because Future Wars doesn't have enough features to keep experienced gamers interested.

There's no fog of war option that we could find, so players are always aware of enemy movement and positions. There's no such thing as setting up an ambush or sneak attack. The worst part is that there isn't any LAN or direct online multiplayer. There's play-by-email and hotseat with support for two players, but both are cumbersome for different reasons. Aside from the general look of the game, it doesn't feel like the developers put a lot of creativity into the game. There are a couple useful features, like how recounting the last few moves when players continue a game and how play-by-email lets player drag and drop the session file into the game window for instant messenger sessions, but they hardly help the game stand out. Even with the map editor, there's no shaking that sense that Future Wars has only has the bare minimum features to make it functional. There's nothing terribly innovative here, so anyone who has played Advance Wars will have a "been there, done that... and better" feel when playing Future Wars. The low price helps us forgive the shallow gameplay, but not much. Beginners may have a good time since there are tragically few games like it on the PC right now, but there isn't enough here to keep our attention.