Genocide

The Good
What can't I say about this game? It takes the classic DOS game Scorched Earth and renders it in a 3D Isometric format while retaining all the same gameplay and adding on to it.

The graphics are very detailed for the period considering it came from outside a major company. Although the maps are basically filled-in wireframe graphics, for the most part very colorful and detailed. Foliage can be seen (and destroyed) in some maps, adding an extra touch to them. Water is also present on some maps, and you don't want to be in it unless you have some "Water Wings". Aside from the mountainous terrain one would be used to from Scorched Earth, the maps also have their share of islands, deserts, (fully functional with lava that hurts you) volcanoes and even the occasional black hole or pyramid. Although underground terrain is sadly missing from Genocide, the variety of overland terrains to fight on makes up for the loss in a rather admirable fashion. Even the special effects from the weapons look cool.

And speaking of weapons, the arsenal in this game is incredible. You have nuclear weapons (which behave in a realistic fashion in comparison to Scorched Earth's nukes), space based particle cannons that can kill an unwary foe in a shot or two, corrosive "Gooey Bombs" that release an unending stream of material all over the map, napalm weapons that deal significant damage over a large area and also ignite Gooey Bomb blobs to make them do more damage, weapons that create volcanoes and so on. And most of them are really fun to use as well, causing great devastation over a wide area.

The map can be seen from three different angles (side, looking down at an angle and overhead) and from any heading, which allows for someone to adjust the accuracy of their shots with ease. In addition to Scorched Earth's "Power" and "Angle" settings, you must also set the direction that you wish to fire at (within a 360 degree arc). This third dimension of attack dramatically expands gameplay opportunities.

The Bad
There are some features missing from Scorched Earth that are not in here. Things like multiple border effects, adjustable gravity and wind speed, tank variety, tank movement without the use of a "Teleporter" and random terrain and weather effects are among the most notable losses.

I'm not sure about the sound effects (haven't bothered to disable EMS memory yet, and the sound won't work with EMS enabled). I'm going to hazard a guess and say that they are on the same level of Scorched Earth (in other words, passable but not terribly impressive).

The Bottom Line
Despite the fact that there are less adjustable features in here than in Scorched Earth, I must say that this is still the only such game outside of the Worms series to rival Scorched Earth. It is truly a forgotten classic. If you have the DOSBox emulator and find a copy of Genocide somewhere on the 'net, pick it up as soon as you have the time to do so. You will be entertained for weeks on end.