Crossfire: Legion aims to be a ‘classic RTS,’ but instead just feels dated

polygon.com:

In a year when publisher Smilegate Entertainment is trying to bring one of the world’s most popular games to western audiences, Crossfire: Legion feels like something of a black sheep.

Crossfire, the multiplayer first-person shooter, is massive in Asia — particularly in China and South Korea. It boasts 8 million concurrent players and 690 million registered users, according to Smilegate, along with numerous multimedia spinoffs. At E3 2019, however, the company announced CrossfireX, a single-player campaign being developed by Control creator Remedy Entertainment. To bring a multiplayer shooter west, it makes sense to do so with a tailored, narrative-focused first-person experience.

Crossfire: Legion,on the other hand, is aimed at a more niche space: that of old-school real-time strategy games. It helps that it’s being made by Blackbird Interactive, the studio behind the excellent Homeworld: Deserts of Kharakand the upcoming Homeworld 3 — but still, I can’t help feeling like it’s a shot in the dark.

During a recent press briefing, a spokesperson from publisher Prime Matter called Legion a “classic RTS.” I then spent several hours playing an early “technical test,” and I don’t disagree with that taxonomy. Legion is streamlined and simple, focused more on actions-per-minute than deliberate chess moves. Its units comprise the usual infantry/vehicle/aircraft trifecta, along with commander powers that, when timed well, can turn the tide of a pitched battle.

I played custom matches against AI bots, alternating between the factions of Global Risk and Black List. I preferred the latter, which opts for guerrilla tactics over sheer numbers, and can traverse the map more quickly. In keeping with old-school games like Warcraft 2: