Metal Fatigue

An interesting and hard to find game, Metal Fatigue (MF) applied a handful of innovative form the ever popular "Total Annihilation" as well as a few of its own little quirks. Basically its three servings diet Total Annihilation with a dash of Japan inspired giant robots.
MF's basic game play is standard fare for most RTS games. Gather, Build, Attack, repeat as needed. MF however stands apart on a few fronts.

The most noticeable is that your battlefield is clearly separated into three aspects. Effectively you are playing on three separate maps at the same time. One for ground forces, one for airborne/orbital forces and one for subterranean forces. This in theory allowed the player a wide range of creative defensive and offensive strategies. Unfortunately poor path finding development and a handful of exploits detract somewhat form an otherwise excellent game play element.
The game also utilized actual 3D models instead of the sprites that remained a mainstay of RTS for many years after its release. The use of 3D allowed for a handful of customizable units and a basic physics model ensured that when some units were destroyed certain parts would break off and scatter on the battlefield.
To make things even more interesting, these wrecks, sometimes whole weapon systems could be salvaged for a number of applications; reverse-engineering, recycling and repair-re-arm among them. This made the game's primary unit, giant robotic tanks, an even more interesting element then the multi-level battlefield. Each factory could be told to make them in a specific configuration. Allowing the player to field a variety of units effectively, or to custom tailor each unit to his/her suiting. These units could also be redesigned by returning to a factory allowing the player to re-configure their army quickly or re-arm damaged units.
In short, MF is a game ahead of its time. Interesting and innovative aspects came short of their intended goal, though not before giving the gamer a juicy taste of where the genre could go. A few, but notable flaws and poor distribution keep this game from shinning as brightly as it should, but any RTS enthusiast worth his/her salt would do well to give this game a spin. Despite its shortcomings this is a very good game with plenty of room for the tactical and strategic experimenting that RTS gamers enjoy.