At the head of your fleet, you plan colonisations, terraform planets, manage your resources and decide on the appropriate technological research to lead mankind where you want it to go. Diplomacy combined with a top-notch spy network will enable you to survive in a stellar system that is much more dangerous than it would appear. Who says that space is empty? Black holes, asteroid fields, nebulas, cosmic clouds, wormholes and alien races make each fleet sortie a perilous affair.

You will also have to keep an eye on every officer in your fleet. In the middle of a battle involving hundreds of spaceships in an unknown solar system you cannot be everywhere at once; you therefore have to trust your men and pray your confidence is justified. Much more than simple pilots, each has a history and life of his own…as time goes by they will be promoted in the ranks, gain experience and become more and more valuable to you. You become master of their destiny.

Equipped for second and third generation graphic cards, the game engine draws fully on the latest technology. The real-time 3D engine took one and a half years to develop. With a display capacity of 100,000 polygons, the engine also boasts an excellent frame rate thanks to the LOD (Level of Detail) system.

This system optimises display, with impressive zoom effects enabling the player to analyse all the vessels and planets right down to the finest detail. The special effects are quite simply breathtaking, from every angle, in all configurations, with dynamic lighting, lifelike shadows and reflections. All damage is precisely located, making the game incredibly realistic and affording it unbelievable graphic beauty.

Reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster, the twenty minutes of cinematic cutscenes in Haegemonia - Legions Of Iron are quite stunning. The film accompanies not only the single and classic multiplayer modes but also the other multiplayer modes (8 or 16 players), and ranges from the deathmatch, skirmish to the co-operative mode, with fully customisable units.

Great care has been taken with the AI, such an essential element in a strategy game. The hundreds of units can not only maintain their flight formations – a great bonus for the gameplay – but they also react intelligently to all game situations according to their characteristics and those of their crews.