That's why I was excited to hear about Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde.  Goblin Commander is not a PC game and it probably never will be.  It was developed from the ground up with the game console controllers in mind.

Sounds like a great idea, but did this development strategy create better results?

Players will be delighted by Goblin Commander's two gameplay modes.  The standard controls situate the game from a top-down view.  You have a cursor, and with it you can quickly peruse the area and see what's ahead.  Parts of the world that have not been explored are blacked out, making it impossible to take a sneak peak at what your adversaries might be planning.

The cursor's main purpose is to select units and direct them toward a target.  The target could be anything from an enemy to a large gate protecting the enemy, or just a giant boulder.  This is done in the simplest of ways: press the A button (or a designated unit button) to place a guide point flag.  If the flag is placed near or on top of an enemy, your warriors will rip him to shreds.  If the flag is placed on top of a machine, your warriors will destroy it.  These controls are all about pointing and clicking.  It's like most real-time strategy games only a lot easier to maneuver on a console.

That wasn't enough though.  Goblin Commander's developers wanted to make the game even more appropriate for a console.  And what's more appropriate than giving the player the chance to take control of an individual warrior?  Selecting an individual unit (including a giant, hugely powerful Titan) brings the camera down to a behind-the-character view.  The camera can be managed using the C-stick, giving players optimal control where it is necessary.  The thumbstick moves the goblin in the same way that it would if the game were an action/adventure.  Your allies can be told to follow, and they'll attack enemies on their own.  You may not always want to put them in danger, especially when you're commanding a Titan, so you also have the option to tell your units to stay where they are.

There's a decent amount of destruction in this game; when you're not slaughtering enemy goblins, be on the lookout for rocks and other destructible objects.  Destroying them will increase your wealth, which increases your ability to buy more units and upgrade those units to a much stronger level.  When the going gets tough you're going to be left with few goblins on your side.  You'll always need more units to do battle with.

Goblin Commander kindly welcomes players into its world with an extremely helpful tutorial.  The tutorial is integrated into the game itself and is disguised in the form of help icons (blue circles with a question mark on them).  This means that you can choose to ignore many of the tutorial notes if you know what you're doing and skip the mandatory ones as soon as they pop up.

However, you won't want to do that your first time through.  The manual makes the game appear to be one of the most complex titles available for a game console, but believe me when I say that this is not at all the case.  Goblin Commander's controls are very basic, and very intuitive.  There's a fair amount to learn, but it didn't take me five minutes to memorize the key control elements.  The game begins with the most basic setup and becomes more complex as you progress.  Even at its most complex setting Goblin Commander is still not as complex as the latest real-time strategy games for the PC.

Goblin Commander's flaws are purely technical.  The top-down camera makes it difficult to see everything on the screen; the third-person camera can be hard to control.  A tree or some other large barrier might block your characters' view from time to time.  The barriers are supposed to become transparent as soon as your units walk underneath them, but the game is imperfect and does not always react accordingly.  These annoyances can be frustrating at times, but they're nothing I'm not willing to withstand to enjoy this game.  It's just too good to throw away because of a technical issue.

Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde is the real-time strategy game I've been waiting for.  It's got all of the features that make an RTS great, some entirely new features, and controls developed specifically for a game console.  If you liked Command & Conquer or any other RTS that has been ported to a console then you must, at the very least, play this game as soon as possible.  I recommend Goblin Commander to any RTS fan except for those PC nuts that want everything to be big and complex.

Gameplay: 8.7
Goblin Commander is real-time strategizing at its best.  The 10+ single-player campaign levels are great.  It's a short quest, but players will be hooked till the end.  This is the kind of game you'll want to finish in one sitting.  The controls are a big part of this game's success.  They're easy to learn and function without any major issues.  Taking command of individual units only adds to the fun.

Graphics: 7.9
Almost achieving graphical beauty, Goblin Commander is a little below the level of detail it could have reached.  It’s still a detailed game, just not one that’ll surprise its players.

Sound: 7
Decent music and interesting voice-overs from goblins who don't speak English.  (Their words are translated on screen.)

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Hardcore gamers will likely think this game is easy, but the rest of you should be satisfied with the challenge.

Concept: 8.5
All hail the developers!  This concept is one of the year's best.  A real-time strategy game with console controls and action game elements.  Brilliant combination, excellent execution.

Multiplayer: 7.5

Overall: 8.4
If your days are feeling bored, then I say unleash the horde!  Goblin Commander is the best multi-platform real-time strategy game ever made.  It's packed with replay value; you'll want to start another game and play through it again right after finishing it.  Leading an army into battle with a Titan in front is a blast – the enemy will never know what hit 'em!  None of the stages are particularly long, but they're all fun and move at a speedy pace (when compared with other real-time strategy games).