A solid original title from Petroglyph.
Universe at War: Earth Assault is set in 2012, hilariously enough when the world is supposedly going to end, and the Earth has been invaded by a hostile alien force called the Hierarchy. Unlike most games that feature both humans and aliens, the humans are actually a minor presence and while the prologue campaign centers around them they have little presence in the later campaigns, and are not playable in skirmishes. Anyway, two other alien factions the Novus (a race of intelligent machines), and the Masari (a mythical force that has been sleeping within Earth's oceans for millennia) come into the conflict turning Earth into a War of the Worlds battlefield.
One of the things about UaW that I really liked, was how every faction was completely different. None of the three factions were similar at all, they gathered resources in different ways, and they played entirely differently. The Novus are a hit and run race, they are able to construct stealthed flow towers around the map for extremely fast travel making them useful for guerrilla tactics. The Hierarchy on the other hand, are a ham fisted assault race, and their units pack a punch, but not only that... most of their structures are massive robots that can easily take down an enemy base if outfitted properly. Finally there are the Masari, which are a turtling race, and are not required to leave their base for resources. The Masari focuses on building up a large attack force and overwhelming their opponents with high quality units.
Universe at War is a bit over the top when compared to some RTS titles on the market, but it's all in good fun as UaW feels like a "parody" of traditional Science Fiction... particularly War of the Worlds and Mars Attacks. Most newer RTS gamers may find themselves underwhelmed, though; UaW plays more like a traditional RTS than the most recent titles which are pure action. You are required to use strategy in building up your forces, and assaults, and resource gathering is important, there are also no squads... each unit flies solo on the battlefield.
Visually UaW is fairly impressive. It uses the Alamo engine that powered Empire at War, so it'll feel very familiar, but the visuals had an overhaul and look a lot more detailed. Audio wise the game is exceptional, great voice work combined with an epic musical score by C&C Legend Frank Klepacki ensures that if anything is above average, it's the audio.
Universe at War is a great game, the campaigns are a bit pointless, and the premise may seem fruity, but it's good fun being able to crush your opponent's structures with your troop generating building. It's unfortunate that Universe at War is being overlooked by faster paced RTS titles that require little to no strategy.