I backed Planetary Annihilation on Kickstarter because I liked the idea of a hardcore real-time strategy on the Mac. At that time, though, I didn't realize that Planetary Annihilation was such a hardcore game, that it was well outside my skill level. The tutorial consists of a You Tube video, and then you're dropped into the campaign or skirmishes without much of a guide.

That said, after a few frustrating hours, I found my feet and was able to finish a mission. Depending on the map you use, a match can take anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours to complete. Compared to Starcraft, you spend a lot less time trying to manage your resources and more time building units and buildings.

The game features ground, naval, air, and space units, and some maps span across moons and planets, making for an interesting ramp-up process. Each unit type has four battle units and a constructor unit that can build more advanced buildings. As you make your way through the single-player mode, you'll unlock new units you can use, which encourages you to explore the game map. This is a really deep and customizable game, but not one that's going to be friendly to newcomers.

What's Good: Lots of options, planet to planet battles were a cool idea.

What Sucks: Not so much a learning curve as a learning cliff.

Buy it?: If Starcraft is just a bit too easy for you, check out Planetary Annihilation. Grab it from the developer for $29.