Only true pearls such as this magnificent product are cherished by a close and dedicated community who ensures it's perservation and even expansion during the course of over a dozen years. Net Storm is most certainly such a pearl.

For those not familiar with, Netstorm is a PC freeware game designed by Titanic Entertainment. Released at 1997, it's sales suffered severly due to illegal hacking and publushing of demon version of the game before it even reached the shelves. On the upside, it has earned the title of "#1 best game that no-one baught". It's premise? A dimension who's habitants live on various-sized floating islands, split into 4 nations who worship different elements and aspects of the Storm - The sun, the air, the wind and the Thunder. Each aspect grants its' power to it's priests who oversee martial construction and research of their nations.

The theme, while highly captivating, is hardly the strong element of the game. It's simple and ingenious gameplay is. The core of te game revolves around the Islands, which need to be connected by floating bridges of different random shapes and sizes avaliable to all players. These bridges must be solidly anchored in order to reach rival islands, with strategically placed military buildings and power-supply nodes to charge said buildings. The objective of the game is to capture the enemy priest by placing the right building at the right place at the right time to both gain the advantage over and counter the moves of your adversary. In-between the islands lay the Storm Nodes, which the players must protect and harvest in order to supply themsleves with resources to fuel their militant efforts.

Each of the storm elements bears its' own strong and weak spots, and the game offers a highly-diverse, quick-played and unmatched experience.

Most importantly, and the reason I am posting this message, is that Netstorm could be EASILY translated into a matching boardgame. While an RTS in core, I feel it would actualy gain much by having a turn-based material counterpart.

I would be glad to hear that FFG would consider it for future production.

for more information: http://www.netstormhq.com