The good stuff:
3 really unique factions. Not only are the combat units different, but they build up their bases and tech trees in totally different ways. For example:
The Army needs power generators because some buildings require power (in Mwatts), but they can construct anywhere.
Task Force Talon doesnt have a power number, they just need to have a new building put up next to a control center or headquarters, but it doesnt have a huge radius so you can only shove so many buildings next to it. Army units heal near hospitals and inside or near medic helicopters.
TFT's heal by use of a special electronic suit and activating your nanowave healing center. Its an add-on to a building. It costs a little bit of money and you just click on a radius of your units. They all get healed instantly but, it can only be activated once every so often. Good idea is to make two and hotkey each building with the 9 and 0 keys. The nanowave center also heals S.H.E.I.L.D units (power armor) AND, those units can be healed by being near a repair truck, which ALSO heals regular vehicles. Pretty neat, huh?
The TFT tends to have more multifunctional units but the Army tends to have tougher and slightly cheaper units.
Simple resources. Theres only one (the dollar) and a few different ways to get it, and all of them require a minimum of management. You can drill for oil, (which gets you a finite amount), you can invade a bank (also finite) and you can keep POW's (slow, but unlimited money). If your POW camp gets destroyed those POW's are gone and you have to go find more. You can sometimes capture enemy soldiers if you dont kill them, and most vehicles (air and land) leave behind a pilot. If you manage to get your pilot back to your own base, you get a little money. If you can somehow heal your wounded soldiers, they go back to fighting.
NO unit cap. There are no limits to how many units you may make of each type. So long as you have the funds, you can train it or build it. I have had games where I held ten hospitals filled with POW's, and was using a dozen barracks to churn out massive numbers of troops in short order.
This can create a performance issue though, especially in large maps with 6 or 8 players.
Simple, yet power buildings and tech trees. Unlike starcraft and warcraft, you dont piss away a bunch of resources to slowly research an upgrade that adds one measly damage point to your attack. There are few tech upgrades but all of them are really useful, and dont take forever to complete. Most of them add whole new functions or give serious firepower upgrades.
There are relatively few buildings but all of them are good, and many have multiple functions. Also, the defensive turrets actually work. They arent simply speed bumps to the enemy war machine. One turret placed smartly can totally confound and infuriate your opponent. Multiple turrets placed well can push back a major offensive. Of course, one well placed bomb can make glass out of all of them.
Which brings me to the next big feature.
Jets.
In this game, they work the way they're are supposed to and can be VERY helpful. Instead of having them slowly fly around, shooting and bombing in circles, jets are activated by Strikes. Once you have a plane built you get some new icons to click. Click on one of them, then click on a spot on your main screen or on your minimap and the jet will zoom out there and do its thing. If its a fighter it will shoot enemy jets, bombers and helicopters, if its a bomber it will drop its payload on the groud, and if it has antitank capabilities it will blast vehicles, including Power Armor units. Then the jet goes off screen and you have a cool down period where it rearms and refuels (you cant use it for a bit).
The best thing about air strikes is they are intelligent. Anti-tank strikes will only spend up to half their payload on vehicles along the way to their target, and then save the other half for the targets in their designated strike zone. And they dont just lob bombs at the ground, they target the enemy and almost always score direct hits.
Same with ground attacks, they go the area and then target buildings (if there are any left standing) to attack, modifying their drop slightly to do the most damage.
The bad stuff:
Not popular, so its difficult to find online players and mods and help and other things.
Needs a good computer, ESPECIALLY when you start to fill up the map with units. Also, as of the latest patch I have, it doesnt intelligently detect dual-core systems, and plays too fast. You have to ALT-ESC out, open the Task Manager, and tell the game to only use one CPU.
Along those lines, there is no in game speed adjustment, and you cant issue orders while paused. This can be troublesome when you have a large map with many teams and units. Its very challenging to keep track of everything and run your war.
Needless to say, the computer can keep track easily and will probably kick your butt with superior reflexes. I have had a heck of a time on 8-way free-for-all maps.
Oh, one last good thing. The campaign is pretty sweet and slowly teaches you the units as it goes on AND the Skirmish AI really works.
On the easy setting you can learn slowly and the bad guys wont build too fast or use advanced techniques or units. Once you get some practice, you can go up to medium and hard and really challenge yourself. They will be more efficient about resourcing and base building and use much better tiers of power in their war machine.
Overall, a 9. (Which is the best I will give any game that isn't an RPG.)
The flaws are really minor and wont detract from the excellent gameplay. Lots of good combat and fun to play for hours straight. Once you have mastered a particular faction you can go to another one and relearn the game all over. With all the latest patches it runs well and wont crash (on my system anyway).