Humans have been at war with the Irians for twelve years.
With heavy casualties and depleted resources on both sides, opposing military leaders come up with a novel solution.
It is agreed that the newly-discovered Alpha Centauri system will be fought virtually, inside a dynamic role-playing game.
Using cutting-edge Immersion technology, human and Irian engineers unite to design the game. The rules are simple: two armies of 100 pixel runners will compete for each of the three habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system.
The species with the most victories will be permitted to colonize the system for real, putting them in a strong position to win the war.
For Major John Talbot, chosen leader of the human virtual army, the chance to play such an amazingly detailed game is a dream come true.
The price of failure, however, doesn't bear thinking about ...
My Opinion: 235 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
In a far far future, humanity has finally reached the stars and expanded across the galaxy. Unfortunately, we’re not alone. We’ve been at war with another alien race, the Irains, for so long that both sides are almost out of resources. Instead of continuing this bloody war, both sides have agreed to decide the outcome of the war using a full immersion virtual reality game. The winner gets claim over the resource-rich Alpha Centauri system. Leading the fight for the earth forces is Major Talbot, a troublemaking soldier with a knack for out of the box thinking. He’ll need every ounce of unconventional strategy if he’s to win the game with his team.
The virtual game is a real-time strategy (RTS) game. Every one of the three rounds, both the alien and the human teams are sent to a new world and the side that captures the most beacons wins that round.
There’s not a whole lot of plot here. It’s heavily focused on action. All though there are also elements of capture the flag, resource gathering, class development, and crafting.
If you’re looking for something action oriented with a lot of RTS elements then this is the right novel for you.
Score: 7 out of 10.