Stalin vs. Martians

Stalin vs. Martians is an over-the-top real-time strategy game that parodies the genre by extremely accessible gameplay devoid of complex elements from similar, contemporary titles, such as technology trees, base building or resource management. As such, it is recommended by official blurbs as a perfect choice for anyone who hates the strategy genre.

The player serves as a commander under Stalin and has to stop the invasion of extraterrestrial creatures who invade Russia through Siberia. In each mission, the player commands a number of troops and vehicles, and most objectives consist of holding defences, liberating towns and obliterating all enemies. The units include regular infantry, Spetsnaz, BT-7, T-70, T-34 (advertised as the tank included in every Russian game, including Tetris), T-35, ZSU-37 and Katyusha. Instead of a careful approach with strategic attacks, the player is encouraged to rush through enemy bases, as crushed enemy units leave behind valuable power-ups such as money, armor upgrades, attack power improvement, additional speed, and meds to restore health. These are not optional as collecting them quickly is usually required to finish a mission, while a slow and strategic approach is generally punished.

Gold is the most important item to collect, as it is used to buy reinforcements. No other sources of resource management are available. It can also be exchanged for special abilities such as the USSR Anthem (double damage), Rage (30 seconds of invincibility), Anthrax to drain enemy health, air-strikes called Stalin's Falcons, KGB (paralyzes all enemies for 60 seconds) and Historical Inevitability to kill every single enemy unit on the map at once.

From the main gameplay screen, players select units and move them around with the mouse, while keyboard shortcuts can be used as well. The camera can zoom in and is rotated around the battlefield. In the top right corner special abilities and reinforcements are purchased, while the bottom of the screen holds a mini-map (with Fog of War), basic buttons for actions such as holding a position or attacking, and a screen with information about the different units, structures and enemies.

Even though it largely resembles a regular strategy game, there are many comical references (one of the options asks for your stance on cats), cut-scenes resembling music videos with a dancing Stalin, and generally up-tempo beat and rock music mostly unfitting for the genre. Most enemies use very straightforward strategies, but they have certain structures that spawn enemies, turrets, and a slime-like substance on the map that powers their abilities. The game is single-player only and there are twelve missions in total.