Strategy coming out of your ears
Thankfully the user interface is extremely easy to use and producing ships, moving them around the galaxy and trading with friendly parties are all fairly simple processes and the AI of friendly ships respond well to path-finding, meaning that travelling through space is an intuitive and smooth experience.
On the graphics front I have no complaints. The explosions, animations of the craft and the interactive cinematics in Genesis Rising look fantastic, and the feeling of travelling through space has been accurately captured.
If it's strategy you're after then Genesis Rising has it in abundance. The irritations that I've experienced in the game may be seen as a decent challenge to other gamers and the story and the idea of gene manipulation and blood gathering is solid as well as fascinating. Genesis Rising was a strange game to review. I liked the new ideas in the game, the story, the cut-scenes and upgrading craft and watching them morph in real-time, but there was also times when I wanted to quit because of the frustrations of so much damn micro-management. As a result, I'd only recommend Genesis Rising to patient and experienced RTS gamers.
Pros
Interesting story-line
Gene manipulation is fun
Decent graphics
Cons
Too much micro-management
Extremely difficult.
Genesis Rising has some superb new ideas, but is let down somewhat by heavy doses of micro-management.