Urban Assault

Urban Assault is a fast-paced, 3D vehicle-based strategy game that puts you in the cockpit of a post-apocalyptic “Host Station.” Developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Microsoft, it is famous for its steep difficulty curve, its pulsating techno soundtrack, and a unique “teleportation” mechanic that allows you to blink across the battlefield to lead your units from the front.

The Command of the Host Station

Unlike other RTS games where you are an invisible hand, in Urban Assault you are the base. You control a massive, floating Host Station that serves as your primary resource processor and unit production facility.

• Energy Management: The game discards traditional gold and wood for Energy. You must capture and hold “Power Stations” scattered across the map to feed your Host Station’s hungry reserves.
• Direct Intervention: If an enemy squadron is harassing your resource lines, you can directly possess any unit in your army—from the agile Wasp scout to the heavy Rhino tank—to personally turn the tide of battle.
• The High Stakes of Death: If your Host Station is destroyed, it’s game over. This forces a tense tactical balance: do you keep your base safely tucked behind your lines, or do you fly it into the thick of combat to act as a massive, armored vanguard?

Multi-Faction Galactic Chaos

The game features one of the most imaginative rosters of factions in the genre, each with wildly different visual styles and unit logic:

• The Resistance (Human): Your faction, utilizing conventional but highly adaptable tanks, helicopters, and jets.
• The Ghorkovs: A rival human faction using rugged, heavy-hitting industrial tech (the “Red Menace” archetype).
• The Taerkileans: Alien invaders who favor massive, slow-moving flying fortresses and powerful beam weaponry.
• The Mycaum: A bizarre organic-alien faction that utilizes biological “spore” ships and strange, pulsing energy weapons.
• The Black Sect: A mysterious “pirate” faction that uses advanced, shadowy versions of other factions’ tech and serves as the game’s primary wild card.

Key Features

• Seamless Perspective Swapping — Jump between a 2D tactical map and a first-person cockpit view in a heartbeat.
• Vertical Combat — Master the art of air-to-ground combat with a wide variety of helicopters, fighters, and heavy bombers.
• Complex Tech Trees — Research upgrades for your units to increase their speed, firepower, and energy efficiency as the mission progresses.
• Multiplayer “King of the Hill” — Competitive modes focused on controlling the center of the map to drain enemy energy reserves.

Release Platforms

• Microsoft Windows (PC) — August 18, 1998