Real-Time Strategy has moved light-years ahead in recent years. Seems like it was only yesterday that we were watching little sprites squirreling around on the screen in Starcraft, albeit with some great storytelling, cinematics and voice acting. I'll bet there are WoW players today who haven't even seen WoW's 2D ancestor in action, and wouldn't care for it much if they did... For me, almost every RTS game these days looks a million times better than in the olden days.

Tribal Trouble hearkens back to simpler days for RTS gaming, when graphics didn't much matter. The bonus here is that we get great graphics and great music to boot. The game environments aren't entire worlds and there aren't loads of dazzling lighting effects, but the theme is pretty, and consistent with the "desert island" setting. Complete with Tropical Chickens, I might add. Yes, humor abounds, and the character designs really reinforce the chuckle you'll get over the notion of shipwrecked Vikings coming into contact with reclusive Islanders. I'm sure someone might be offended by the stereotypical spear-waving natives; lucky for Oddlabs and their Danish brethren that spear-waving natives aren't nearly as strong a lobby as Muslims...

The music and sound effects perfectly complement the lush 3D visuals. Drum beats and throaty chants, sounds of spears flying and tribesmen crying in agony after being impaled on a spear are all in a day's work for the master tactician.

If the usual trend in RTS is to spin a yarn that recounts epic battles and draws in a host of characters, Tribal Trouble is bucking that trend. Taking the gameplay back to basics is the rule here, with short episodes and challenges. Being able to sit down and get a taste of RTS gaming quickly without a lot of fanfare is nice. The fact that I picked up the rules through a tutorial and never had to touch a manual was extra nice. I found some of the navigation too obscure, as if Oddlabs tried too hard to make the controls invisible. Sometimes, having a bar across the bottom of the page isn't a bad thing. The options are limited in Tribal Trouble, which is a strength if you've found some RTS titles too complicated.

On the premise that Vikings have crash landed on a remote chain of islands, Tribal Trouble begins. The locals don't take kindly to intruders, so you'll have the chance to choose sides and pull out all the stops for control of the islands. Gathering resources and building are central to the game, but instead of 10 units, there are only a handful. Instead of loads of weapon classes and upgrades, you can gather rock, wood and -- wait for it -- Tropical Chickens, to use against the other side. Building choices are limited, with just what you need to create new units, defend a camp, or produce weapons. It really all makes for a nice experience, and the best part is joining multiplayer games online, in groups of up to six for a free-for-all. The online community seems weak right now, but the game is relatively new. Just playing through the solo campaign and trying to improve on past performance will keep RTS fans plenty occupied.

The lack of variety in Tribal Trouble means that once you figure out the behavior of the units that can be produced, you'll only see variations on the same theme. Casual gamers won't have seen what an actual army or large group of diverse units can do in a more full-blooded RTS and may not miss this in Tribal Trouble. Overall, the standard difficulty setting is too easy for seasoned gamers, but there are adjustments that increase the difficulty level for those people. The downside is that increasing enemy toughness or speed doesn't change the fundamental lack of depth in Tribal Trouble. If the worst we can say is that people burn through the game and are motivated enough to go look for more RTS action, that is not a bad thing.

As mentioned above, the use of icons throughout Tribal Trouble is a case of what I've seen referred to as "Mystery Meat" design. Where the controls are easy enough to grasp, the icons are not intuitive, and in an effort to save screen real estate, there are some menus that open up but still have no text on display. At least some option for a drawer or panel at the bottom of the screen would be nice, and the icons need to be labeled, even if the label is a n00b option. Some features I like are the ability to dial speed up and down. We all know that in resource collection games, the collecting of resources isn't all that thrilling. Speeding up game-time so the wood gets chopped quicker helps keep games short. Patching games is smooth, as is the online play. The trend toward games downloading and installing their own patches is a nice one that I hope continues. The patch process isn't quick, but Oddlabs will be able to tweak AI and add content along the way, we assume.

The $30 price is great for a game that appeals to RTS fans who don't have the kind of time on their hands that big games require. The free demo downloaded easily on my Mac, and it runs on both PPC and Intel chips. Windows and Linux versions are also available. The requirements aren't steep, but they aren't your computer from five years ago, either. Especially if you haven't been able to crack the nut on deeper strategy games, or if you just like the idea of a RTS that doesn't take itself too seriously, Tribal Trouble is a great game with few flaws. If a substantial community builds around the game, Oddlabs may well have a hit on their hands.