RED BEES is a tactical sword-and-shield combat game, addictive and recommended for base-building enthusiasts. Two teams of robotic bees, known as "yellow bees" and "red bees," face each other in multiple battles to conquer a portion of land. Each battle is a game session that continues until the player wins or loses. Each game session takes place on a different map. You can choose your preferred terrain map from a list of thirty-four possible maps. So the game doesn't have its own story to tell, but every single game, with its ever-changing dynamics, is a unique and exciting experience. When you start a new game, you always start with a group of worker bees belonging to the yellow bee team; the red bees are managed by the computer. The player selects a yellow bee with the mouse and issues commands for the construction of the base camp, selecting commands from a special panel that acts as an interface between the bee and the player. You can build a sort of "hive," the base camp, made up of several hexagonal buildings called "tiles" because they are arranged adjacent to each other to form a flat surface. These buildings are active units in the game but cannot be directly selected by the player; the tile commands are sent by the individual units, however, it is always the player who decides which tiles to build and which bees to produce. You can add new tiles only if they are adjacent to those already allocated by your side, or if they border neutral tiles. The tiles represent different types of buildings, such as resource depots, energy generators, energy storage units, bee production factories, and others, each performing a specific function. Worker bees, when the game allows it, can also capture opponent tiles, or they can demolish tiles you've already built to recover the "resource" they're made of. The "resource" for building tiles is a generic material that bees collect from flowers. With this resource and energy, factories produce other bees with different capabilities: the commander bee, the warrior bee, the cargo bee, and others. All yellow bees receive your orders via the command interface and then carry them out autonomously. For example, if you want to send a warrior bee to attack the red bees in their settlement, you'll select the "Assault on the enemy" command, then the bee will decide for itself when to move to attack the enemy. The bees' movements are not direct and immediate; they depend on possible collisions or waiting times in their rating system. However, the commander bee, compared to all the other bees, has the advantage that it can be controlled directly by the player. This is an option you choose; in fact, it was called "Remote Control" in the game precisely to distinguish between the player's ability to manage the commander's movements or to let him move freely, always following your orders. In the game, there can only be one commander for each side; every time it is destroyed, the factories build a new one. The game session, in fact, continues as long as both sides are able to produce more bees. These rules are designed to make the battle more fair between the human and computer players: First rule: when an opposing commander is destroyed, the advantaged side will lose a sword. Second rule: the sword will also be lost when, destroying a bee in battle, the weaker side has fewer than four worker bees at its disposal; Third rule: a tile cannot be destroyed after being captured; Fourth rule: anyone who possesses a "Defender" tile, which prevents the capture of neighboring tiles, will be penalized by the game referee, i.e., the algorithm that decides whether to continue fighting or end the game. The penalty consists of a more stringent evaluation of the side's chance of survival; the lack of worker bees or cargo bees will result in immediate defeat. You can, however, adjust the game's difficulty before starting a new game by choosing your preferred difficulty level and the initial number of red bees you'll face. The game experience can be summed up with this brief description. The beginning of the game is a very relaxed phase in which to study the location where the battle will take place. You look for neutral tiles, where you can attach the first buildings. Observe the location of the flowers; it's best if there are many, or alternatively, it's best if they're close to your base camp to reduce the travel time of the worker bees. You should also look at where the red bees have started building. If they're too close, the situation at the base camp quickly becomes a crowd of enemy bees. Then you decide what to build by choosing, from all the available tiles, those best suited to the game situation, depending on how the game unfolds. To gain an advantage, you could also capture some tiles from the red bees' deployment, but they will do the same to you. At a certain point, their respective commanders will emerge from the factories; at first, they will both be unarmed and will remain in the area without doing anything in particular. However, thanks to your commander's command interface, you can plan the factories' work by choosing the units to build. When the swords and shields emerge from the foundries, then the trouble begins. The commanders will try to attack or defend their side with sword blows. While the commanders battle, warrior bees or mother bees accompanied by a flock of little daughter bees may emerge from the factories, as dangerous and threatening as a sword blow. At this point, the game scene will be a great mess, a tangle of large and small bees, sword strikes, red and yellow sparks, fragments of exploded bees flying in the wind, along with swords and shields thrown into the air by the warrior bees. Taking control of your commander, you'll have to dispatch all enemies by swinging your sword left and right, quickly reaching the bees in trouble to protect them, or chasing the commander who flies to get his sword, or staying at the enemy base to take down the more aggressive red bees that try to get close. Every now and then, you'll lose your sword and shield, especially if you've defeated the red commander, or if you're too strong; this will give you a chance to catch your breath. If this happens, you can smile; it means you're ahead!