If the extent of your real-time strategy gaming extends to playing Starcraft and pre-ordering Starcraft II, boy have you missed a lot in the last ten years.

While Starcraft II looks pretty great, we know from the beta that the fundamentals of the game remain largely unchanged since the 1998 original. If you want more of the same, it looks set to be right up your alley, but if you'd like to see some of the changes and additions made to the genre over the past decade, you should read on.

Note: Every game I'm about to recommend is for the PC. I know there will be scores of other games you could recommend aside from these, but I've tried to stick to the most significant and recent titles. If you think you know something better, let us know in the comments below!

Starcraft was essentially a two-dimensional strategy game. Like Command & Conquer before it, while the game map gave the illusion of height and depth, most gameplay – including that of the game's flying units - was limited to the X-axis. Maps featured only crude elevation in the form of "second levels", while aircraft couldn't adjust their altitude.

Later real-time strategy games have since embraced true three dimensional maps. This means sloping hills, river beds and a true sense of height. Not only does this look more realistic, but many modern RTS games use this 3D space in terms of gameplay; running up hills tires out infantry, etc.

See: World in Conflict, Total War series

Cover. It's the most important thing for a soldier on the battlefield, yet from Dune to Command & Conquer to Warcraft to Starcraft, developers either refused or were unable to implement the feature. Many games today make it a staple, however, and the addition of cover to the genre has revolutionised RTS gaming.

Relic's Company of Heroes remains the standard bearer for this feature; when moving infantry, you not only click on a spot on the map to move them, but arrange how the troops will deploy behind cover, and are even told how effective that cover is from enemy fire by a colour-coded feedback system.

No longer are infantry meat for an eternal grinder; they can now be safely moved across maps and safeguarded.

See: Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, Dawn of War II

One of the most important aspects of Starcraft is resource gathering. You can't build troops without minerals and gas, so half your time in the game is spent…mining. If mining is a passion of yours, that is awesome, but most modern RTS games realised that mining isn't as much fun as fighting, and have settled on ways to reward you for territory held and blood spilled, not how much stuff you can dig out of the ground.

The concept of "command points", or "control points" is how this philosophy is implemented. Rather than holing yourself up in a base like you would in Starcraft or, say, Age of Empires, many RTS games of today instead force you out of your base early in the game, with control over certain sectors of the map the only way to earn the points/money required to build more units.

Not only does this relieve the need to focus on non-military tasks, but it encourages players to constantly engage each other across an entire map, rather than simply hoarding all their units for a single rush as is still a dominant tactic in Starcraft.

See: Company of Heroes, Dawn of War

Now, this isn't to say that these new additions to the genre are universal improvements. A lot of people – millions of people - like the way Starcraft plays, which is exactly why Blizzard has stayed true to the same formula for the sequel.

But like it is with Call of Duty, or Madden, there are many people whose only experience with real-time strategy is solely through the giant of genre. In this instance Starcraft. And if that's you, and you feel like trying something a little different, then any of the games listed here are a great place to start.

The upcoming freemium real-time simulation Company of Heroes Online kicked off an exclusive closed beta today, promising that 20,000 more access keys will be handed out on July 26 via IGN's FilePlanet.

A news release today said only a few Company of Heroes community members were emailed keys today, granting them access to the testing phase of the closed beta. The real fun begins next Monday, when FilePlanet hands out another 20,000 in a promotion lasting until July 30. See that site for more details.

The Company of Heroes Online Beta will feature 17 maps and two different armies, the Allies and Axis, each with three different divisions. Maps will be split between 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 modes. Players of the Company of Heroes Online beta will also be able to enjoy the single player campaign from the original Company of Heroes.

Company of Heroes Online - the free-to-play version of the classic PC real-time strategy game that's previously only been available in Asia - is going to be released in the West, publisher THQ said today.

Having tinkered with the game in overseas markets, first with a Shanda-developed title in China and then an in-house THQ production in Korea, Company of Heroes' Western launch will see the original 2006 title essentially re-released. Multiplayer will become "persistent", requiring you to create a character then log hours and win matches to advance in rank. Or, if you'd rather skip the slog and get straight into the more powerful abilities and units, you can just pay up (though paying won't get you anything you can't unlock through regular play).

As a pleasant bonus, the game will include, also free of charge, the singleplayer campaign from the original Company of Heroes, which even four years on remains the pinnacle of real-time strategy in many people's eyes.

Oh, and if you're wondering whether this will be a sloppy port handled by an external studio, fear not: it's being handled by Relic, developers of the original (and Homeworld, and Dawn of War).

The multiplayer game could suck a suck for all I care. If the singleplayer game is free, that's the deal of the decade right there.

Company Of Heroes Returns [Venture Beat]