Electronic Arts might be known more for its mega franchises like FIFA, The Sims and Battlefield, but for players who grew up tinkering with power grids, commanding armies, or diagnosing cartoonishly ill patients, EA’s strategy catalog holds a nostalgic kind of magic. From twisted dungeons to digital metropolises, this is a company that’s touched nearly every kind of strategic experience — real-time warfare, god games, city builders and tactical management sims.
The ing titles show just how wide that range can be. Whether they reshaped the genre, pushed technical boundaries, or became cult classics that are still modded today, these games represent the best of what EA’s strategy slate has ever offered.
7 Dungeon Keeper 2
Evil Has Never Been This Profitable
In a time when most strategy games asked players to save the world, Dungeon Keeper 2 flipped the script and made destroying it a management task. Developed by Bullfrog Productions and released in 1999, this sequel retained the dark humor and malevolent charm of the original, but polished nearly every system with then-cutting-edge 3D graphics and improved AI routines.
The game casts players as a demonic overlord, building underground lairs filled with traps, treasure rooms and tortured minions. Instead of commanding soldiers to conquer dungeons, players construct the dungeon itself — defending against heroes sent to foil their evil plans. But it’s not just about fighting. Managing resources like gold and mana is just as crucial as timing lightning bolts or deploying the giant Horned Reaper.
While Peter Molyneux had already left Bullfrog by the time this sequel released, his design fingerprints were still all over it. Cheeky voiceovers, slappable imps and hilarious creature animations made even the more mundane moments oddly satisfying. A third game was teased with a legendary cliffhanger ending but never materialized, leaving Dungeon Keeper 2 as the last true entry in the franchise.
6 Theme Hospital
Nothing Cures Like Laughing at Inflated Heads
Hospitals are rarely a source of amusement in real life, but Bullfrog’s Theme Hospital made medical disaster oddly delightful. Released in 1997 and published by EA, it remains one of the most recognizable management sims of its kind, thanks to its mix of absurd illnesses, dry British humor and surprisingly layered gameplay.
Instead of focusing on real-world diseases, the game invents its own strange afflictions. Patients might arrive with “Bloaty Head” syndrome, requiring a comically oversized needle to pop and reinflate their heads. Others suffer from “Invisibility” or “Slack Tongue,” and every cure involves a custom-built room with specialized machines and staff.
Players have to juggle everything from hiring doctors and researchers to keeping waiting rooms clean and patients alive. It’s easy to laugh at a ward full of cartoon patients, but under the humor lies a game that punishes inefficiency. Mismanaged staff, budget deficits and broken machinery can all spiral into chaos quickly.
Even decades later, the influence of Theme Hospital lives on through spiritual successors like Two Point Hospital, which carried the torch forward with updated visuals but the same unmistakable tone.
5. Население: начало
When a God Starts to Feel Human
Populous: The Beginning is an oddity within its own franchise. While the first two Populous games established Peter Molyneux’s reputation as a pioneer of the god game genre, this third entry took a wildly different approach. Released in 1998, it shifted from omniscient deity to a more grounded third-person strategy experience — putting players in control of a shaman who directly leads her tribe across alien-looking worlds.
Instead of terraforming from afar, players move their shaman across the map, casting spells, building structures and guiding ers in real-time. It was a hybrid of real-time strategy and tactical action, one that didn’t quite fit into neat genre boxes at the time. The spell system was particularly unique, allowing players to level mountains, incinerate armies, or convert enemy tribes with a single chant.
While it polarized long-time fans expecting a more traditional god game, it developed a cult ing for its experimental ideas and psychedelic visual style. The game was also one of the earliest Bullfrog projects under the EA banner, showing just how willing the company was to let its studios try strange and ambitious things.
4 Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
War Is Hell, but It’s Also in HD Now
After the lukewarm reception to Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun, EA Los Angeles was under pressure to bring the franchise back to its roots while still pushing the series forward. In 2007, Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars did just that, re-establishing the series as a pillar of real-time strategy.
The return of full-motion video cutscenes, starring familiar faces like Michael Ironside and Billy Dee Williams, gave the campaign a theatrical flair. But it wasn’t just about nostalgia. The game brought fast-paced combat, better pathfinding and vastly improved visuals to the classic Tiberium formula. Each faction — GDI, Nod and the alien Scrin — played differently and felt balanced in a way earlier entries struggled with.
Online play was robust at launch, with well-designed maps and a high skill ceiling that made it a hit among competitive players. The expansion Kane’s Wrath built on this with more subfactions and an enjoyable global conquest mode. Even now, Tiberium Wars remains one of the most polished and beloved entries in the entire C&C series.
3 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth 2
There’s No Peace for a Realm at War
It’s rare that a licensed RTS not only works but becomes a genre classic. But that’s exactly what happened with The Battle for Middle-Earth 2, EA Los Angeles’ second take on Tolkien’s universe. Released in 2006, the game built on the solid bones of its predecessor and expanded the scope of its strategy without losing the essence of what made Middle-earth magical.
Where the first game was tied strictly to the film trilogy, the sequel pulled from the wider lore of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. This allowed players to command factions like the Elves of Lothlórien and the Dwarves of Erebor in addition to the standard Rohan, Gondor, Mordor and Isengard.
The War of the Ring mode offered a turn-based meta-layer that added depth between battles, and hero customization gave players a personal touch in fights. Its visual presentation still holds up, especially in the massive siege battles that feel like something out of Helm’s Deep or Minas Tirith.
The game’s online servers were eventually shut down, but the modding community kept it alive. Projects like Age of the Ring not only sustain the player base but evolve the game into something Tolkien fans never thought possible.
2 СимСити 4
Chaos Isn’t a Bug, It’s Urban Planning
Few games make city building feel as dense and satisfying as SimCity 4. Released in 2003 and developed by Maxis, it was the most ambitious entry in the series up to that point, allowing players to craft sprawling interconnected regions of cities with detailed transportation networks, layered zoning systems and individual simulation for nearly every citizen.
Unlike SimCity 3000, which simplified several mechanics, SimCity 4 doubled down on complexity. Players managed everything from garbage disposal to air pollution and transit congestion. The Rush Hour expansion added much-needed transportation tools, like custom traffic paths and regional commuting, that turned chaotic downtowns into functioning metropolises — or at least ones that looked like they worked.
While its steep learning curve scared off casual players, the game was beloved by simulation fans who appreciated its systems-level depth. The modding scene exploded after release, with the Simtropolis community creating thousands of user-made assets and overhauls that expanded the game well beyond its initial limits.
Even two decades later, many fans still consider it the true peak of the franchise — especially after the disappointing 2013 reboot.
1 Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2
The Cold War Ends in Explosions and Mind Control
As far as RTS games go, Red Alert 2 might be one of the most unapologetically fun experiences ever made. Released in 2000 by Westwood Studios, it took the campy alt-history tone of the first Red Alert and dialed everything up to eleven. Psychic powers, time travel, giant squids and Kirov airships — it was all absurd, but executed with such charm and polish that it just worked.
The game pits the Allies against the Soviet Union in an alternate timeline where Einstein assassinated Hitler, only for Stalin to become the main villain. The campaign featured B-movie quality FMVs with actors chewing every scene, and the missions had incredible variety — including weather control devices, mind control bunkers and naval warfare that felt strategic instead of gimmicky.
Its gameplay struck the perfect balance between accessibility and depth. Factions were distinct without being broken, and the resource system remained simple enough for newcomers to grasp while still rewarding high-level micromanagement. The Yuri’s Revenge expansion added a third faction and even more chaos, giving the game endless replayability.
Red Alert 2 remains a benchmark for what a great RTS can be: fast, stylish, unafraid to be weird and endlessly replayable. Even today, fans still play it through community servers, with mods that keep the Cold War hot.
