n PC, last year’s Universe at War was an enjoyable real-time strategy romp in the mold of StarCraft. Two issues prevent this Xbox 360 port from being worth your time: imprecise gamepad control and unforgivable, constant, maddening framerate drops.

The gameplay is vanilla RTS with some intriguing faction design. Each of the three sides has its own style of play, and those differences come across well enough that a match feels entirely different depending on which faction you’re controlling. The Novus must use superior mobility to win, the Masari need to flip their armies between light and dark modes, and the Hierarchy relies on their massive walkers to carry them to victory. Despite the variety, the sides are well balanced and each is amusing in its own way.

Sadly, this creative depth is wasted by unbelievably poor port work. The slowdown in this game completely guts any enjoyment that could otherwise be found. We’re talking about grinding stutters that get so bad your inputs won’t even register. And it’s not just when there’s a lot going on onscreen, either – a few minutes into any match sees the framerate progressively degrade to the point that the game is barely playable. Furthermore, while the gamepad control scheme is reasonably well conceived, it’s clear that the gameplay was designed with a mouse in mind. The amount of micromanagement necessary to be a reasonably effective player is all but impossible on the 360 pad.

It’s a shame this port was released in a worse technical state than many beta builds I’ve played, because the core design of Universe at War (minus the lame by-the-numbers scripted campaign) is quite good. As it is, the best thing we can hope for is that Sega releases a patch to make it possible for players to experience what the game has to offer without constant single-digit framerates.