Maelstrom, a production of the union of two companies Codemasters and KD Vision, earlier responsible for the game Perimeter in 2004, features two factions of humanity who are at war with each other are attacked by aliens. Maelstrom adheres to a basic real-time strategy formula, quite opposite to its predecessor. The story starts a few thousand years later on planet Earth when a freak cataclysm destroys most of its human population. The remaining population is divided into two factions the Ascensions who want to rebuild the Earth their own way, on the other hand there are the Remnant, who want the Earth to the way it was in freedom. It turns out the cataclysm was created by Hai-Genti aliens who want to add this planet to their homes. The player can play as any one of the factions and the campaigns are related to each other. The Ascension stars futuristic looking vehicles, shiny building all supporting the fact that they are sufficiently advanced. The Remnants look a bunch of military guys using salvaged vehicles and desolated structures. The Hai-Genti faction is something new altogether. Their structures seem to ooze out of the spores and they only have organic units unlike the traditional spaceships. The game is relatively traditional with starting of each campaign with a handful of soldiers and vehicles to establish a base and kick hell out of the opponent. The game also stars heroes, which are somewhat stronger than normal units as they have abilities. The player can zoom to third person and have a close up view of the battlefield. It is sure that major goal of the game creators was achieved in creating a traditional sci-fi game in the strategy genre.