As the title suggests, this game is about you trying to colonize the universe as you’re chosen race. If you want a deep, difficult simulation game, with endless replay ability, look no further.
The campaign mode consists of you trying to defeat the Dread Lords, an ancient civilization that has recently resurfaced. The Dread Lords are much more powerful than any of the other civilizations, and therefore you must make alliances to take them down. Even on easy the Dread Lords are ridiculously overpowered, something the game makers remedied by their few units.
The real meat of the game is the sandbox mode though. You can customize almost every aspect of the galaxy you’re fighting in. Make it a small galaxy, with an abundance of stars and inhabitable planets? You got it. Want something more epic? Create a gigantic galaxy(you can go a few hours on these maps with eight players and not run into anyone) with few stars, and few abundant plants. Make the fighting fast and fierce, or slowly lead an armada onto an enemies outpost planet and get a toe hold in their influence. There are so many ways to play this game.
Although the interface may seem intimidating at first, once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it very intuitive. The menus are set up very well, and make it easy to find what you’re looking for.
Ah, but you’re building an empire right? One of the most important parts of any empire, are the people inside it. Most games have cities, this one has planets instead. On the planet you can build entertainment centers to keep people happy, research labs to boost your research output, farms to increase the population of the planet, starports to build and land ships, and many other buildings. You have to keep your citizens happy, especially if there is another civilization near, or else they will defect to the other side.
To expand your empire you need to send out transport ships. You land the transport ships on the other planet, and as long as there is no one else already on that planet you get it. But sometimes you need to take over the planet. A land battle then takes place, where the defending army has a large advantage, and the attacking force must have power in numbers. A problem though is that when ships are stationed in a starport, they defend that planet, so you must destroy them first. You also must defend your transports. They get taken out in one hit and have no defense.
Tired of your transports not being able to defend themselves? This is where one of the greatest features of the game comes in. You can fully customize your ships, in the ship builder. Take a highly armored chassis, throw some transport pods on it, a few missile launchers, and a mass driver, and you have a transport that can hold its own. You can create an endless amount of ships this way, and it’s always great to see your creations destroying your enemies. There are literally hundreds of weapons, engines, extras, chassis, armor, and add ons that you may choose from. There are also three types of weapons: Mass Drivers(projectiles), Lasers(energy beams), and Missiles(high velocity warheads). Each one may be more effective against a ship, depending on what type of armor the ship has.
The space battles are fun to watch, but you do not control them at all. The ships fire at each other, and you can choose which angle to watch it from(top down, chase, free, ect..). You can also group ships into fleets, making them more powerful in battle.
The tech tree is gigantic. It will take a very long time to complete it. There is everything on it, ranging from weapons, to trade, to alliances, to farming. It’s a very extensive list. When you get to the higher level upgrades, it may take hundreds of weeks to get it(a week is one turn), and when you do get it, you’ll want to instantly put it to use.
You can also play a variety of different game types. You can play a God game, where the tech tree is completely done for everyone. A last man standing match. Or you can turn on alliance victories, make an alliance, and wipe out the enemies to win. Each one brings a completely different way to play.
Some of the other things in this game are minor races. They aren’t too powerful, but they are usually difficult to get off their planet. You can also create your own race, give them their own bonuses, and name them, giving you a completely immersive feeling in the game.
The only thing that isn’t done amazingly well are the land battles. They aren’t too interesting to watch, and it may have been more fun if you could maybe place your units before the battle, giving it more strategy. Other than that though, this is a superb game.
My final score is a 9.5
Eric Steeb Contributing Writer Gamer’s Perspective. |
