Empire Earth

"Rather Disappointing"

I was looking forward to buying this game for quite some time. I had to upgrade my whole computer by a whole lot just to do so, so it took a while.

The first week of owning the game, it was a blast. There are more than 200 units, with many many structures and technologies to research. There is 14 epochs, or ''ages'' to advance through, two of which are in the future. The Random Maps are enjoyable. I'm no history teacher, but I'd say the units tie in with the ages. Plus there are 4 detailed campaigns. However, after my first week of play, it all sort of went down the drain. This review will explain why.

Graphics:

It's hard to rate the graphics. If you have a good video card with a good driver, then the graphics are about a 7/10. Even with a Ge Force 4, the units and structures appeared a bit too blocky. The 3d engine in this game isn't good at all. The makers should have put much more effort into it. The size of the units in proportion with the structures were okay, but the resolution the game requires makes everything appear way too small. NOT GOOD!

Sound:

No complaints here. The sounds are all accurate, I would say. The future though, I couldn't tell you. It's in the future. who knows? The sound gets a solid 10.

Music:

The music is mediocre. Nothing special. They should have included more techno-ish music for the future ages, instead of making the Nano Age have a stone age background with the music. I give the music a 7/10.

Gameplay:

Like I said, after a week, Empire Earth becomes a boring game. It has almost too much stuff. A lot of the units you really don't need. Advancing to the next age costs way too much, especially for a game with 14 different ages. The game lacks diversity. Sure, you get bonuses, but it is hard to tell the difference between no farming bonuses and a 20% farming bonus, ect. No matter what civilization you are, its all the same. Everything fires the same, the only truly diverse thing is the color of your team and the color of the other person's team. It would have been very nice for each different civilization to have detailed differences, like in the AOE series. But i guess that was too much work for the makers. This game lacks effort. It needs to be totally re-done, in my opinion. I give the gameplay category no more than a 3/10. This is after the first week. (And come on...when lumberjacks collect wood...they usually CUT THE DAMN TREE DOWN FIRST!!! The makers couldn't even do that! EFFORTLESS! The game should be called ''Effortless Empire'', forget ''Empire Earth'')

Fun Factor:

I don't need to explain fun factor to you readers. Will you have fun or not? I'd say for the first couple of weeks you will. So many features to see. But after you've seen them....BORING. The Random map games take way too long to finish. The computer always upgrades around the time you do, so there's never any hope in being superior to it as far as units goes. Fun Factor scores 5/10.

Replay Value:

Once you've played through the campaigns and played a few random maps, this game is worthless. 2/10--and i'm being generous.

Ending Comments:

If this game had a better 3D engine, was a lot more detailed and diverse, and even had some minor touches to the music, i'm sure this game would be much much better. Hopefully this can be the set standards for an Empire Earth 2. This game would be a good game to rent..but its a PC game. oh well.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/02, Updated 10/08/02