"Empire Earth is a real world hit!"

Empire Earth – The Art of Conquest (PC)

Quick Overview/about the game –

This game is by far, probably the best RTS game that I have ever played on the PC. With over 400 units, and ten different epochs, there is a ton of fun to go around. The game itself was developed by Sierra and has capabilities of online play. If you have never played this game then you are missing out big time. The only thing that you need to play the game is a nice computer, so that you're frame rates stay up, and the first version of the game (Empire Earth). This version of the game (Empire Earth – The Art of Conquest) is an expansion to the original and is a nice addition.

Gameplay –

Empire Earth – The Art of Conquest has very nice gameplay, although it can be kind of confusing to control everything, and to keep track of everything that is going on, the game does a nice job of keeping itself lag free. With about 400 + units in the game, it is a true army game. You have to harvest the minerals of the earth, and be able to build units and army's from different buildings to succeed. If I was to just sit here and explain everything about this game and the abilities of each and every one of the units, I would be writing a book, and I don't really want to have you read that, and I personally don't want to write it. So let's just say that each of the units has their advantages against others and that they each can be upgraded differently. You may wonder how Sierra managed to allow 1200 different units to roam a huge map while keeping track of everything yet still managing their nearly perfect graphics… Well the secret to this is their little game engine that they created. The engine itself shows you what you are looking at and then when you move away from the area on the screen, it erases it from the screen and stays in the computers RAM. This is a great tactic to keep the game at a high speed, and keep it lag free. The only disadvantage to all of this is that it's recommended that you have about 512 Megs of RAM to play this game; at least, that will guarantee that you have no lag. Other than that, you should enjoy being able to play multiple epochs, since there are around 10 of them, each with realistic looks for the time period. Did I mention that the time period that you are in will reflect the different types of units that you can build? As a matter of fact, some of the units that you can build can only be built in a certain epoch; others though, can be built in any epoch.

Story –

Empire Earth – The Art of Conquest has a great story line, it follows times and epochs and has multiple races. By races I mean that there are multiple types of regions (America, Europe, Different tribes from a time period) and so on… These different areas will have campaigns that go along with what happened in that time, so it is also a good learning experience for those that like history of different races/cultures. The actual story of this game can be played in many different ways, and there are multiple ways to win, although there are some objectives that can only be won by completing certain things.

Graphics –

The graphics of Empire Earth – The Art of Conquest are excellent, with Empire Earths new graphics management engine, it will allow the game to show more detailed drawings, blood, gore, details, etc… without having to lag down the game. The graphics are very detailed and you will be able to play the game and see trees blowing, gunshot smoke, cannonball explosions, blood lying around, dead bodies, and much more. If you prefer to travel by water, that's also very nice, the boats are realistic, and have to turn to their side, (depending on the boat) to sometimes fire their weapons… The people that are moving around don't just stand somewhere to do something… If you want to watch them, you can, you should see them busy moving around with almost human like movement doing whatever you tell them too. If you want to get a close up of what your army or citizens are doing Sierra added the feature to zoom in or out on the area you are looking at so you can get a close up of what is going on. This is especially nice when you want to get an up-close screen shot of a huge war between two armies or more. The Graphics in this game are AWESOME!

Features –

Empire Earth – The Art of Conquest has many different features, from being able to play either single player against computers, to just single player campaigns. Although perhaps you want to test your skill against other people around the world! You then, can try out Sierras internet gameplay and enjoy the taste of being beaten, or beating other people that are playing the game against you! I find that even with a Dial-Up connection, you should still experience little lag, if any… If you still aren't happy with what you have, you can go to the map editor and create your own maps. If you have a ton of maps that you have made, perhaps you want to make your own little campaign with built in movies, sounds, and more! The game has tons of sounds, graphics, and abilities that aren't just able to be seen from outside the box. This is definitely a game that has some kick bootie features.

Buy? –

If you really want a challenge and like to play RTS games, then yes, go buy this game now! But please don't forget to buy it's under sided first version, since this of course is an expansion, you will need the Empire Earth game to play it. The game right now runs about $40.00 for both the original and the Art of Conquest. So if I was you, and want to play a great game, just stop reading this now and go buy it. I will see you online playing the game.

Overall Rating – 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04