Empire Earth

"Too Much Strategy, Very Less Fun Element"

When the first screens started popping out, I couldn't stop myself from being amazed. This game looked like everything a strategy game fan could ask for. Especially, it promised to have everything that Age of Empires lacked, and also add a lot of new things. For starters, the game had Aircrafts, modern age infantry and tanks, and moreover, it also had slingers from the stone age. As a whole, the game was a collection of the worlds history, from the very early ages and up to modern, not-seen and only dreamed about future age, ruled by robots.

Yes, the game has a Nano age, where the battles look like outtakes from a sci-fi movie. Laser bolts, huge robotic figures, explosions--things do look good, and all of it is in 3D. One can zoom in and take the game to a third person shooter viewpoint. In fact, some of the campaign missions starts with that view. It all looks really cool. The empire earth engine is a marvel, and it can run in even 8 MB graphics cards.

In no way one can say that Empire Earth is a bad game. Actually it is quite difficult to describe the true nature of this game. It's enjoying at times, and yet frustrating on other occasions. The main problem with the game is actually it's best point as well. The game is really vast. You can literally start a game with primitive men, and take them up to Nano age. But what sounds really cool in paper doesn't really play out that well in reality.

The AI is really aggressive, which is a good thing. But this also means that they'll attack every now and then, and force you to solely focus on quickly building and upgrading a strong army. Unlike most RTS games, you'll have to face action pretty early in the game. And there are too many units, which means that you'll have to study each and every of them, and think of countering the counter units as well! It's not just that plain old formula of amassing a huge army, attacking opponents from different points, and finishing them off. The attacks need to be comprehensive, covering any and every sort of retaliation measures.

After all, most people plays games for having fun, and spending some quality leisure time. This game emphasizes more on the "Strategy" part, compared to the fun part. Empire Earth might be lauded by the RTS freak, who has completed each and every campaign from all popular RTS games, but this game is not for all. Not even for a moderate RTS fan. Only the hardcore fans, whom are willing to spend 6-8 hours behind one single scenario or fight will enjoy this game.

As far as Single Player's concern, the campaigns are really difficult, and involves lots of planning and very calculative steps. One mistake, and you're done for it. This can be enjoying for a while, but soon the heavy toil becomes a "toil", and players don't feel like "playing" a game.

This game is a highly recommended game for die hard RTS fans looking for a new challenge, but strategy newbies and not-so-die hard fans should steer clear from this one. There are lots of more accessible 3D RTS games in the market, e.g. Warcraft III, Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, Rise of Nations, etc.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/05