Sins of a Solar Empire
Posted 02-13-2008 at 01:28 AM by Rider
I like RTSes. I'm a fan of a certain batch of 4x games (namely, those in the vein of Imperium Galactica 2 and Fragile Allegiance) and usually I welcome any addition in my gaming arsenal of this nature.
Then there was Sins of a Solar Empire...
When I heard of this game, I was not impressed. Just another cookie cutter RTS, but this one's set in space. Big Deal. I wasn't even going to check it out, that's how underwhelming I found it's gallery of screenshots and promises.
But over time, I heard of people being enthusiastic about it, I read some reviews which where all pretty positive, so I forced myself to try it out at least once. Can't judge what you don't know right?
So I went and fired up a tutorial, got the basics figured and tried my first game.
Gasp.
It works. The game really works. All the elements are very well welded together, the pacing is right, the technology's are useful, but not overpowering so you won't be grounded into dust if you forgot laser research, but you'll notice the benefits of having it!
The combat looks great (yay for the freely rotateable camera!) and there's PLENTY of gametime to be had, seeing how one small match can lead to roughly 12 hours of gameplay. And then you can continue playing even after you've won. Splendid!
Of course, nothings rarely all good and this happens to be the case with Sins. While the gameplay is just good, after the first match I don't feel the need to play another one. I will... heck I'll force myself to start one just so I know I'll finish it. But there's no inner motivation.
Then there's the focus of the game. Now there's nothing wrong with the way Sins has been made to work. It's obvious that RTS style combat is the focus, and empire building comes second, but that's not exactly the way I like to see it.
This may be related to the fact that me and my uncle are working on a Real-time 4X game to end all 4X games, so I'll have a bit more of a critics view (what will we do, what won't we do in our own game) which may color my judgment on this. But I would've liked a little more meat in the empire building.
So all in all, I like the game. But I suspect I won't be playing it still in a month or so. Maybe in a year I'll remember I have it and do it again.
I'll see :)
Note: I'll admit that I have yet to play a multiplayer match, so maybe I'll rethink this after I've done so.
Then there was Sins of a Solar Empire...
When I heard of this game, I was not impressed. Just another cookie cutter RTS, but this one's set in space. Big Deal. I wasn't even going to check it out, that's how underwhelming I found it's gallery of screenshots and promises.
But over time, I heard of people being enthusiastic about it, I read some reviews which where all pretty positive, so I forced myself to try it out at least once. Can't judge what you don't know right?
So I went and fired up a tutorial, got the basics figured and tried my first game.
Gasp.
It works. The game really works. All the elements are very well welded together, the pacing is right, the technology's are useful, but not overpowering so you won't be grounded into dust if you forgot laser research, but you'll notice the benefits of having it!
The combat looks great (yay for the freely rotateable camera!) and there's PLENTY of gametime to be had, seeing how one small match can lead to roughly 12 hours of gameplay. And then you can continue playing even after you've won. Splendid!
Of course, nothings rarely all good and this happens to be the case with Sins. While the gameplay is just good, after the first match I don't feel the need to play another one. I will... heck I'll force myself to start one just so I know I'll finish it. But there's no inner motivation.
Then there's the focus of the game. Now there's nothing wrong with the way Sins has been made to work. It's obvious that RTS style combat is the focus, and empire building comes second, but that's not exactly the way I like to see it.
This may be related to the fact that me and my uncle are working on a Real-time 4X game to end all 4X games, so I'll have a bit more of a critics view (what will we do, what won't we do in our own game) which may color my judgment on this. But I would've liked a little more meat in the empire building.
So all in all, I like the game. But I suspect I won't be playing it still in a month or so. Maybe in a year I'll remember I have it and do it again.
I'll see :)
Note: I'll admit that I have yet to play a multiplayer match, so maybe I'll rethink this after I've done so.
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Hey, I saw there's going to be a C&C: Red Alert 3 tonight.
Posted 02-13-2008 at 01:38 AM by Joe Siegler 
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Am I the only one who wishes they'd go back to 2D fixed perspective RTS'?Posted 02-13-2008 at 02:30 AM by ADM
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StarCraft 2 should be fixed perspective.
I never got into Homeworld because I kept getting stuck at some point and would have to replay the previous mission to ease difficulty or something. Not sure if I still have the cd around or whether I could still be bothered to play it.
I looked up to see if there's a demo of SSE but found I won't be able to meet requirements with my graphics card. I'm willing to wait a wee bit before I upgrade, given ... a recent Christmas present.Posted 02-13-2008 at 03:09 AM by Kalki
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I'm cautiously optimistic about RA3... if they botched C&C3, they can probably do the same for the Red Alert series... but we'll see...Posted 02-13-2008 at 09:02 AM by Rider
