Reviews / previews
Helicopters or horsemen? Siege towers or submarines? Youll build and lead these units, plus many more, in this epic real-time strategy game spanning half a million years of human existence, from the discovery of fire to laser-equipped robots in the 22nd Century. By advancing through an extensive technology tree, youll help your empire evolve through 12 historical periods, growing from an isolated settlement into a world power. So whether you want to make your own history or repeat the victories of Alexander, Napoleon, and Patton, Empire Earth will hand you the reins of power this summer.
-- 0 / GamePro
Time Bandits
There arent many places youll find a laser-sword-wielding mech, a caveman, and a World War II Howitzer fighting alongside Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of Britainbut these are rare times. And Empire Earth is one of those rare places. Sierras ambitious, epoch-spanning RTS aims to usurp Age of Empires crown with hundreds of units pulled from 14 eras of Earth time.
Empire Earths single-player campaign will be story-driven, spanning several period of Earth history (and beyond), with cut scenes created using the games versatile, swooping in-game cameraand a built-in scenario editor that allows you to create your own pockets of the past, present, and future. Multiplayer battles in the beta were absolutely chaotic, with an almost overwhelming number of building upgrade and unit customization opportunitiesand the beta only spanned a small fraction of the games 14 different eras.
Its A Small World, After All
If the Empire seems to have one weakness, its that the 3D models in the beta were a little on the simplistic side, a step behind the character detail of a game like Black & White. Diversity, personality, and sheer numbers step in to pick up the slack, with unique, surreal mech designs and nice little touches like modern-era prophets that wear sandwich boards foretelling that, lo, the end is nigh. Theres also something to be said for a game where you can get a Sherman tank, Napoleon, the Tower of Babel, and a pack of roaming emus all in the same screen shot.
Sound like a lot to handle? It istoo much, potentially. But the development team (comprised partly of Age of Empires design veterans) is constantly tweaking the game balance to ensure the game doesnt crack under the weight of its own variety, trying to make it so that Empire Earth is the last RTS youll ever need to buy.-- 0 / GamePro
Got an opinion about Empire Earth? Or maybe know a good cheat or strategy? Share it with the world!