CUatTHEFINISH
March 22nd, 2008, 04:32 AM
Title: Sins of a Solar Empire
Platform: PC
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher: Stardock
Release Date: February 4th, 2008 (okay so this review is quite late, but I figured I'd give this thing a shot)
From the company Stardock (that brought you Windows GUI skinners such as WindowBlinds, DesktopX and IconPackager) comes a real-time strategy developed by Ironclad Games called "Sins of a Solar Empire." The tag line for this game stresses that it is an RTS at an unrivaled scale, and there is no argument to claim, it provides just that. Sins of a Solar Empire is a space based RTS where you must command spaceship fleets to control a solar system packed with planets, gas giants, asteroids, and wormholes. However, the game includes extra bits and pieces to keep players on their toes (such as a bounty system where you pay pirates and other players to attack, well, rather annoy your enemies).
With all this space (no pun intended) to manage, the interface does a great job in handling attack reports and upgrade notifications. It also has a nice transparent window on the left hand side to keep track of all the fleets and buildings around your controlled planets. The only problem with having your battlefronts being so spread apart is that it takes your fleets a good amount of time to get to one planet to another. The reason for this is that your spaceships need to "phase jump" to the next planet AFTER navigating out of a nearby planet's gravity well. The wait isn't painfully excruciating but it'll make you think twice before leaving your newly colonized planet/asteroid unprotected.
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1658/planetmenucr0.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=planetmenucr0.jpg)
View of the fleet/planet manager in game
Along with this great interface is a fairly decent research tech tree. You have plenty of technology to choose from as you progress through the game that ranges from military upgrades (that will effect your military hardware and allow you to construct new units) to civilian upgrades (which allows colonization of different planet types to increased mineral gathering). Of course researching these items will cost you resources that you collect during your play time. These three resources that your colonies collect are credits from citizen taxes planet side, and metal/crystal collections from asteroid debris floating around planets and other large objects.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6638/militarytechtreexb7.th.jpg (http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=militarytechtreexb7.jpg)http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/74/civiliantechtreezd6.th.jpg (http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civiliantechtreezd6.jpg)
TEC's Military and civilian tech tree
As you can see from the screen shots, there are also two other categories of interest called fleet logistics and artifacts. Fleet Logistics is training that will allow you to have more more military ships and capital ships. Artifacts are found by colonizing planets, and then exploring them further. They add special bonuses to your empire, although it'll give off it's location to all other players on the map.
As stated earlier, Sins of a Solar Empire offers a few extra bits that I have not seen in any other RTS that I've played before. It allows you to place bounty's on other empires for pirates and players to collect by destroying their ships and space stations. It also has a black market where you can purchase and sell metal and crystal for a specific price that fluctuates during the game.
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8076/blackmarketnd1.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blackmarketnd1.jpg)http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7376/bountyuu7.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bountyuu7.jpg)
Black market and bounty screens
The units in the game are quite unique as well. You can research new military vessels and choose from a handful of capital ships, each with their own special perks. It's always a great idea to compliment normal military ships with a capital ship. Capital ships can level up and gain capabilities as they do so. From shields that absorb damage to new weapons and increased damage. These special upgraded weapons and shields require antimatter to function. This antimatter regenerates overtime, making your capital ship's special abilities more for tactical use than just turning it on auto.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2539/attackmp3.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=attackmp3.jpg)
PHOTON TORPEDOES.... well... not really..
Sins of a Solar Empire will allow you to choose from three "races" if you will. The TEC, the Advent, and the Vasari Empire. Each have their own special tech trees which yields different bonuses. However, the demo only allowed play for TEC, so I was unable to play test the other two races. The full version of the game also has single player scenarios for you to fulfill, but I believe you'll see the most fun with online play. Just be prepared to give a good amount of your free time away for this game, with the large number of planets to colonize/defend/attack, you'll be in the battle for quite sometime.
In closing, Sins of a Solar Empire is an innovative RTS that presses boundaries I have not seen others hit. It seems to me this is the game that Star Wars: Empire At War wishes it could have been on the space level. If you are on the fence about picking up this game, I'd say it's worth the purchase. It's a unique experience that you should not pass up.
Gameplay: With a large range of tech trees and plenty of room to cover, this game is a massive RTS that is loaded with fun.
Graphics: Nothing that's next gen, but has features like bloom to enhance visuals.
Sound: Music selection is decent, however it may get a little repetitive when you keep getting into fleet wars.
Replay Value: With online play, a map editor, and scenarios, you can keep coming back to this game for more.
Final Word: A unique RTS that is truly ahead in its class. It's very well done, and has re-sparked my interest in the genre.
8.5/10
Comments and thoughts appreciated, my grammar may be a bit off, as I wrote this at 4am.
Platform: PC
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher: Stardock
Release Date: February 4th, 2008 (okay so this review is quite late, but I figured I'd give this thing a shot)
From the company Stardock (that brought you Windows GUI skinners such as WindowBlinds, DesktopX and IconPackager) comes a real-time strategy developed by Ironclad Games called "Sins of a Solar Empire." The tag line for this game stresses that it is an RTS at an unrivaled scale, and there is no argument to claim, it provides just that. Sins of a Solar Empire is a space based RTS where you must command spaceship fleets to control a solar system packed with planets, gas giants, asteroids, and wormholes. However, the game includes extra bits and pieces to keep players on their toes (such as a bounty system where you pay pirates and other players to attack, well, rather annoy your enemies).
With all this space (no pun intended) to manage, the interface does a great job in handling attack reports and upgrade notifications. It also has a nice transparent window on the left hand side to keep track of all the fleets and buildings around your controlled planets. The only problem with having your battlefronts being so spread apart is that it takes your fleets a good amount of time to get to one planet to another. The reason for this is that your spaceships need to "phase jump" to the next planet AFTER navigating out of a nearby planet's gravity well. The wait isn't painfully excruciating but it'll make you think twice before leaving your newly colonized planet/asteroid unprotected.
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1658/planetmenucr0.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=planetmenucr0.jpg)
View of the fleet/planet manager in game
Along with this great interface is a fairly decent research tech tree. You have plenty of technology to choose from as you progress through the game that ranges from military upgrades (that will effect your military hardware and allow you to construct new units) to civilian upgrades (which allows colonization of different planet types to increased mineral gathering). Of course researching these items will cost you resources that you collect during your play time. These three resources that your colonies collect are credits from citizen taxes planet side, and metal/crystal collections from asteroid debris floating around planets and other large objects.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6638/militarytechtreexb7.th.jpg (http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=militarytechtreexb7.jpg)http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/74/civiliantechtreezd6.th.jpg (http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civiliantechtreezd6.jpg)
TEC's Military and civilian tech tree
As you can see from the screen shots, there are also two other categories of interest called fleet logistics and artifacts. Fleet Logistics is training that will allow you to have more more military ships and capital ships. Artifacts are found by colonizing planets, and then exploring them further. They add special bonuses to your empire, although it'll give off it's location to all other players on the map.
As stated earlier, Sins of a Solar Empire offers a few extra bits that I have not seen in any other RTS that I've played before. It allows you to place bounty's on other empires for pirates and players to collect by destroying their ships and space stations. It also has a black market where you can purchase and sell metal and crystal for a specific price that fluctuates during the game.
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8076/blackmarketnd1.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blackmarketnd1.jpg)http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7376/bountyuu7.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bountyuu7.jpg)
Black market and bounty screens
The units in the game are quite unique as well. You can research new military vessels and choose from a handful of capital ships, each with their own special perks. It's always a great idea to compliment normal military ships with a capital ship. Capital ships can level up and gain capabilities as they do so. From shields that absorb damage to new weapons and increased damage. These special upgraded weapons and shields require antimatter to function. This antimatter regenerates overtime, making your capital ship's special abilities more for tactical use than just turning it on auto.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2539/attackmp3.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=attackmp3.jpg)
PHOTON TORPEDOES.... well... not really..
Sins of a Solar Empire will allow you to choose from three "races" if you will. The TEC, the Advent, and the Vasari Empire. Each have their own special tech trees which yields different bonuses. However, the demo only allowed play for TEC, so I was unable to play test the other two races. The full version of the game also has single player scenarios for you to fulfill, but I believe you'll see the most fun with online play. Just be prepared to give a good amount of your free time away for this game, with the large number of planets to colonize/defend/attack, you'll be in the battle for quite sometime.
In closing, Sins of a Solar Empire is an innovative RTS that presses boundaries I have not seen others hit. It seems to me this is the game that Star Wars: Empire At War wishes it could have been on the space level. If you are on the fence about picking up this game, I'd say it's worth the purchase. It's a unique experience that you should not pass up.
Gameplay: With a large range of tech trees and plenty of room to cover, this game is a massive RTS that is loaded with fun.
Graphics: Nothing that's next gen, but has features like bloom to enhance visuals.
Sound: Music selection is decent, however it may get a little repetitive when you keep getting into fleet wars.
Replay Value: With online play, a map editor, and scenarios, you can keep coming back to this game for more.
Final Word: A unique RTS that is truly ahead in its class. It's very well done, and has re-sparked my interest in the genre.
8.5/10
Comments and thoughts appreciated, my grammar may be a bit off, as I wrote this at 4am.