Since the dawn of time,
people have been trying to conquer one another to be the main force to be
contended with. If people take a wide look through time, they will see the
strongest was the main power: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greeks, Romans,
and down to our time Untied States of America. The one with the biggest military
will be the power before each nation will bow. This is the main concept behind
Empire Earth, and any other Real Time Strategy game.
The thing that made Empire
Earth the PC Game of the Year, and so incredibly popular was its take on the
genre of the game. Other RTS games take players through a few ages but then
stops, but Empire Earth did something completely different. It begins in the
dawn of time, where your main force includes guys with clubs, to present day
times, with missiles aimed at each nation. It goes even two hundred years
further into an Epoch they called the Nano Age. No other game has taken players
though half a million years worth of events before. This game was dubbed the
successor to Age of Empires, and it has many similar traits because the concept
came from the lead designer Age of Empires. Anything that players wanted to
accomplish they could with this game, and that gave the game fuel to become as
successful as it did.
It has now been
approximately one year since the release of Empire Earth and it has received an
expansion entitled Empire Earth: The Art Of Conquest. This game takes everything
that was done correctly in the first game and just expounds upon it. The new
things included are: a new epoch, three new single player campaigns, two more
unique heroes, two new civilizations, unique capabilities for each civilization,
more buildings, new wonders, and more units to take control of.
The new Epoch introduced
is the Space Age, and takes place in 2200AD.In this age, China has taken control
of most of Asia, and a new country called UFAR (United Federation of Asian
Republics) was born. This new country began to falter due to the pressures of
the expanding population, and to the fact that Earth was beginning to be
overpopulated. The solution to this problem was to start living in Space. Soon
myriads of people were flocking to be part of this new society upon Mars. Than
another issue presented itself, how can the UFAR control both the Earth and
Mars?
The Space age gives a lot
of new units into the game. Here is the brief rundown of the new buildings and
units. Space dock is the link between these two worlds; the people cannot
survive with out it. Space Turrets is the new defense mechanism to defend the
borders. The Robot Farm is a farm that does not require the use of humans to be
productive. Anti-Missile Battery is a very important piece of equipment, as it
is the only defense against a nuclear attack. One of the best new units is the
Spy Satellite, as it will provide important information on what the other
nations are doing. Palisades is a new type of wall. The new Wonder is an Orbital
Space Station; the advantage of this wonder is that it will give a moral boost
to all of the space units. The last new thing added is a calamity: the Meteor
Storm. These burning rocks will cause a great outcry to any player that it is
used upon. The only people that can cause these meteor storms are the prophets.
There are two new heroes that can be unleashed in the game. The first one is Hu
Kwan Do, a warrior type hero. He is a brilliant business mind, as he made his
company, Kwan Do Electronics and Communications Conglomerate, to one of the
richest corporations known to man. As the company grew so did his ambitions and
soon he has control over all Asia, and he was one of the founding fathers of the
UFAR. His legacy will live on for hundreds of years, and his dynasty is the one
in control of the UFAR right now. The other hero is Khan Sun Do, a brilliant
strategist. He is the descendent of Hu Kwan Do, and he followed in his footsteps
and became a great leader to the people. He is the first generation of
Martian-born citizens. His call to power came from the outcry of the Martians
that wanted to be independent of the Earth.
One of the new
civilizations is the Japanese. As many people know they have been around for
thousands of years. They truly came to power in World War II, but they were
shortly defeated. After that defeat they focused on the economics, and became a
leader in that field. Korea is the other new civilization. They have been around
for over four thousands years. For two thousand years they were plagued with
civil wars, and wars with other kingdoms, with many dynasty’s coming and going
as if it was the changing of the wind. All that came to an end shortly after the
twentieth century started when Japan colonized Korea. After World War II, Korea
was once again a free country, but in the 1950’s another war would plague their
land, but that would not keep this proud country down for long.
By popular demand, there have been new campaigns added that further enhances the
game. One of them is set in the Roman Empire and their quest for world
domination. The next one is in World War II, when the United States was dealt a
humiliating and devastating blow in Pearl Harbor, and the dropping of the
world’s first atomic bomb. Last set of missions is set in the last age, which
prove to be very interesting!
Empire Earth: The Art Of
Conquest is rated T for Teen for blood and violence.
Gameplay: 9.1
The game hasn’t changed from the original. Once players enter a battle; they
will be fighting until one side loses. The interface is easy to navigate, and
the controls will come to anyone who is familiar to playing Real Time Strategy
games.
Graphics: 8.9
The game has nice quality graphics. It looks really spectacular when players
are zoomed out, but when they zoom in on the game everything looks a little
blurry, but it is improved over the original. The problem is when players zoom
in it distorts the gameplay and players can miss out on the action, which can
cause players great pain in the long run. The zooming feature proves to be more
of eye candy.
There are myriads of unit
types in this game, which range from: land, sea, and air. Each of these types of
units has a distinct feel while playing, and the animations for each are really
well done. All the units are modeled to look as close to their real life counter
part as possible.
Sound: 8.9
The sound in this game is done very well. The music that plays in the
background is a strong motivator while fighting a tough enemy. The sound effects
used have been accurately recreated to what people would expect to hear. The
voice acting is a little cheesy at times, but it gets the job accomplished, and
the most important thing is that it never becomes repetitive.
Difficulty: Medium
The game has a slight learning curve but if you played the previous
versions, or any RTS game, it will take little or no time to play like a pro.
The AI is challenging but not to the point of being cheap. Gives players a run
for their money in certain campaigns.
Concept: 9.3
The concept for this game has been done numerous times. The thing that makes
this game so good is that players do not advance myriads of times before they
have the best and most sophisticated technology. The new Epoch, which players
can advance, proves to be refreshing, challenging, and fits in appropriately
with the rest of the game.
Multiplayer: 9.1
The multiplayer has been expanded upon
with a better matchmaking service than the original offered. Nothing is better
than playing against a human opponent than the computer AI.
Overall: 9.1
This is a really good expansion pack to Empire Earth. It adds so many little
things that it will be worth the players hard earned cash. The Space Epoch
itself is worth the price of it. If players love Real Time Strategy games, and
already own Empire Earth, they need to go to the nearest electronic store and
pick this gem up!
