Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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114 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you play casually, don't pick up this habit!, January 13, 2004
As you probably have read, this game is a "thinking mans RTS". I play w/ a group of co-workers who bragged constantly about how cool this game was, but I was put off by the "bigness" of it. The instruction booklet is massive, and ironically, my biggest complaint about the game is that it's not nearly big enough to even give you a good working understanding of the game!Now, if you aren't afraid of an extraordinarily complex game, this is, in my opinion, the best RTS out there today. Over 10 different nationalities progress and fight thier way through different ages (starting w/ the Ancient Age, and progressing to the Information Age). Each age allows newer and better production, warwaging units, and capabilities. It's hilarious watching inferior players defending their cities w/ catapults while a highly skilled player rolls over them w/ tanks -- or Archers being gunned down by an opposing player who's discoved Gunpowder. Yum, gaming goodness!!! Many new concepts have been introduced in this game. My favorite is "National Borders". At a point in the game, each territory has borders that eminate from their civilizations center of power. What a blast it is to see the colored borders creep out and eventually meet other territories (doing damage to enemy buildings and units it envelops). Difficult to learn, yes, but the payoff is (in my opinion) very well worth the investment. Hope my input is helpful. Enjoy...
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161 of 167 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Civilization meets Age of Empires, June 7, 2003
I knew it would take a great game to pull me away from Age of Mythology which I've been playing like an addict for over 6 months now. This is the game I was waiting for. As a veteran Player of both the Civilization series (and the far superior Alpha Centauri) and Age Of Empire series, the similarities to both series was immediately obvious. It shoudln't come as any surprise since this game was built under the Microsoft banner (makers of the AOE series) but developed by former Civilization creators. The end result is a game so close to perfection you are forced to wonder why no one had though of it earlier.While the gameplay is real time, most of the interface concepts and strategy has been adopted from turn based strategy. Basically combat plays like AOE, but city management plays like CIV. It's the best of both worlds really. The depth of research, complex alliances combined with shrewd AI make this one of the deepest real-time strategy games ever made. Probably the deepest. The use of nukes, aircraft, and huge armies result in huge bloody battles that every real-time player looks for. One of the best concepts taken from the turn based games is the way cities are the key to conquest. Cities can be raided and completely taken over by hostile armies. Cities determine the size and shape of national borders. Operating outside of national borders causes your troops to suffer attrition damage if improperly equipped. Therefore, real-time players used to "rushing' will find they must adopt a whole new strategy. Armies might be the key to conquest, but it's developement that will govern their success. There are two basic modes to the single player game: quick battle and the campaign. Players of the campaign will notice similarities to another hybrid type series: Total War. There is a huge world map where armies can be moved around like game pieces. After making your moves, the game goes into real time mode with objectives based on the decisions and moves you made previously. Unlike Total War where the real time is strictly combat, the real time portion of the game also forces you to build resources and raise armies if necessary. Exceptional victories are rewarded with game cards that can be played prior to going real time, another added bonus that gives depth to the game. While their are few real ground-breaking concepts in this game, by taking the best concepts of some of the greatest strategy games ever made is a bold leap forward. Also, after playing Age of Mythology and Warcraft 3 with their beautiful 3D engines, the 2d graphics are a step back, but it's easily forgiven. I've been playing this game for awhile now, and it seems like I learn somethign new every time I play. Liek the best strategy games, there are a lot of layers and a lot of different paths to victory. Any strategy game fan should pick this one up regardless of their preferences.
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81 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST-HAVE RTS!!, June 14, 2003
This game blows Empire Earth, Civilization III, and Age of Empires out of the water. It is just plain fun FUN FUN! I would recommend this game to any people that liked the games mentioned above. This is why i gave it 5 stars:
Single-player: awesome. you start off with one city, and then you keep adding (the maximum is 8 i think). You can invade enemy territoty and try to conquer them. And believe me, you can't just march in there with a huge amount of soldiers and expect to decimate them. Oh no. They have the homefield advantage. Their reinforcements keep coming & coming & coming. One time, I was fighting for a city on my border and the French's border. I fought for that city for almost half of the game. I would get it, then they would. This went on & on, just like real life. This game is very realistic and extremely fun. They also have a conquer the world campigne, but i don't find it amussing.
Another good quality is that the people move very fast, which is a major advancement. This helps a lot when you are under attack and have no troops there. The troops get there quickly, and problem solved.
This game is one of the best RTS games i have ever played.
BUY THIS GAME!!
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