I've been a big fan of Empire Earth since it was released back in 2001. I play it regularly at LAN parties to this day. I say without hesitation that it's my hands-down favorite RTS game. Now we have Empire Earth II, produced by Mad Doc Software, the company behind the hit & miss (mostly hit) Art of Conquest expansion to the original Empire Earth game. When I heard about the sequel just before E3 last year, I was both excited and apprehensive. How can they create a sequel to a game that spans the history and into the far future of Earth? Could it possibly live up to the original?
To my surprise, Mad Doc opted to not create a true sequel to the game at all, but instead to reinvent it entirely. They've created a completely different RTS gaming experience that draws on the best parts of RTS classics such as Civilization, Rise of Nations, Kohan and, of course, the original Empire Earth. I prefer to call it Empire Earth, Too.
As is typical fare of real-time strategy games, players control dozens of civilians who busily gather resources and construct bases. Players must also build a massive army and then lead it into apocalyptic battle against the enemy. Mad Doc keeps this formula intact, but throws in a lot of new twists and a plethora of new gizmos to keep the RTS concept fresh and to eliminate some of the more tedious aspects of the genre.
Among these gizmos is the Citizen Management Interface, which provides (as its name implies) an easy way to manage citizens' resource gathering efforts. A large map provides an overview of the entire play field and shows the locations of all known resource nodes and how many citizens are busy working at each. With only a few simple clicks of the mouse, citizens can be ordered to move from one resource-gathering chore to another. No more scouring bases for idle citizens, no more mental arithmetic to keep track of what everyone is doing. Just pop open the Citizen Management Interface, click a few buttons and get back to the game.
This goes a long way toward eliminating micro-management, unfortunately the game reintroduces a bit of that in other ways. To truly optimize resource gathering, warehouses, where gathered resources are dropped off, must be constructed close to where the resources are being gathered. When directing resource gathering from the CMI, it's difficult to keep track of the locations of resource nodes relative to their nearest drop-off points. Having citizens walk halfway across a territory to deliver resources is a waste of time. The only solution seems to be to track down every manned resource node manually and ensure that a warehouse is nearby.
Another gizmo is the picture-in-picture feature, a first for RTS games. There is a small window in the bottom corner of the screen that helps players keep an eye on strategically important locations like contested territories or enemy bases. This window can be configured to remember several different views and can even be set to cycle through them like a security camera monitor. Orders can be given to units through this window just as they can through the main view. It was a bit of a paradigm shift for me to get used to this handy little feature, but it quickly became indispensable.
The War Planner shows a map of the play field and lets players visually draw up plans for battle which they can then send to their allies. The map can be adorned with colorful arrows and descriptive text, detailing the execution of a massive military offensive. Even AI-controlled allies can follow a well-designed war plan. This feature adds a whole new dimension to coordinated team strategy. It's now possible to have units from three different locations receive orders and converge on a location at the same time.
The game is lush and beautiful, exquisite in detail. There's not only a night and day cycle, but the seasons change, too. Bad and severe weather occur frequently and actually have an effect on gameplay as line of sight and movement speed are both impacted. Sadly, I ended up turning off these effects in multiplayer games because the weather effects obscure the game field significantly enough to disrupt gameplay. No one likes to just stop playing for several minutes waiting for a blizzard to pass.
Snazzy new features aside, one of the most immediately noticeable departures from most other RTS games is "territories". Each game map in Empire Earth II is divided into dozens of smaller territories, each of which can be claimed or conquered by players. They represent the sphere of influence of the city center. As players claim territories, they expand their empire and become capable of supporting larger and more powerful armies. This approach to RTS takes some getting-used-to. There are many beneficial effects afforded by adding certain buildings to territories and to properly set up a territory takes time.
Time, by the way, is every player's most precious resource. If too much is spent optimizing resource gathering in every territory claimed, then the enemy just might march in and take over without breaking a sweat. A delicate balance must be struck between base building and army building. Both should grow steadily and in such a way as to always have ample resources to create military units, but to always have enough military units to defend against attacks. Empire Earth II gives you the ability to speed up or slow down time - be sure to use it.
Combat employs a simplified rock-paper-scissors model, where each type of unit has a significant strength against a particular other type of unit. Keeping a well-balanced military is essential to success, as is remembering which units have bonuses against which other units. This can be tough to remember even though Empire Earth II offers noticeably fewer unit types than its predecessor.
There are three single-player campaigns and two standalone scenarios, taking players through the histories of Korea, Germany and the United States of America. Additionally, players can pit themselves against one or more AI-controlled enemies in a "skirmish" game. These modes are impressive in their historical accuracy and give players a good grasp of how the game mechanics work, but the real strength of Empire Earth II, much like its predecessor, is in its multiplayer offerings.
Up to ten people can play together and computer-controlled players can be added to round out the games. The multiplayer game setup menu is truly incredible in its flexibility. Control everything from starting resources to weather effects to random map generation. It's even possible to fine-tune the speed of game elements; make building construction take longer, let units be produced faster, slow down or speed up resource gathering, tweak unit walking speed and more. There's even a handicap feature to even the playing field so novice and veteran players can play together.
Each player also chooses from a list of 14 civilizations and enjoys bonuses based on that choice. The civilizations are divided into three 'regions', which offer additional bonuses. Choosing the right civilization to fit the game mode and their own style is every player's first big test of strategy and that happens before the game even starts.
Players can also form alliances before the game starts. If the game host allows it, alliances can be broken and reformed throughout the game. The diplomacy features are quite robust, allowing players to dictate detailed terms of peace. The length of the alliance can be specified or the alliance can be set to last indefinitely until one of the allied players declares war. Border crossing permissions can be set to allow only certain types of units; for instance, one might allow military units to pass through while prohibiting foreign resource gatherers. Players can even offer treaties demanding tributes in the form of resources, buildings, units or territories.
Playing well in one of three major areas is rewarded with 'crowns', which yield significant benefits. Militaries that advance quickly are rewarded with the Military Crown; rapidly developing a strong economy wins the Economic Crown; and finally expanding and strengthening the empire in general is rewarded with the Imperial Crown. Each "crown" allows the player that wins it to choose one of several very helpful bonuses. My favorite in the Economic Crown is the Immigration bonus, which provides three free civilians every minute or so that I hold the crown. If other players surpass the crown holder in the respective category, the crown changes hands and the power it provides shifts, possibly to the enemy.
I've rambled about quite a few aspects of Empire Earth II, but I've barely scratched the surface of the game. This game is big and complex. The possibilities for strategy are enormous. One can opt to simply expand as fast as possible and overwhelm the enemy or play the dangerous game of diplomacy and form and break alliances, or one of dozens of other viable strategies.
Complexity like this always comes at a price, however, and that price here is in the form of a learning curve. It will take me a while to know this game as well as I know Empire Earth, but I know it will be worth the effort.
I'm a thirty-something computer programmer. I live in Delaware, but I grew up in Arkansas in a tiny town of 2500. We didn't have video arcades. Heck, it was nearly an hour's drive to anything as sophisticated as a Wal*Mart. Needless to say, my exposure to video games as a child was somewhat limited.
In the mid 80's, I cut my teeth on a used Atari 2600 bought at a flea market and a handful of games like Space Invaders and Pac Man. I was hooked in a blink. In the decades since, I've become a big fan of many genres of games. From first-person shooters to role-playing to strategy and everything in between. The only games that categorically don't interest me are sports games.
The easiest way for a game to win me over is to have a gripping story. I'll forgive a lot in a game that grabs me and keeps me interested. The inverse is true, too. If a game does not have a killer story, its gameplay had better be pretty darn compelling to make up for it. That doesn't happen very often
