by Matt Kelly

Created on: September 16, 2010

From Sierra, the makers of such instant classics as half life, comes Empire Earth. An epic of a game spanning over 500 000 years of human history. The game is undeniably a strategic affair, the premise, to construct a base, raise an army and quash those who seek to destroy you. In this respect it is similar to the likes of the unstoppable Command & Conquer series, an absolute giant in this genre. However, EE differs from C&C in a few key aspects which I will now go into.

Firstly and perhaps most notably, the game starts off in pre history. You are little more than cavemen, with rudimentary weapons and makeshift buildings, as time passes and you accrue an appropriate amount of resources, you can begin the revolution towards a new epoch. Epoch's can be broken into four main era's (with each era further broken down into a couple of sub divisions). You'll start in the stone age, eventually progress to the middle ages, then on into the atomic age before speeding towards the future Nano age where huge mechanised battle robots destroy everything that so much as moves.

Each unit built can be upgraded to improve armour, health and firepower. As well as certain defensive structures, such as the essential AA gun in later epochs.

Another aspect of gameplay that differs from most other games of this type, there are numerous resources to collect, food, gold, wood, stone and iron. Each unit and building requires different ratios of said resources to produce. This provides an interesting twist to the well trodden resource collection path that is synonymous with base building strategy games. In order for example to gain access to iron (essential to mount a coherent naval campaign) you will first have to secure ore deposits with a large enough army. This generally makes battles a little more thoughtful and deeper planning is often essential for victory.

There are a wide choice of factions to take charge of, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Don't see a nation that suits, you can always make your own, picking & mixing your own traits from a large list. Each trait costs points (a fixed amount that all custom designed factions are designated).

All these touches take what is already an overpopulated genre, and breathe new life into it, there are enough differences here to make Empire Earth not only unique but a thoroughly enjoyable experience. A.I is proficient and you can always go online to pit your armies against players all over the world.

Recommended to strategy fans, gamers in general and anyone who likes a challenge. A five star game all the way.

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