Empire Earth 2

Empire Earth 2 (EE2) is a worthy successor to Empire Earth (EE), filling a number of holes and adding massive amounts of content to the original game. The play is frantic and tough and enough content's been added so that you can spend days on a single game. I knock a star off both fun and overall for a combination of things making the game far more complex than it should - including inexcusably skimpy documentation - but this deserves 4/4 stars for fun and playability as a game that can keep you up late, late, late at night.

If you've never played 2001's EE, you should. The concept here is pretty simple. You control a civilization from the stone age through far in the future, but as this is a real-time strategy (RTS) game you can't stop the clock like you do in Civ, meaning you're constantly fighting off opponents along the way. The real issue is why you should buy this over EE. The simplest way I can put it is to compare the original Civilization versus Civilization II, where the two games were both popular but for different reasons. The first one created a genre and became a classic. The second, while not nearly original, fixed holes and added massive layers of complexity to the first game.

Simply put, there's a lot more in EE2 than there was in EE. With 300 differing units (versus 200 in EE), more civs, and any number of new variables ranging from weather to tech advances to temporary bonuses, it means that the old "hold off the barbarians by building Hadrian's Wall until you advance and build 10 leviathans to do a Sherman's March through Georgia" RTS strategy doesn't work here. At higher difficulty levels, the AI has gotten a lot better. As well, civilizations are more balanced. The two combine to force you to really have to know the ins and outs of both your civ and your opponent to win. Everything (resource management, unit management, battle strategy, and far more advanced diplomacy and battle plan coordination) becomes important to watch, especially at higher difficulty levels. The downside is it's a major pain trying to keep up with everything, but if you can it's a blast. The fact this is multiplayer-ready straight out of the box is also an improvement, as well as significant tweaking of handicap levels in multiplayer games that make the potential of newbie versus veteran matchups actually playable for a change.

Where this loses a star on both fun and overall is that they didn't do enough to make the information overload easier to manage. There are a couple nice new features in the UI (the Citizen Manager is helpful but I find multiple screens just make things even more confusing) but nothing revolutionary, like the city managers in the later Civs that helped you deal with all the extra layers of complexity. Even small things, like unchangeable hotkeys, weren't well thought out. Where I go from frustrated to disappointed is unacceptably skimpy documentation. There is no tech tree printout included, something basic to all RTS games and that was included in EE. Moreover, neither is a civilization list along with their bonuses as well as any detailed information on unit and building statistics. While all three are available piecemeal in the in-game tooltips feature, that doesn't make up for the fact that this is basic stuff that any RTS game should include. (It's almost as if Sierra has made a deal with Prima to force you to buy the strategy guide.) The lack of help in managing the new complexity means this game is far better suited to hard-core, experienced RTS players than those new to the genre. Finally, graphics are only ok at best even though this requires fairly new equipment to run properly.

Don't get me wrong. This is an entertaining game that will have you shocked that it's 3 in the morning when you just wanted to play for a couple of hours before bedtime. Its just that if they'd spent a little more time polishing up playability this would leap from a good game to a classic. Still, very much worth buying.

Stainless Steel Studios has good timing with games. The first *Empire Earth* crossed my laptop as I was settling into my mobilization for Operation Nobel Eagle. I'd come home from long patrols and unwind with a heaping of world domination. I seemed to have an easier time of it than our current Administration.

Now Mad Doc takes over and returns the series as I am mobilizing against the Real Time Strategy genre. I'm sick of retread RTS games whose publishers promise much, but deliver something too safe. With American culture currently awash in remakes and rehashes, it seems nobody can produce anything fresh or innovative anymore.

*Empire Earth II* doesn't change my perception. But it's as solid an RTS as anybody has managed: being streamlined enough for anybody to get the hang of it, but with enough useful details and tweaks to separate the men from the boys. It also looks and sounds good.

Graphics definitely makes demands of my Radeon 9800 AiW and my 1G of Kingston ECC memory: aside from the great-looking explosions, shrapnel, and dust clouds, EEII suffers from horrendous slow down whenever more than a few units or civilizations exist on the screen. Shutting off the good-looking weather and seasonal effects didn't seem to matter. Audio booms deep, loud, and clear over my home theater system. *EEII* one-ups *Rise of Nations* in audio and video.

*Empire Earth II* plays more like *Rise of Nations* than its own predecessors. However, marketers tried to make *RoN* seem like a real-time *Civilization*, when it was really just another *Starcraft* knock-off. *EEII* at least announces up front, "Hey, I'm an RTS".

So *EEII* falls into the Imperial RTS subgenre with Blizzard mechanics. Players select with the left-click and execute unit orders with the right-click, except for special powers and building orders, which are executed and canceled in exactly the opposite way. Players build town halls/ command centers to generate labor units who mine and build everything else.

Newer structures, resources, and limitations help explain why *EEII* plays like *RoN*: just as Big Huge Games borrowed liberally from Stainless Steel Studios for its first RTC, Mad Doc borrows liberally from BHG for *EEII*. For example, MD took the research point idea from *Rise of Nations*, and so Universities and Cathedrals generate points needed to research tech. MD also borrowed the "warehouse" idea from BHG, which allows labor units to deposit resources closer to mining sites. Finally, Mad Doc employs BHG's national borders concept (inspired by *Civ III* and *Alpha Centauri*), but here borders are fixed in pre-generated territories instead of being adjustable culture lines. *RoN* forbids building outside of borders, but borders could be pushed back. *EEII* freezes borders, but actually makes overseas construction a requirement for capturing territories.

And with that the similarities largely end. *RoN* makes a big deal about multiple victory conditions and paths, but it really just boils down to war. In fact, *RoN* is so conquest-oriented that it allows only the most pathetic defenses in order to discourage base camping. Fortresses, for example, helped to establish borders, but no matter how heavily you garrisoned them and upgraded the attack value, they couldn't stop a pack of archers from reducing them to rubble. A good offense is the best defense, and so *RoN* virtually mandated the tank-rush to stand much of a chance of winning under just about any circumstances. Especially at the end, when the final technologies allowed instantaneous unit construction.

*Empire Earth II* almost delivers what *RoN* promised: the opportunity for a meaningful economic, technological, or diplomatic victory. In part because *EEII* defenses and fortifications actually work, allowing the player to sit behind fences, walls, turrets, towers, fortresses, anti-air, and anti-ship guns while he or she gathers resources to win the "Economic Crown" over and over again. There's nothing quite as heartwarming as watching a fortress hurl a massive fireball into an upstart Visigoth and knocking him flat. The catch is, *EEII* limits the number of active fixed defenses in each territory to 7 per type (2 for fortresses). This forces the player to plan more carefully than RTS titles normally require, since these limitations give other players a higher chance to outflank defenses. Defense structures also seem to have lower hit points than in many other RTS games, but they compensate with greater range and firepower. This helps to thwart the infamously ignominious tank-rush.

*EEII* generally thwarts *RoN* with lots of little tweaks. The former abolishes that stupid, traditional 200-unit population cap in favor of a cap distribution system. A maximum cap of 2000 overall units per mission still exists, but it's possible to command up to 1000 units at a time. *EEII* also centralizes the research and unit upgrades in a single UI display instead of requiring the player to hunt down individual buildings. Civilizations are now grouped by regions and both Wonders and super powers are region-specific. In regards to resources, *EEII* allows warehouses to be built almost anywhere they are needed, and warehouses, city centers, refineries, and uranium mines can be garrisoned with citizens to increase gathering efficiency. More unit types seem to exist per era (but less than in the original *EE*). Finally, it features a pause button, complete with hot key, which effectively turns *EEII* into a turn-based game: one can still give orders and scroll around the map while paused.

But tweaks are what *Empire Earth II* amounts to. Nuclear weapons don't set off an Armageddon clock, but don't do much damage either. I find the defense cap arbitrary. I believe more non-military and more civilization-specific units should exist. I also believe more Wonders could exist for each region. And the lack of a power grid or storage building capacity, as found in Westwood Studios games, eliminates some economic and military depth from *EEII*. Worse, the game is unbalanced heavily in favor of air power: instead of tank rushing, I build six to eight airfields and win skirmishes entirely through tactical bomber rushes.

Still, I enjoy *Empire Earth II* more than *Rise of Nations*. Mad Doc still got my money. I guess that's as good a capsule endorsement as any.

Now I have played a lot of RTS (Real-Time Strategy) games in my spare time. But I expected Empire Earth 2 to be like the first Empire Earth game except for graphics. I was wrong when I downloaded the demo of EE2 (Empire Earth 2). I was excited even though it was a demo! Realistic battles and expanding your puny, Stone Age men to lasers and mechs in the final epoch (epic if you can't pronounce it). Soon, I bought the game and boy, was it incredible! Now what is exciting is that you can have the total population to 2000! Except you won't be able to create all those soldiers. Anyway, I have played EE (Empire Earth) it was interesting, but I wanted more than what I got in the first game. I wished for something like a thing inwhich you can just use a scroll and let the A.I do the sorting when it comes to gathering resources. When I played EE2, it had even more than what I barganed for: A War Planner system that uses teamwork with your allies, A Citizen Manager, and many more that I never expected in a RTS game, ever! The game is alive with weather that affects gameplay, hurricanes, blizzards, and sandstorms don't cause damage; however, they do affect line of sight and airplanes have to return to their base. I experienced a hailstorm once during my conquests. And if you want to see a battle close-up, press PgDn for down and PgUp for up. And Crtl left and right arrows to rotate incase you were were reading the EE2 guide too fast.

I enjoyed starting in Epoch 1 in humble beginnings and I will list you the epochs and what they mean

Epoch 1= Stone Age

Epoch 2= Copper Age

Epoch 3=Bronze Age

Epoch 4=Iron Age

Epoch 5=Dark Age

Epoch 6=Middle Age

Epoch 7=Renaissance Age

Epoch 8=Imperial Age

Epoch 9=Enlightment Age

Epoch 10=Industial Age

Epoch 11=Modern Age

Epoch 12=Atomic Age

Epoch 13=Digital Age

Epoch 14=Genetic Age

Epoch 15=Synthetic Age.

EE2 is based on historical nations and every epoch is based on historical times (except for Genetic, Synthetic, and a bit of Digial Ages). In time, as you learn techologies, you will be able to advance through time. What I also like is that in the orignal game you start in 500,000 B.C and you stop at the future ages. But in the sequel, it starts at 10,000 B.C, giving even MORE historical accuracy.

There are 80% more buildings than in EE and more units and civilizations! 3 more epochs have been added to the orignal 12 in EE, and many more features such as territories. It feels like a RTS version of "Monopoly". And through the start of Mankind, people have been scattered after the Tower of Babel affair (they wanted to reach Heaven but God made their language different and they couldn't finish the tower). But they made certain tribes and soon, they became nations. And if you betray the A.I they will call you Judas (When Judas betrayed Jesus). I thought that was fine for the game not to hide any Christian words.

And the units are great, from swords and shields to lasers and mechs, the sci-fi world has not been revealed in the final epoch (15.) And along the way, you must build certain buildings both economical and military to survive. The A.I has improved big time. You have to build your armies quickly, or the enemy will rush you with a large army! And nobody wants that, now do they?

I think that the EE2 deserve some credit for their hard work on Empire Earth 2.

P.S There is an expansion for Empire Earth 2. I won't review it until it comes out, but if you are curious, it is called Empire Earth 2: The Art of Supremacy.