I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but...Just want to say, I've just purchased and after being burned by some recent titles, this team has done a great job. Installation was a breeze and looking forward to the update!

Very enjoyable effort!

Hi,

was wondering if you could add this review to your list:

42Gaming www.42gaming.com

35/42


http://42gaming.com/2008/04/14/sins-of-a-solar-empire/

Thanks

TGR added (8/10)

http://www.ironcladgames.com/images/banners/TGRAward8.0.gif

Updated the list , did I miss anyone?

I’ve finished my third game and… er, well… I don’t see the appeal. This has not only become my least favorite Stardock game to date… it has become the only one I don’t like thus far.

In short, it’s Homeworld ”lite” with Starcraft sound effects, put together in a fashion that makes gameplay about as strategic as Rock Paper Scissors . Like Homeworld, you get to move ships around in a 3D environment… but unlike Homeworld, you are restricted to a ‘tabletop’ playing area. The combat is primarily ‘hands-off’, where you win if you have more ships (as opposed to having any tactical considerations). Playing a computer opponent demonstrates the basic concept admirably: You move into a system held by the enemy. If you have more ships, your enemy flees to an adjacent planet. Follow him there, and he will run away to the planet just vacated. Rinse, repeat.

Planet defense is accomplished in only one way: using your ships to prevent access, either directly or by attempting to block a route (attempting, because when ships choose to bypass an enemy fleet in a gravity well, it’s about as difficult as sneaking past a deaf mute in a wind storm). You might notice some form of planetary defense gun in your arsenal. These are actually used to give your enemy the satisfaction of target practice before decimating your planet (if they choose not to ignore them altogether), as they are under-powered, short-ranged, placement-restricted and severely limited in available quantity. The only other option are the hanger bays that hold a whopping TWO squadrons (these structures are the size of North America, and only hold 12 fighters or bombers?), which might, if given lots and lots of time, mildly damage a small enemy ship or two (if you build six of the things, and a dozen defense guns around your system, you might just buy yourself enough time to get a sizable fleet to the threatened area. Might.)

Finally, the ‘Pirate’ concept is about as arbitrary as you can get without the introduction of, say, mad gofers. They serve no purpose, just sit there on their asteroid and take bounty bids from players… granted, this is exactly the way real pirates behave (i.e., only attacking after politely making punctual and honorable financial arrangements with a client, then warning their intended victim well in advance). It adds nothing but irritation to gameplay, as you have to stop whatever you are doing and play the Monopoly auction game, without even the chance of a surprise attack to break the game’s lethargy.

Anyway, my point is that there is really a whole lot of nothing to do in this game. What little user interaction exists is repetitive and without opportunity for variance. Of course, there are always those that will disagree, and tell you how great this game is… but consider this: there are also those who liked Boyz II Men, or think George W. is a fine leader.
Borrow the game and try before you buy.

heres what i think, i agree with the recviews above that the game is great, however it realy takes a while to get into it.

at first i realy didnt like this game because it is unbelievably (SP) complicated, and takes a while to get good enough to actualy know what you are doing. however after a month or two of playing, i got to know the controls and now i love the game!

the bad parts about it are the fact that there is no single player campaign, and that the maps are long. even the one player scenarios take a while to play through, and the gameplay feels realy detached, but its still fun. i was realy dissapointed with the lack of campaign however. they put alot of thought and backround into the three races, and the potential for a good campaign is enormous - i definantly hope to see an expansion with campaign in the future!

over all 8.5/10

First and foremost, I enjoy this game alot.  Spend many days and weeks on the stupidly massive maps i generate, and have recommended this title to any that seem remotely interested.  That said, heres the rest.

Seems im a bit late to this game.  But, here is another opinion for yall to peruse.  Being $8 at a Walmart, i didna expect too much, but after a couple hours, I found it quite enjoyable.  Being a fan of Homeworld, I and II, as well as the Space Empires series, Sins fit right in between them.  A game that provides the detached overlord feel when you zoom out and just see a collection of planets, with bars that when you mouse over, will show whats available there, to 'hooking' the camera to a single ship, even a fighter, and following it through its combat and travels. 

MAJOR flaw was the lack of ANY storyline.  After reading the cover, manual, and watching the intro, I was greatly disappointed to find NO main campaign.  If it was delayed for release issues, and is coming out later, woot, if not, then its a highly misleading hook for advertising to generate interest.  Also, I noticed there really wasnt a big difference between the available races.  All are set up the same, very similar tech trees with just enough variations to each to validate them as different.  Mostly, it comes down to weather you want to hear "Strength and Unity!" all the time or not.  Overall, seemingly lacking any real depth to anything. 

Fleets were good, but not great.  Spamming a single type works vs comp ai.  nearly regardless of type, and if you outnumber them, or take out the capital ship AI frequently has in harrassment fleets, they run.  you chase, and kill, simple.  As for the massive sized fleets possible, bah.  I would consider them large at best, but truly lacking the epic feel that could have been achieved.  Granted, it takes a powerful machine to maintain those numbers, but maybe having a setting that limits the comp ship #s to your machines abilities would have been nice.  I dont mind that all races have a main attack, LR, assault, carrier, and support types, cause that is typically what happens for real, but maybe things could have been different to really set the races, and the game, apart.

Planetary manegement was all out pathetic.  raise infastructure, defenses if attacked alot, cause for some reason the AI will contiually attack the same planet, making easy to plan your overall defense.  surround with the point defense and usually a trade and broadcast center for each world.  After an initial defensive perimiter, when you can afford to cut back on defense structures, building the Novalith Cannon, or the variant for whatever race you play, set to auto-fire.  The exploration thing was ok, but just an attempt at increasing the purpose of a planet.  Great potential there in future mods, maybe having an option for those of us that like it complicated.  Structures on planet that generate resources rather than tax, or can help the amount generated by asteroids in that grav-well.  things to offer variance, which seemed strangely lacking in this area. 

Tech trees were a saving grace.  much diversification, with the expected lines of resources, politics, ships, offense and defense.  good variations for each race that allowed this game to be more than a build and kill.  This was the only area where there is any substantial difference between the races.  Which allowed the ships to become varied as you progress as well.  The split between Military and Civilian branches was wonderful.  one of the few things that actually required careful thought and planning ahead for tech lines.  Want resource before ships, or maybe to spread your culture and just let riots do the work for you.  tech gets expensive after a while, and most i dont even use, but i know that not all are like I, and all of it will be used by someone.

But, with all the gripes, its still a great game.  It fits to my nature of galactic domination gaming.  while not having anywhere near the variance that RTS mainstays like Starcraft and C & C employ, it has enough to make it interesting, and evern to cause a shift in tactics when against another human, but still mainly in the tech area.  Ideas the I, and others have to possibly make it better, like being able to stash the construction frigates at the planets to save on memory usage, but, ejecting them during a planetary bombardment, would be making a different game.  Looking at it how it is, its great.  many hours of gameplay available, with loads oc pre-built maps to challenge yourself with in dealing with different situations. 

Please pardon the length...   this has already been shortened. 

maybe the place for a new thread, but:

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3173012&p=1

a B+ for entrenchment from 1up. as always a concise review, but it gets the essence I'd say.

I hope I don't come across as arrogant or anything when I write this review, but after playing Sins of a Solar Empire and Entrenchment in light of my experience as a gamer, I think it warrants one.

A month and a couple of weeks ago, after my last undergraduate exam, I decided to reward myself with a new computer game. Usually, I'd go for FPS or RTS, and mostly FPS, but there weren't any good FPS's on the market. I came across Sins of a Solar Empire on the store shelf. From the reviews I read, it had multiple game of the year awards (woot!) and was also... different than most of the other RTS's I play (Red Alert 3, Dawn of War, Rise of Nations...). It wasn't in battlefields or across planets, but in SPACE, and judging by the scale, it looked really deep. So I decided to buy it, thinking I could get into it.

I was right. Out of all RTS's I've played, Sins was probably the most immersive, most engaging, most challenging, most beautiful RTS I have ever laid my eyes on. I loved the depth of the units, the tactical, strategic, and LOGISTIC (!) approaches to victory: formations, defenses, culture, diplomacy... the works! I really feel like I'm in control of a (sinful and lustful) empire, and everything from the size of my fleets, the scale and epicness of battle. is just mind-blowing. The research trees really made you think about what you need and what you don't, and trying out new tactics and strategies is always fun. Add to that the diversity of units and their abilities, the pros/cons of each faction, and their unique research trees, and you've got a game with a real lasting appeal and depth to it. I'm really surprised that this game only took just under 2 gigs of hard-drive space. I guess I pretty much agree with Nicodaemos's review above.

Of course, this game isn't without its flaws. The lore wasn't as in-depth as I hoped it to be, although the game itself and the unit descriptions shed some light on it, but the lack of a detailed storyline kinda detracted from the immersiveness of the universe. I don't know if that really matters, though: through playing the game, you kinda shape the destinies of the factions you play in many different scenarios. Moreover, some of the sound effects sound really cheesy, particularly the sound effects of the autocannons and laser batteries of the TEC, as well as some of the voice-overs of Advent and Vasari ships. That didn't really matter much since in most of the battles, you'd hear more than just autocannons and lasers (pew pew... I was more expecting PEW PEW!). Third... the way some maps are shaped... but I guess that's just the whiny perfectionist in me.

The advantages clearly trump the flaws, and I just love this game... probably the best RTS if not video game I've ever played. Can't wait till the next micro-expansions are released!

No, THANK YOU, Mr. Fraser, for such an awesome game!