Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Short History
I've been playing 4x games almost from the beginning. The first fun 4x game that I played was master of orion. Being able to play different races with different abilities and customizing up to 6 ships at the same time! Man, it was great ... for it's time.
Then came Master of Orion II which is a good game in its own right. I've spent many days playing the second game of the series and have to say that for quite a while it was my favorite game of the genre. That was until I happened upon space empire IV. I'd heard about the space empires series, but the reviews were generally low, so I stayed away from them. But, since Master of Orion III was a total loss and the Galactic Civilization series seemed to lack the depth that I like in a game, I thought I'd give it a try.
Space Empires IV
So, about a month ago, I purchased for less than $20 Space Empires IV. It's a solid game with a lot of committed modders out there that really made a good game. I wouldn't say great, but good. The tech tree is huge, the AI is O.K., and ship design system is good as well. It was the most fun that I had had with a 4x game since the original Master of Orion first came out.
Space Empires V
Then, space empires V came out. Quite a few low reviews made me wait for a while to purchase the game. There were a lot of bugs in the initial release and I can see why the reviews that were done were low because of that. But, I got the game this week and all I can say is WOW! What a great game!
The 3D graphics are the really good! The real time space battles instead of being turn based really are well done. The ships are different for each race and look pretty good. Not perfect, but good. Each weapon has it's own effect in battle and you can set each ship to do a different function. One ship can act as a picket defender, another could Kamikazi, another stay at optimal firing range. There are quite a few strategy options that can be set for each fleet. The layout is nice too.
The technology is incredible! You can get cloaking, the obligatory laser beams, anti-matter torpedoes, missiles, anti-missile guns, fighters, bombers, and even organic weapons with armor that heals itself, etc. Just about anything you can think about to put into a strategic space sim is here.
The sounds are good. Ships have neat sounds when the blow up, weapons sound good. Warp points have a good sound, but it somehow overloads my speakers and sounds a little bit like feedback at one point of the sound, but the actual sound is very appropriate for ships going through a warp.
The ship battles are great fun! And there are a lot more of them than I've experienced in other space sims. It really has a feel like you're fighting for galactic dominance. You can't really sit back and relax, it's a fight in this game. Albeit a fun one.
So far the AI seems to be good. Again, not great, but very good. I planted 2 colonies in a system that was a little ways away. The AI came in and took them out without declaring war on me. They even warned me in advance to leave the system as they were claiming it. Then ... they did! It was pretty cool.
Be warned, as with most good strategy games, there is a learning curve that at first may feel like a cliff. But hang in there, the actual gameplay is worth it once you understand what's going on. My personal opinion is that to maximize this great game that someone would be well served to buy space empires IV first. Play it a month, then go to space empires V. But, if you're like me, you won't. Just means that the learning curve will be a bit steeper. OH, and btw, I've heard that steam has an offer out there where you can buy Space Empires V and you get Space Empires IV for free included.
My Review
Graphics - Good 7
Sounds - Average 5
Gameplay - 9
Overall Fun - 10
Pros -
Absolutely HUGE and fun tech tree
(I'd estimate the numbers of technologies at least 500 distinct techs)
Good AI ... the best I've seen for this style of game
Good battle scenes
(Numbers of ships battling each other definitely reaching an epic scale)
Sounds are average for a game of this type
Ability to create/design your ship using researched technologies
- This part is great fun and probably the best part of the game
Good real time battle scenes
Cons -
Sound could have been a little bit better
Lots of bugs before patching up to 1.20
(that's the latest patch version at the time of this review)
LONG learning curve. Almost assumes that you've played Space Empires IV.
Final Conclusion
Overall a great game. I think this is the best PC game that I've purchased since the Total War Series. Two thumbs up ... WAY UP!
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