Review of Empire Earth II J.P. Baugh

Overview : Empire Earth II Developed by Mad Doc Software, under Sierra Games EE2 is a Real Time Strategy game Costs $49.99 (retail)

Gameplay Story Line – Non-linear – Depends highly on: Player’s Choices Computer AI setting Resources Map Type

Gameplay Interface (Perspective) – 3D “God-View” (3/4) type perspective – Can zoom in and zoom out in a parabolic fashion User Interface – Very user-friendly (takes less than four clicks of the mouse to choose and place buildings) – Once a building type has been chosen, you simply click and place buildings of that type elsewhere

Gameplay Game Types – There are several game types, such as: Conquest – Take Everything (Destroy all enemies) King of the Hill – Take the territory at center of map and hold for some time Capture the Capitol – Capture the enemy’s capitol building and hold for some time Etc. – Additionally, there are Single player and Multiplayer options

Building Types Some Military Structures – Barracks Ground units – Stables Mounted units – Workshops Heavy artillery (catapults, cannons, etc.) – Airports Air-worthy units – Seaport Sea-worthy units

Building Types Some Civilian Structures – Capitol / City Centers Allows you to take a territory Creates citizens and scouts – Houses Increase moral of units in range – Farms Provide food for unit production

Epochs Timeline – 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

Epochs – Epoch 8 : Imperial Age – Epoch 9 : Enlightenment – Epoch 10 : Industrial Age – Epoch 11 : Modern Age – Epoch 12 : Atomic Age – Epoch 13 : Digital Age – Epoch 14 : Genetic Age – Epoch 15 : Synthetic Age

Epochs Technology – Different technologies become available in different epochs – For example, you would obviously not have airport or tank factories in the Stone Age Or would you?

Cultures Your culture can determine unique technologies available – E.g., Germans can have Barbarians – British can have Druids – Romans have Legionnaire It can also determine unique powers / characteristics that your units have

Cultures The Cultures are determined by your Civilization and your Region Regions: – Western – Middle Eastern – Far Eastern – Meso-American

Cultures Western has civilizations: – Germans – British – Romans – Americans – Greeks Middle Eastern has civilizations: – Egyptians – Turks – Babylonians

Culture Far Eastern has civilizations – Korean – Japanese – Chinese Meso-American has civilizations: – Incas – Aztecs – Mayans

Culture The culture variation is extraordinary Each region provides special attributes – E.g., Middle Eastern civilizations produce more gold, faster – Western Civilizations have more productive universities Each civilization has unique units that no other civilization has (as mentioned earlier)

Graphics, Sound, and Music Artwork/Graphics are excellent – Provide extraordinary immersiveness – Provide some degree of realism Not necessarily the key to the game However, the artwork is realistic enough to be believable Definitely not ‘gaudy’ or ‘cheesy’

Graphics, Sound, and Music

The ambient sounds definitely add to the realism of the game The music is specific to the region which your civilization is from – E.g., Meso-American civilizations have very interesting music with wooden flutes, hand drums, etc.

Compared with Empire Earth Graphics are substantially better in Empire Earth II, than in Empire Earth AI pathfinding is substantially better – Empire Earth units had a bad habit of getting stuck behind trees or inside of walls – This is substantially diminished in EE2 The different music and unique units for various civilizations makes it more realistic

Conclusion If you like RTS games, I strongly recommend Empire Earth II It is well worth the $49.99 retail There are so many variations and intricate cultural attributes / units to explore that you’ll honestly never play the same game twice Multiplayer (online) gaming allows you to put your skill up against online adversaries – This adds even more enjoyment for those who get bored of the single player, or just want more variety

Questions?