Comments on: Eurogamer: Sins of a Solar Empire Review

By: DigitalSignalX

DigitalSignalX — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:17:46 +0000

My only beef is also the time factor, but it’s also one of my compliments. It’s immensely satisfying to finish a 10 hour map, but then again – it’s also a bit tedious knowing you’ve still got 10 hours to go on one…

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:06:45 +0000

13 year old games with no sequels and not exactly a household name don’t make good things to namedrop to explain things in mainstream games sites.

By: A Lego Enthusiast

A Lego Enthusiast — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:17:40 +0000

“the easiest way to describe Sins of a Solar Empire is to take publisher Stardock’s previous game, Galactic Civilizations 2, and imagine it in real time.”

Personally I thought “Ascendancy, but in real-time” was pretty much it.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:26:19 +0000

They said there was a demo coming, yes. It shouldn’t be long, I think.

By: rabbitsoup

rabbitsoup — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:21:16 +0000

Nice looking, i want a demo though. I would just pirate it (still might) but its a small publisher and i doubt id go buy it if i thought it was good.

is one coming??

By: sigma83

sigma83 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:06:15 +0000

Sins takes too much time, which is my main beef. Otherwise I love very muchlies.

By: Stromko

Stromko — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:32:08 +0000

It owes far more to Supreme Commander than it does Galactic Civilizations. That’s got to be said right away. It has the basics of the 4X term, you do explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate … but compare it to Civ 4 or Galactic Civilizations 2, and it’s remarkably unsatisfying.

GalCiv2 could’ve shipped without a campaign and I wouldn’t have cared, but the lack of it in Sins actually matters to me. This is because you can’t make your own empire in Sins, there is no ownership of it.

Starting in a random vacuum is only interesting to me when it’s a medium for playing the story I want to play. I can invest a meaning to a real 4X game, I can give a damn about crushing the world as Gandhi or playing as an insect hivemind or psychotic robots bent on galactic domination, but in Sins my only choice is what I want my units to be called (as in, what side I want to be).

I hated Sins at first, then gained a grudging respect once I figured out how to actually survive. It is really polished, challenging, but the fun curve is decidedly short. Once I completed a skirmish with each of the races there was nothing more to do.

Another go-around would’ve played exactly the same as the first, would’ve been exactly as meaningless.

As an RTS it’s very damn good, as a 4X game it’s absolutely crap. It’s like comparing apples to fried chicken, if you’re in the mood for one you’re not necessarily in the mood for the other.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:09:37 +0000

Yeah, the diplomacy in singleplayer games isn’t very interesting – a real weakness for me is that I myself can’t give ‘missions’ to my opponents, it’s a strict one-way street, which is understandable but also makes little sense.

By: UncleLou

UncleLou — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:01:31 +0000

Where the game really shines is in the deeper aspects, in diplomacy and economics.

It’s especially the diplomacy that I find (against the AI) the game’s weakest aspect. It’s basically “gimme’s something or I kill you”. Nothing is offered in return. It’s less a diplomacy than a basic bribing function.

By: Peronthious

Peronthious — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:14:58 +0000

SoASE is an excellent game, but not for the reasons most may think. As much as some may say, it is NOT an RTS game; the RTS aspects are far too shallow for that, consisting of little more than sending a massive fleet to a system and hoping for the best. Sure, you can micromanage to an extent, but it hardly helps any, unless you’re working with the Capital Ship abilities. Where the game really shines is in the deeper aspects, in diplomacy and economics. The piracy feature is genius, and a good player who can utilize influence can go far.

By: Leeks!

Leeks! — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:36:49 +0000

Hooray for a Sins verdict. It’ll be cool to see how everyone reacts to what’s considered a-pretty-well-excellent-game, rather than something that received a solid “meh” from the community from the outset.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:13:55 +0000

I think this game it’s a very good beginning for a saga, but it’s clear it can be still a lot better.

Well, there’s supposed to be extra content coming, so it’ll be interesting to see in which way they continue developing the game.