TheGoodEvil's Conclusion
Overall the game has many features that will do well
in drawing a lot of competitive players into the fold. The strategic options
are abundant and Civ specific strategies will be shooting out of nowhere.
Plus the Mad Doctor, Ian Davis and VUG stated that tournaments and contests
will fill the internet as well as post release support. If what they said
has any substance (which I think it does) Empire Earth 2 will be one of
those titles that sticks in the minds of gamers, in terms of balance, fun,
and support. Hats off to Mad Doc, if they stick to their guns and support
the online aspect of the game I know Empire Earth 2 will see many seasons
of great play.
Socvazius Conclusion I'll admit, I wasn't expecting Empire Earth 2 to be an exceptionally
good game. Would it be adequate? Sure, but nothing I'd enjoy spending late
hours and gallons of coffee on. Graphically, it's not too impressive, but it's
gameplay is just damn fun. The insane customizability of the game - from defensive
strength to the actual speed of most actions - means that just about every
anal-retentive, nitpicky RTS'er like yours truly will have their own favorite
gameplay design to play with.
I didn't like the fact that teching up was rather mechanical and the technologies
had no identity and feel of their own, but having technologies as prerequisites
to advancing an epoch is something I prefer over the Age series' building prereqs.
One thing I did absolutely love was the citizen manager; it's definitely worth
micromanaging your citizens early in the game, but the citizen manager in late
game - when you're spending all your time on your troops - is the best damn minor
economic change to any RTS game I've seen.
On the first game or two, Empire Earth 2 felt like Rise of Nations; territories,
the method of teching up, all that jazz made the game feel just as though it
were a RoN clone, most of the EE2U'ers agreed with me. But as I played it more,
the feel of the game really started to show itself. The whole setup of the game
makes it conducive to being similar to Rise of Nations, but Empire Earth 2 does
have its own distinct feel and enjoyable gameplay.
While I was impressed with Empire Earth 2 and am quite eager to get the gold
version when it's released, I'm skeptical of its appeal to casual American gamers.
The game can be simplified for those unfamiliar with RTS games, but its sheer
scale will still be pretty intimidating to most casual gamers. Heck, it was difficult
for all of us to get accustomed to the game until we had played our first game
and had some instruction from Ian, and we're some hardcore RTS gamers. I think
it will appeal to the European audience no matter what, but American gamers may
not like it as much. I guess we'll see, but I'm buying the game nonetheless.
