Empire Earth

Empire Earth is one of the real classics when it comes to the RTS genre. As I write this the game is getting very close to celebrating its 20th anniversary which is just nuts and makes me feel very old. I am sure there will be some kind of special release when the game hits that 20-year mark, but for now, I thought it would be fun to look at this game and see if it is as much fun today as it was back then.

Five Ways To Play

As far as game content goes this is a game that is stacked. Rather than just giving you one campaign to play, Empire Earth gives you a phenomenal five. Instead of just having a standard tutorial mode, you get a tutorial mode that is disguised as a campaign. This is a fantastic idea and one I am surprised not more games have done. It teaches you how to play, but the narrative makes learning about the resources, units, and what you need to do so much more fun.

Once you get through this you then have four other campaigns to complete. These campaigns are based on certain countries. You have an English campaign, a German, Greek, and Russian and each one has its own stories, challenges, and so on so, they do feel unique. A ton of work went into making much of the campaigns as historically accurate as possible.

Half A Billion Years Will Give You A Crick In The Neck

The scope of Empire Earth is what blew so many people away back in 2001 when the game was first released. You are going to be starting out during the prehistoric era, you then want to evolve all the way up to the future. The changes are really cool and it is something many other games have done since, but I would argue this one has done it first in this kind of scale. As you move through the game, no matter the campaign you are doing. You will notice that each “era” that you are in brings its own set of unique challenges. While the gameplay may not change a great deal, how you go about things certainly does. The technologies you are able to use the way people are and things of that manner are greatly different. Changing with the times is one thing you have to get used to

This Is My Time!

As you play Empire Earth there will be a moment where you go from just wanting to survive to wanting to be the ultimate civilization that rules the rest of the world. You have over 20 civilizations to deal with and dealing with them all is rather challenging. Some it feels like no matter what you do have it in for you, but that is to be expected.

Getting resources and making sure that your army is ready are the two main things to get used to keeping an eye on. However, this game is very deep and has these rather unique heroes and that can have a dramatic effect on the way a battle is going. Like other RTS games, each person who plays will develop their own strategy for success.

While I feel the sequel offers more, I still enjoyed my time with Empire Earth. It is very impressive what they were able to do back in 2001 and while it may not be as deep as modern RTS games, this is still a fun time. The fact it has so many campaigns to get into is going to keep you busy for a very long time. If you enjoy strategy games be sure to check this one out.

Pros:

• There is a lot to do in this game
• I like how it goes through have a billion years of history
• You have five campaigns
• There are many ways to play the game
• It is very challenging

Cons:

• More modern games offer a similar and better experience
• It can take a while to get the hang of battles

It is kind of insane to think that the original Empire Earth was released all the way back in 2001. This is a game that was a huge deal back in the day and even now the series is still very popular with RTS fans. Let’s go back in time and have a look at the original game in the series and see just how well it holds up.

500,000 Years Of History

While it may not sound like a huge deal now the fact that the original Empire Earth covered a span of half a million years was just incredible. The game has you starting out in the prehistoric times and making your way to what the game calls the nano age which is the somewhat near future.

As you would expect, each of the different “ages” that you progress through will bring with it different changes. These are things like technology, weapons, culture and so on. It makes going from each age a rather different experience and sometimes you have to change your tactics in order to “change with the times” which is quite interesting. Ages such as the bronze age, the industrial age and world war II are eras you will be playing through.

How Do I Conquer?

Of course, a huge appeal of a game like Empire Earth is not just “surviving” it is making your civilization the best there can be and imposing your will on the rest of the world. There are over 20 civilizations in the game and each one will require some fine dealing to get the best out of them or to just make them fear you.

You will have to gather resources; have a good supply of citizens and you will have to of course manage your armies so that when war comes (and it will) you are ready. The combat in this first game can take a while to get used to and having “heroes” who can do things like demoralize your opponents or boost your attack does add an extra element of strategy to things. One of the best things about a game like this is that the way you go about world domination may be different from the way I do.

Five For The Price Of One!

One thing that is quite remarkable about this first Empire Earth game is the campaign. Actually, I should say campaigns as there are five different ones to play through. The learning campaign is a fun and an interesting (and also very useful) way to teach you the basics of the game, but with a story. There are also Greek, English, German and Russian campaigns for you to play through. Each one has its own story and from what I understand some of these are pretty historically authentic which is pretty cool.

It may look rather tame by today's standards, but this first Empire Earth game is a still a very solid RTS game. I feel that this one has the perfect amount of depth to it. While it does have a learning curve, I do feel that it is far more accessible than its sequel. If you like RTS games, I do feel that this one here is not just a great throwback to classic RTS games, but even by today's standard, it is a good game.

8/10

Pros:

• For its time it was very grand in its scale
• Five different campaigns to enjoy
• Play through over 500,000 years of human history
• Go from the stone age to the nano age
• Plenty of ways to go about playing the game

Cons:

• Not as in-depth as an RTS game from the last few years
• It does have a bit of a learning curve