Universe At War: Earth Assault

Rating

I learned about this game late in the development cycle. I am a huge fan of real-time strategy games, having played all of the major ones (Warcraft, Age of Empires, Dawn of War, Command & Conquer, Battle for Middle Earth 2, etc.). I usually try all of the games that release a demo first and was impressed with the demo for Universe at War (UaW), even though it didn’t include a sample skirmish mode. I decided to get this game and certainly do not regret it. While quite good, it still needs a few tweaks, which is to be expected with a new release. But it’s a welcome addition to a genre that has had too many duds as of late.

Gameplay: This game features the three most diverse races that I have ever seen in a game. The Hierarchy fields massive, ominous walkers that double as both assault units and production buildings. The Novus are a robotic race that is highly mobile, thanks to the ability to construct “flow” networks. The Masari–supposedly the inspiration behind human civilizations–feels a bit more convention in RTS terms, though they are still quite unique with light-dark fighting modes, no resource-collecting, and the best-looking buildings (besides the walkers) in the game. This is not like your typical RTS game, where if you can master one race then you can play them all. Each race offers a very different gameplay experience, which should add a lot of shelf-life to UaW.

The game comes with a few different gameplay modes. For single-player, there is the campaign, a Risk-style global scenarios mode, and skirmish. The campaign allows you to play all three races, in addition to the beleaguered humans whose planet has become a battlefield for aliens. It’s a good story with decent missions, though the missions are fairly conventional for an RTS game (i.e., build a base, destroy enemy base, kill enemy leader, escort this VIP, etc.). There are 20+ missions in all, which will introduce the basic gaming concepts. Additionally, there is the global scenarios mode, which is well done. This is similar to the strategic layer of games like Rise of Nations, W40K: Dark Crusade, and the Total War series, where you can move armies around a global map and initiate real-time battles when you invade a territory occupied by an opponent (or vice versa). Finally, there is skirmish mode, which can be customized in a number of ways. There are about 20 maps, with the usual overabundance of 2-player maps. Any battle that lasts any amount of time can become epic in proportions, much like the end-game of Dawn of War or Battle for Middle Earth 2 where super-units and devastating special powers come into play. At that point, you might end up witnessing upgraded Hierarchy Walkers stomping around the map, or a fully functioning and expanded Novus flow network zooming Novus forces all over the place, or strategic use of the Masari light & dark modes that can suddenly turn a battle. That’s in addition to special abilities for nearly every unit, flexible research trees, superweapons, 3 distinctive heroes for each race, and so forth. It all comes together really well to offer some exhilarating gameplay.

The game has only a few minor flaws that should be mentioned. In my opinion, most of these issues do not affect gameplay, but some might be annoyed by them. The interface works pretty well and does not obstruct the view, but it will take some getting use to regarding knowing how to do certain things quickly. There are hotkeys that are helpful and can be customized. The camera perspective is pretty typical for most RTS games, but the huge size of the walkers can make things a bit claustrophobic occasionally. Also, there is no way to set unit formations (though some units like Ohm bots automatically line up). I don’t really miss these options, but some might. The game can require a good amount of micromanagement at very competitive levels, since every unit has special abilities, research choices can be changed on the fly, Heroes require attention to get the most out of them, and so on. If you are serious about playing online or beating the computer (the AI is pretty decent) on the hard setting, I suggest that you master one race at a time.

A word about online play. I don’t typically play online, and UaW will probably not be any different. There is enough single-player content here to justify buying the game, and the modding tools should be out soon. However, for online gamers, it should be known that this game operates through the Games for Windows Live (GFWL) system. You can sign up for a silver membership and play custom skirmishes for free, but you’ll need a $50/yr gold membership to play ranked matches, stat keeping, etc. In 2-3 years from now when many games will probably be using GFWL, the fee may be justifiable assuming that the service is good. However, for now, I would settle for the silver account and see what happens. It’s too bad that this otherwise great game had to be a test case for GFWL. I really hope that the decision to go with GFWL is not a fatal blow to the game’s online potential, which is huge.

Graphics: Beautiful game, period. It looks as good as any modern RTS game. It doesn’t have the fantastic unit animation of Dawn of War or the moody, artistic maps of Battle for Middle Earth 2, but it’s a visually appealing game. I think the Hierarchy has the best-looking units, the Masari has the best-looking stationary structures, and the Novus have the most fascinating transportation system to watch. Special effects such as explosions, superweapon launches, hero special abilities, and so forth are well done.

Sound: Some good voice acting, distinctive music for each side, and appropriate sound effects. Each hero has personality, thanks to both the campaign story and their acknowledgment soundbites.

Documentation/Technical Issues: The manual, while functional, leaves out a lot of information. For example, there is no specific information on research trees, Novus patches, Hero abilities, and the like. Fortunately, you can find all of this at the Petroglyph website, and the in-game tool tips are useful. But this really should have been at your fingertips in a manual, or at least a .pdf file on the game dvd. I have had no technical issues with this game. No crashes, freezes, black screens, nothing. The delayed release date apparently allowed Petroglyph to polish the game pretty well.

Value/Recommendation: In my view, this is the best RTS game to hit the market this year. The developer took a lot of chances by making the 3 races so vastly different, but it really works well. Actually, the game is quite balanced for a new release, though I suppose there will be some tweaks in forthcoming patches. If you like getting into the single-player content of a RTS game, there is a lot to like in this package. A gold membership with GFWL is a bit more difficult to recommend at this point. It all depends on how big GFWL becomes over the next couple of years and how well the gold membership can be justified (I got a one-month free trial of gold membership with the game, which I suppose is standard). Anyhow, I highly recommend this game to anyone into RTS games (you might want to try the demo first, though).

Pros:

+Three very diverse and fun races

+Great graphics and sound

+Well-done global scenarios mode

+Competent skirmish AI

+Hero Units

Cons:

-Decent but unimaginative campaign

-Camera perspective may take some getting used to

-Inability to set unit formations

-GFWL may hamper multiplayer appeal

-inadequate manual

Overall Score: 4.25 stars (out of 5)