Sins of a Solar Empire :: PC

Part of reviewing a game is finding a proper genre, but trying to give it at least some context to exist in is what makes Sins of a Solar Empire a tricky beast. Managing to fall into a place that is not quite real-time or turn-based strategy, and risking alienation of the entire gaming audience, Sins of a Solar Empire somehow becomes a game for everyone.

Intimidation can arise quickly, once you realize the scale that Sins of a Solar Empire plans to encompass. We are not talking nation on nation, this is full-on intergalactic warfare. Fortunately, Ironclad Games are geniuses of interface design. With a most graceful precision, one can move from economy building on one planet to mining operations in an asteroid belt, all the while leading a fleet into battle. This is all thanks to the brilliant Empire Tree, which exists on your screen at all times with instant drop-down details of each planet in your empire. With the information in this tree, you are not stuck with the RTS need to hit up individual bases for management. Think of this as the building tabs of Command & Conquer 3, turned to eleven.

Additional tools provided include a search feature, which allows you to track down everything from capital ships to extra logistical space. The AI of your fleet fights rather well on its own, with little instruction, which goes a long way towards promoting efficient management of a mighty space-faring empire. I seriously cannot remember a game that has handled giving a player this amount of information and goals with this level of grace.

Another place that confuses talk about this game is graphics. Do not get me wrong, for this is a beautiful game that smartly can run on many different rigs. However, you may not often see the close up beauty inherent to the game. Instead, what a player will see more times than not is a massive collection of symbols hovering around planets. These communicate to the player an amazing depth of information and function. Once a nice sized battle gets brewing, you will find yourself scrolling in nice and close for a glimpse of the shots being exchanged.

Part of wanting to watch those shots be exchanged comes from an abundance of interesting ships in which you have much personal interest vested. The chief of which are the Capital Ships, which serve as hero units. This means that they gain levels during combat, allowing for a wealth of different abilities to choose from. These abilities include causing vertigo in enemy pilots, to targeting assists that affect the entire friendly fleet around them. One capital ship can mean serious business, or serious trouble. Building an entourage to follow these behemoths is just as satisfying, with ships performing every function from planet bombing to repair. Learning a good fleet mix really builds enjoyment in Sins of a Solar Empire.

While Sins of a Solar Empire does such an amazing job in being controlled and involving, other areas lack in polish. The first of these is a decent tutorial. Perhaps I missed it, but the first time I played Sins of a Solar Empire, I was completely unable to expand the size of my fleet. Furiously thumbing through the rather hefty instruction manual yielded no answers. Only after much menu surfing, reading, and re-reading, did I discover the correct research that was necessary to expand my fleet. Admittedly, this information was not that deep in the research area, but it was a bit vague without direction. In cases where the tutorial is lacking, you can usually look forward to the single-player campaign for baby steps into the game's structure. However, after introducing what look like races full of plot, a single-player campaign is strangely missing from Sins of a Solar Empire. Check out the tutorial, but prepare for much learning to take place in your first few games.

Speaking of your first few games, be sure to set aside plenty of time. This is not a just a quick game-before-bed affair. Even a one-on-one battle on the smallest map can lead to over 2 hours of game time. Larger battles can consume a day (or night). Fortunately, IronClad was kind enough to have a save feature available. While most of this long game time is fulfilling, the opening hour quickly becomes a slow one. Even on the fastest game setting, it seems to take forever to get any economy flowing. Hindering this economy further is the space pirate feature. The space pirates allow players to put prices on one another's head. The player with the highest bounty gets attacked by a horde of space pirates out for pay. This feature can be turned off, but is enabled by default. This is an annoyance that I cannot stand.

Luckily, every game will give you many memories and stories to share and in a way makes you create your own narrative. Long after the game ends, friends will discuss incredible recoveries, amazing saves, and vicious betrayals. While it may be difficult to find a genre or mold for Sins of a Solar Empire to fit into, any game that has a strong after play life is one worth playing.