Empires: Dawn of the Modern World : Games : Web Wombat

After a solid LAN session of C&C: Zero Hour, a good friend of mine, let's call him Jesus, asked the very pertinent question: "Is the real-time strategy genre currently overcrowded?"

I responded with an affirmative nod of my head, soon after which I booted up Activision's latest RTS game, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World.

"Overcrowded yes, but the quality is on the rise. Oh, and would you like a cup of Bovril?"

Empires falls neatly into this category - the rising quality, not the Bovril - whose sheer scope and number of units make it a must play, and when this is coupled with a strong storyline, detailed graphics and an easy-to-manipulate camera system (a must for any serious RTS), the result is pleasing.

The premise behind Empires is fairly stock-standard. There are five ages spanning 1000 years, and within each age you can play various single and multiplayer scenarios, ranging from quick combat skirmishes to full-blown civilisation inspired sojourns.

The five time periods, each containing different units, include the Medieval Age, the Gunpowder Age, the Imperial Age plus World War I and World War II. For mine, the pick was WWII, but that's mainly because you get to unleash the devastating nuke.

Aaah, the Franks -- nothing quite like a Frank

Generally speaking, the gameplay is solid, and the addition of mucho stats for each and every unit is a nice touch, though this won't suit everyone, particularly the more action-oriented C&C-type strategy fans.

The interface looks a little complicated to start with - there's buttons and maps and doodads everywhere - but the well-paced tutorials will take care of any pre-interface anxiety, and help ease you into the action.

Once familiar with the basic controls, it's actually quite a compelling game, and it's long too, with the aforementioned five ages and multiple single player missions (not to mention instant action levels) taking quite some time to wade through.

Like most real-time strategy games, you'll have to gather resources in Empires, and once the ball is rolling you can start erecting buildings, researching and developing new technologies and of course building a deadly arsenal of combat units in order to solidify your power.

A few of the more intriguing units include the WWII era German U-boats, and the Krauts also have access to the Waffen SS (essentially battle-hardened soldiers upgraded to the elite Verfügungstruppen) and mustard gas.

From the the medieval age, the English used the tough Cuirassier, a heavily armoured combatant wielding a musket, sitting atop a horse. Sure, it may not sound like much against a Tiger Tank, but back in the 1300s they were top shit.

Can the boys in blue fend off the red rogues?

The advancement of shipbuilding in the 1600s makes for some great seafaring levels too, and the La Couronne - a special 17th century French warship - is pretty cool too.

The levels are quite creative, and while it's always nice to just build a stack of units and bombard your foe with supreme firepower and outsmart them with tactical know-how, the game throws more realistic missions at you, and this originality in the mission structure is a breath of fresh air.

That said, this reviewer did find some of the medieval missions a bit of a bore, but that could have been because I'd already toyed with the nuclear weapon (silly me), and the while catapulting plague-ridden cow carcasses through the air is cool, it's not quite as involving as using mechanical units, such as tanks, aeroplanes and battleships.

Further to this, if there's an itch that need scratching in Empires, it would revolve around the lack of anything new.

We've seen empire building games before, and we've seen real-time strategy games, and combining the two is not a new idea.

But beyond its relatively generic features, Empires is still a very playable - and enjoyable - game, but one that doesn't try to push the envelope in what is a very crowded genre.

Create air, sea and land units, then watch
them do battle with the evil Decepticons - arr!

While the graphics are best described as very nice, they're not the best in class. To the game's credit though, the visual style suits the game and presents the landscapes rather well.

The floating camera is also a real winner, and despite not offering cutting-edge visuals, the scalability of the graphics engine is impressive enough, and shows off what it can do with aplomb.

Despite not putting anything dramatically new on the table for all to see, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is still a good game in my book - it's got five different ages, seven different civilisations (German, Chinese, French etc.), hundreds of units, multiple game modes and a solid multiplayer/skirmish option.

Beyond its admirable longevity, Dawn of the Modern World is a well-put-together RTS game, with a dash of empire building that spans a thousand years, and plenty of special/hero units thrown in for good measure.

Though some real innovation would have been nice, giving the game more distinction amid a sea of generic strategy titles, Stainless Steel Studios has crafted an intricate, detailed and largely enjoyable real-time strategy game nonetheless.

Game: Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
System: PC
Players: 1-8
Online: Yes
Developer: Stainless Steel Studios
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 70%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is on the shelves now.

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