Take 2 Interactive Sins of a Solar Empire

Good fun , but needs a bit more .

Strengths: Decent graphics , fairly easy to use , large scale of solar system . Possible mods available .

Weakness: No single player campaign , needs better 3d sound and voice overs , needs more factions .

Not much to add from previous reviews here , but the game is a fun rts with decent graphics , with a nice large scale of solar system to work from , with possble mods in the works . I can only hope that a single player campaign might be added down the road , in this vesion or a future add-on . If the few weakness's can be addressed in future patches/add-ons then Sins of a Solar Empire will be a...
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Not much to add from previous reviews here , but the game is a fun rts with decent graphics , with a nice large scale of solar system to work from , with possble mods in the works . I can only hope that a single player campaign might be added down the road , in this vesion or a future add-on . If the few weakness's can be addressed in future patches/add-ons then Sins of a Solar Empire will be a fantasic game vs just good . I purchased the game onsale for nice price of $25 which also makes it a pretty good bargin by todays standards . SOASE is definitly worth a test run around the block for any rts fan .

By stereo555 - Jun 18, 2008

Interesting, but not quite fun enough (for me)

Strengths: Strong focus on skirmishes, huge scale, plenty of replayability, runs fine with maximum settings at 1680x1050 on my high-endish computer

Weakness: Slow gameplay, obnoxious pirates, uninspiring factions and lack of variety between them, ships and ship combat can be unsatisfying

I own Galactic Civilizations II, a space TBS also created by Stardock, and given its success and the positive reviews I've read for Sins of a Solar Empire, I decided to give it a shot for a cool $37 shipped from Newegg. Registering it with my existing Stardock account was simple, and I applied the 1.02 patch before doing anything else. First, let me say that I take no issue with the lack of a...
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I own Galactic Civilizations II, a space TBS also created by Stardock, and given its success and the positive reviews I've read for Sins of a Solar Empire, I decided to give it a shot for a cool $37 shipped from Newegg.


Registering it with my existing Stardock account was simple, and I applied the 1.02 patch before doing anything else.


First, let me say that I take no issue with the lack of a singleplayer campaign, because I honestly prefer to play skirmishes and the like, which offers a lot more replayability, especially with all of the options and maps available from the get-go.


Well, my first game was interesting - in my first match, a 1v1, I was surprised to find the neighboring star system occupied by a medium pirate force, including some high tech cruisers that I myself wouldn't have access to until I had conducted a lot of time and resource intensive research.


It takes a mind numbing amount of time to collect enough resources to do much of anything, other than build swarms of the base frigate (or at least at the normal resource rate - I've since switched to the high resource rate).


Most of the time in combat, you're too far zoomed out to see any detail of interest on the ships, or they're simply replaced by a vague icon if you're too far for that.


Even then, it takes time to gather enough resources to build an interesting enough of a fleet, and when it comes time to clash with an enemy fleet (after slowwwwwwly moving outside a gravity well, and then phase jumping), the ships mostly sit there and duke it out. The ships of the three factions are pretty much identical, or identical enough to not make any significant difference. Capital ships also dominate combat - even though I may have a larger and superior fleet, my fleet is often reduced to just my (unscathed) capital ships, while all of my attendant ships get obliterated.


Additionally, pirates strike me as way overpowered. Late in the game, if you haven't occupied their extremely well-fortified homeworld by then, you'll continued to be harassed routinely by ever-growing pirate fleets that seem to come from nowhere. And when you're struggling to eliminate an enemy, it's very hard (and time consuming) to dedicate any additional forces to help defend a planet.


Even though Sins of a Solar Empire ended up not quite being my cup of tea, it would be hard not to recommend. It's a stable product from a developer that has a history of backing their games, and the mod community may very well produce something for everyone.

By Graalmeister - Feb 27, 2008

Great but long

Strengths: Real time, lots of tech, fun

Weakness: LONG games (almost too long), pirates are a pain but can be disabled, interface can take some getting used to

I've enjoyed this game but it can take some time to figure out the controls and get used to the pace. For people who like Galactic Civilizations II, this game is a must purchase although I think the former is a better game. The real time aspect of this is what makes the game fun and the mods are sure to enhance gameplay further as time goes on.

By adehart - May 19, 2008

One great sin keeps this from five stars.

Strengths: Great base gammeplay, good multiplayer, whole lot of stuff.

Weakness: Weak single player and characterization.

Since MOO2 there hasn't been a really great space empire building sim.Solar empire comes close. It has a great b ase. A great system for explorin, expanding, and all the other good stuff for creating this type of strategy game. it has so much stuff it can eb a bit overwhelming. Unfortunately, while the attention to emchanics detail is excellent, the characterization of the races and the single...
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Since MOO2 there hasn't been a really great space empire building sim.Solar empire comes close. It has a great b ase. A great system for explorin, expanding, and all the other good stuff for creating this type of strategy game. it has so much stuff it can eb a bit overwhelming.

Unfortunately, while the attention to emchanics detail is excellent, the characterization of the races and the single player game is mediocre. There just isn't any flavor. Really, it seems more like that's just to teach you the game until you're ready to move to multiplayer.

Why can't we have a game like this that has the personality of Warcraft or Starcraft? If it had that, it's be a definite GotY and worth 5 Stars.

By Admiral_Ackbar - Apr 23, 2008

Excellent 4X

Strengths: Best graphics yet for a strategy game Densely populated space Hectic battles Good scenarios

Weakness: No single player campaign

I was a beta tester for this game and was not initially impressed with this game. After playing the retail version, I have decided that this is a very good game for a 4X. My only real complaint that hurts its replayability is the lack of a single player campaign. Just building up a fleet and attacking your enemies like all of the scenarios are structured can get a little boring.

By JBebout - Apr 22, 2008