![]() While such a vast scale and seemingly disparate styles would risk making the overall experience feel a bit disjointed – certain eras could easily feel like jumping through different genres altogether – the end result remains consistent and fluid enough that it’s not overwhelming. In addition, the game notably goes an extra mile by depicting the future (culminating in the Nano Age of the 2200s) whether it’s the sleek sci-fi aesthetics and laser tanks or Cyber mechs at your disposal – eventually, you’d be able to viably field whole armies of them, from anti-infantry Pandoras to the Prophet-esque Hades – this was something that few historical games really did outside of turn-based fare like Civilization: Call to Power. The voices and attire of your Citizens, for instance, visibly change over time (eventually looking like white-collar workers with crisp American accents), while each successive unit upgrade makes them progressively more powerful get left behind, and you’ll find out why even swarms of spearmen are hard pressed to defeat a handful of Imperial Age infantry. But rather than just having the building styles or the UI design update accordingly, the transition from one Epoch (or general Epoch group) to another is more pronounced. Beginning with the Prehistoric Age (complete with cavemen and primitive grunting), a full-length match can cover 500,000 years of human history and beyond in a single sitting. This alone could arguably be said to be one of Empire Earth’s biggest selling points. One of the very first things you’d notice is how there are 14 “Epochs” as opposed to the relative handful usually expected in an historical title. Specifically, how Empire Earth takes all of the above and tries to go further. ![]() Coupled with flexible skirmish/multiplayer options and a scenario editor, it can almost feel like deja vu. And on top of having provisions for a “wonder” victory – the wonder themselves come with their own bonuses, such as the Library of Alexandria allowing you spot enemy structures across the map – you can even “age-up” to unlock more powerful unit types and upgrades. There is also a “rock-paper-scissors” mechanic at play, as well as “Hero” units (In the form of “Warrior” and “Strategist” type pairs) that can help turn the tide of battle. Military troops can be trained from perquisite buildings (such as barracks and stables), provided there are enough funds. You have “Citizen” worker units (recruited from Town Centers or Capitols) that are used to gather resources and build structures. And that even now, it remains an alluring piece of work.Īt a glance, the gameplay would be familiar to anyone who’s played Age of Empires or its successors. ![]() Nonetheless, it’s not for nothing that it, like the franchise it launched, was seen as a serious contender. The game didn’t quite live up to its lofty ambitions and was very much a product of its time, soon to be overshadowed by other titles. The result is Empire Earth, released by Sierra Entertainment (as Sierra On-Line) for PC on November 13, 2001. Encompassing historical, modern and even futuristic elements, the resulting concoction would be relatively novel compared to its competition. In a December 2010 interview by IGN with both him and writer-designer Stefan Arnold, the goal from the start was to combine the best of RTS gameplay (like Goodman helped innovate with in Age of Empires) with that of empire-building (reminiscent of Civilization and city-builders like the Caesar games). It’s into this environment that Rick Goodman, one of co-founders of Ensemble Studios (and later founder of Stainless Steel Studios in 1997), sought to create an epic-scale RTS unlike what had been seen before. It had already seen the rise of several classic titles, including Command and Conquer, Starcraft and the historical Age of Empires series. ![]() At the turn of the 21 st Century, the Real Time Strategy genre was reaching its peak in popularity.
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