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I have played it - and it's AWESOME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 63 / 71
Date: September 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First of all, let me reply to the criticism this game has received. How can one review it if they haven't played it? Well, there are screenshots, movies, and info all over the internet you can find. Also, many people have already tried the game at an electronics expo, and they are all equally stunned by the huge scope, great graphics, and overall perfection of this game. And, since the middle of August, thousands of people (including me) are participating in the public beta testing of Empire Earth. Trust me, I've played it, I've seen it. Also, someone said that this is just another Age of Empires, boring old RTS. Well let me tell you: this game is NOT Age of Empires. The gameplay is very different, and takes some time to get used to if you are an Age of Kings player. The sheer scope of this game, with 14 historical epochs, makes it much much larger than any other RTS ever. When playing the ancient epochs, it feels like Age of Empires. When playing the middle ages, it feels like Age of Kings. When playing the world wars, it feels like - nothing else out there. When playing the future epochs - it's even cooler.

Now that I've addressed that, there's not much more to say except: BUY THIS GAME. If you like strategy games, you will LOVE this one.

I've played the demo and it rocks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 57 / 63
Date: October 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Let me preface this by saying this game is going to be the best RTS game in a long time. It's funny; there are quite a few games coming out now that are just going to make these companies even more rich: EE is going to be number 1 for a long time.

In the Demo, you have 4 tutorial missions and then 2 regular missions from a campaign. The visuals are stunning. If you liked Age of Empires II, you will love this game. There are citizens who are your villagers, and they are smart, just like they are in The Conquerors X-pack. There are many new features that will be new to RTS players:

1. Hospital: It heals your units if they are close
2. University: Just like any ole' college, except if your units are close to it, they cannot be converted by priests/monks/etc.
3. Wonders: Now the wonders you build actually do you some good. For example, building Alexander's lighthouse will enable you to see every naval activity on the oceans and rivers. Building the Colliseum will increase your build limit and DECREASE your opponents build limit. Very cool.
4. Unit balance: Never before have I seen such balance in military units. AOE tried to combat this, but you could still wreck ungodly havoc on your enemies with a herd of Paladins. No more in this game. You HAVE to support your units with auxillary units or they'll be crushed. Tank rush has been 100% eliminated because of this. In other games that boasted this, it was true to a certain extent, but this game actually delivers true military balance on the battlefield.

Some other new features is the addition of prophets/evangels/etc. They can call upon the wrath of God and unleash earthquakes, firestorms, all that good stuff.

The visuals are beautiful, the sounds are better than any other RTS game on the market right now. Enemy AI is better than any I've seen too, and I've seen most every RTS out there. It's almost like the producers took the best features from AOE, Starcraft, and the Command and Conquer series of games and rolled them into one, giant, kickin' game.

I would download the demo and play it while you're waiting for the release date. This game is going to be very special indeed.

This is a difficult, rewarding action/strategy history sim

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 49 / 49
Date: December 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I must admit the opening sequence won me over, to wit: "Few men have the ability to decide the lives of others" or something similar was what held my initial joy. Watching the video scenes that ranged from a shaman in a stone age culture to a world war captain fighting with lasers and pulse machine guns intrigued me.

This game is simply astounding!

The gameplay is amazing... it is the kind of game you have to get a full glass of icewater and maybe a snack and sit down and crack your knuckles then begin a TOTAL conquer of an enemy. As a superior (online anyway) veteran of AOE and AOK I must admit I was challenged beyond belief but not too much to make it not fun.

I need not go into minor details of gameplay...this is an RTS game BUT it has some important differences. Everything I hated about Age of Empires has been fixed:

1) The resources dont run out after like 800 gold...you get 30,000 for each mine. This means you spend more time on war strategy (which becomes important in 14 ages) once you secure (and usually fight for) resources later.

2) Normally in AOE you can choose a strategy you like (i.e. rushing to imperial and creating 50 paladins) and win. In this game there are so many counters to certain units you must learn and use them. It is more realistic this way.

3) Watching the little World War I units run around and make waste of your enemy. It is so awesome to have an "Age of Empires" style game that has machine gun units, snipers, bombers, fighters, tanks, Anti-aircraft (stationary and mobile), and many others.

4) Let 's not forget the enormous fun of prehistoric age...Normally we all enjoy "starting fresh" in AOE with the stone age. Well! In this game the stone age is an achievement. We start in PREHISTORIC age!!! You can fight with guys that chunk rocks and guys with clubs and branches (literally this is it until you get 1,122 food for stone age and it is AWESOME fun)

5) Let's not forget the little details most of which I cannot possibly remember. It's the little gameplay details that are so improved that I love. The zooming, the "explore" function (even citizens or "scout canine patrols" can explore the unexplored and fight what they find. To illustrate, remember those online AOE games where you have destroyed him but he wont quit? Send 12 or 13 soldiers on "explore" mode to seek him out. Just wait until you purchase it, the explore mode is a stunning achievement for RTS.

6) Remember, You can start out at any age, or choose any sets of ages for game (i.e. only Renaissance to WWII or any combo).

I can't say enough good things about this game. I probably love it because of my history background but I don't know if I could not love it under any circumstances.

BUY IT NOW...cmon...its enormous..you normally buy crappy games with little to 'em, get something engaging now!

Buy it and play for 2 or 3 weeks like I have and then you will be right here like me, writing my first amazon review. The only reason I come out of internet anonymity to write this review is because I love this game that much. Think seriously about getting it...I mean it.

This game will define the strategy genre for years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 35 / 52
Date: May 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Shock is the only word to describe Empire Earth. When I visited the booth located near the entrance to the PC wing at E3, people were running back and forth amongst the eight monitors setup exclaiming "It's the same game!". One screen showed prehistoric clubman fighting it out, the second displayed a gigantic siege setup in the middle ages, the third brought Napoleanonic units into the mix, and the last screens displayed the World Wars and the Future. Amazing! Empire Earth is the culmination of Age of Empires, Age of Kings, Cossacks, Red Alert, and Starcraft brought into a beautiful 3D world. You better pre-order this game early, as it will be flying off the shelves once word spreads.

An Incredible game! A must buy for expert and novice gamers.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 34
Date: November 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you can only pick one game to buy this christmas, it should be Empire Earth. This game is like having 10 games in 1. When you compare the scope of Empire Earth to Age of Kings, Age of Kings has 4 ages while Empire Earth has 14. In addition, the 14 epochs of Empire Earth have as many or more units that age of kings!

Now, I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon, and I've heard everyone raving about this game. I thought, 'sure, I bet it's great'. I must say, after playing it for almost a week solid, I have to jump on the bandwagon, this game IS incredible! I don't want to put up the huge list of features, but in short:
Great multiplayer, great AI, great single player campaigns, and an amazing scenerio editor are just a few.

In fact, the only negative for the game is that the multi-player online system (won.net) could be better by adding more chat features and ranking systems. But that has nothing to do with the ingame play. On modems, the game runs smooth as silk! I just can't say enough for this game.

I'd easily recommend this over Civ 3, Star Wars battlegrounds, and Battle Realms.

So if your looking for a 'sure winner' game, you can't go wrong with Empire Earth. People will be playing this game for years to come.

Empire Earth is Fun for Years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: November 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The game was a pleasant surprise for me, though I had been following the development from the beginning and even taken part to the beta program.
While there are 14 epochs, the game is so massive, that after a week I have only played a few of those. I have seen my kids spend countless hours playing the future epochs. Starting from the pre-historic age is more suitable for me, as I like to play it more slowly.
There is an excellent scenario editor, that allows you to build almost any kind of scenario or game movie. The campaigns are massive, but due to the scenario editor you can wait for much more from user made scenarios.
Labeled as a real time strategy game may frighten some people away, but you really should take a closer look. Depending on the game type one can play a tactical or almost action type of game, adventure in some scenarios, against computer opponents or a multiplayer game. The possibilities are countless. As stated by many this really is many games in one.
Some of the good parts include: one of the biggest ever manuals (over 240 pages), very little crashes and bugs, great graphics and effects, good computer player AI, unbelievably versatile scenario editor.
On bad computers and when zoomed in too close, the graphics may look ugly. It may take more time to learn Empire Earth than you thought. Those downsides are minor, compared to all the good sides.
This game surely is a winner and will be played for years.

You can't possibly saticfy everyone....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: December 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

....Although this game does a really good try!
I first heard of this game last summer, and ever since, my live mainly consisted of waiting for EE to finally hit the shelves.
When I spotted the game in stores, I bought it immediatly and hurried home to install and play it.
I am so very glad I did!

Good heavens, this game is great! It delivered just about everything it promised, and much, much more. Usually I end up dissapointed when I have been looking forward to certain game for such a long time, but this one is an exception to the rule.

Empire Earth seems to me like an attempt to please everyone who likes RTS, and to attract a few people who are more into the Age Of Empires and even Civilisation style games. Although usually, games that try to please everyone like that fail misserably, but EE actually pulls it off! This game has everything worth having in an RTS game! It is easily the most diverse computer game I ever saw.
If you are fond of RTS in, for instance, the Roman Era, no problem! we can arrange that! Prefering a good laser battle over throwing spears at each other? Fine, just access the appropiate era. Just about everything between throwing rocks and throwing the A-bomb is there, and you can play it however you like. If you want to you can limit gameplay to one or two (or three, or whatever) eras, or you can try and build an Empire of your own from before the Stone Age to well into the 22th century.

Off course, in addition to all the praise, some critism too, is in order.
For one, especially with the two (pretty good) editors available, EE sometimes almost seems more like a piece of software to make your own RTS game than a real game. Especially because the "random" map single player games and the campaigns are pretty hard. Even with the difficulty setting turned to "easy", the AI gave me the ride of my life! (Of course it depends on you wheter you consider this a good thing, or a bad)
Second, not everything works flawlessly (not yet, anyway). "Gigantic" size maps made in the editor, for instance, are not always playable. I assume this sort of thing will be corrected in the upcoming patches.

Overall, though, I consider this a great game. One of the few that actually delivers all it promises. For the rest, the graphics are good, the gameplay awesome, and the untis well blanced. Furthermore, despite its "Civilisation"-isch toutches at times, you won't loose a lot of time with boring mining and micromanagement. Buy it! just buy it!
Only make sure you have one heck of a computer to play it on, otherwise, you'll end up playing in slow motion.

This is a great game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: August 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Don't listen to those folks saying the computer cheats and you can't win. I won today, after several attempts (I think five). This game is far more complex than CIV III, it requires patience and strategy and planning. If you don't measure out your troops to your citizens and follow through on advancements at the university and within all the other elements, the computerized opponent will come in and wipe you out. One key is building secure walls around your town as soon as you're able, so that the computer opponent can't get through (and repairing them when your opponent attacks). There are many different elements that you need to pay attention to throughout the game to keep on top of things, but that makes the game so much more intelligent and challenging than CIV III (and I liked CIV III too). I found in CIV III I could win the game almost too easily, and could do so without fighting. In Empire Earth you HAVE to fight and you have to consider your military, along with your citizens' harvesting of food, minerals and wood. I particularly like that your priests can "convert" enemy troops and have them turn around and fight against their former allies. It's a great game, really; if you're interested in complex strategy and excellent graphics, try this game. There are so many options, it's infinitely playable over and over again.

The Game I always wanted to play...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: January 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Sorry, only have a few minutes before I will need to return to the game. Let me try to do this quick.

This game covers ALL of history broken down intoo 14 different epochs. All the epochs play differently, from Cavemen towing logs to bash down wooden towers, right through Bronze armed Roman Centurions charging on horseback, past the Castle strewn ages of the Vikings, and then into the smoke clouded battlefields of the 17th and 18th centuries, soon, the early tanks and bi-planes of the first World War show up, then through WWII and the modern day with Cruise missiles and flamethrowes, M1 Tanks and snipers, followed by a future with mechanized 'bots routing steadfast human infantry with specilaized powers that create electrical storms or time warps...'n more!
I don't really have the space to mention Prophets and their powers: Volcanos, hurricanes...
I don't really have the time to go into Heroes: letting Napolean or Caesar lead your armies.
I don't have words to describe how fun it is to plan your city with Temples or Hospitals covering all your people just right.

I don't have the words to tell you how deep this game is.

There are 14 Epochs in all...14 different games to play.

Play on-line vs. your buddies or play some really fascinating historical Campaigns or do like me and just keep trying to beat the smartest Computer player I've ever played against.

The huge random maps create new mountain ranges and Oceans that make the game fresh every time.

For those inclined the Scenario editor looks to be able to re-create any kind of Campaign a player can imagine, be it from the past, present or the future. People are already making them availble on-line. The replayability is endless.

Did I say this was the most involving, interesting, deep, exciting and plan old FUN game I have every installed on my PC?

It is.

Must go return to the game now. I've done all I can for you people.

An RTS that raises the bar!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: March 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I gave Empire Earth five stars even though it is not a perfect game. But it is a great game, and it is damn close!

Designed by Rick Goodman, the lead designer of Age of Empires, Empire Earth is closer to being Age of Empires III than Ensemble Studios' (the Developer of the series) newest entry Age of Mythology. Each of the original Age of Empires games allowed you to play through four epochs (ages) of world history. Empire Earth allows you to play through a total of 14 epochs - from prehistoric through the Nano Age (two epochs beyond current human civilization).

The play of the game is extremely similar to Age of Empires, and players of that game should be able to jump into this game with very little learning curve. New players to either of these games may find the game complicated and overwhelming at first. However, Empire Earth compensates by having a great tutorial that will have you playing without ever having to read the 238 pg manual as well as having multiple difficulty settings that allow the player to customize the game to their skill level.

The game ships with four campaigns - each taking place within a few handfuls of epochs in world history. The last campaign takes place entirely in the future so is completely fictional. The campaigns, while fun (and better than those found in Age of Empires) are short at 6 missions apiece (although some missions may take several hours to play).

The real meat of this game lies within the skirmish and multiplayer modes. Skirmish is exactly like multiplayer except there is only one player and the rest is made up of computer opponents. Empire Earth features the same great random map elements found in Age of Empires which really add to the replayability of the game. While in the campaigns you only play through a few epochs, in multiplayer and skirmish mode you can choose to play through all 14 if you wish. This can make for some extremely long games (one of mine lasted over 15 hours), but if you don't have all day to play the game will let you save and comeback later (yep even in multiplayer). In addition, the game even auto saves the game regularly so you don't have to start over if one player crashes four hours into the game.

The units (and their are many of them) are extremely well balanced. The game utilizes a 'rock-paper-scissors' philosophy with units that prevent overly typical strategies like build-as-much-as-you-possibly-can-of-the-most-powerful-unit-in-the-game-and-lay-waste-to-the-entire-map. In the beginning, it's rather simple - shock units beat archery units which beat piercing units which beat shock units. Later it becomes more obscured, but common sense should prevail (ie anti-tank guns beat tanks, etc..).

The game plays well over the net. Massive amounts of units can cause lag, but this is more often because a player's computer isn't powerful enough to process the information rather than to bandwidth. I regularly play online game with two of my buddies and up to five computers (making eight player games) over my 56k connection while using voice-over-IP (Roger Wilco) and lag is minimal. Be prepared to have your video card taxed however. The game plays well on my machine (Athlon 1Ghz w/Voodoo 5 256Mb RAM) so users with similar set ups or better will have no worries.

The past couple of years has seen the market flooded with real time strategy (RTS) games that have been mediocre at best. Empire Earth is NOT one of those games. I would not hesitate to say that this is one of the best RTS games since Blizzard released StarCraft and may easily steal from WarCraft III's (Blizzard's newest RTS) glory.

If you've ever enjoyed an RTS and your system can handle it, then by all means pick up Empire Earth. You won't regret it.

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