Kalypso Media Sins of a Solar Empire review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 15 Aug 2008

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Alec Meer

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

This space-based real-time strategy game is unlikely ever to grace a games console.

Sins of a Solar Empire couldn't be anything other than a PC game, and it's absolutely joyous for it. It's sprawling, deep and employs parts of your brain that often get left to go dusty.

It's not over-complicated; there's little here to scare away anyone who is familiar with a more conventional real-time strategy game. It's built upon the usual facets of harvest, construct and kill. However, it is immense. You're fighting over entire galaxies and using whole planets as your resources. That requires plenty of patience and a lot of planning. Your reward for this is that Sins of a Solar Empire looks immense. Despite the fact that it can run on low-spec PCs, its gigantic space war is both epic and beautiful.

It's almost entirely open, too. You're not presented with a go-there, kill-that mandate, but instead have to construct buildings and deploy ships depending on your own goals and elected foes. A rather rudimentary diplomacy system, establishing trade routes and alliances with other empires, means it's never a straightforward fight. This game has as much in common with Civilization as it does with Command and Conquer. The lack of a defined campaign could be a turn-off to some, as there is no story-based mission to carry you from fight to fight, but knowing that this is your own war can be incredibly exciting.

Our one criticism is that the game is not as helpful as it could be, leaving you with a lot of essential information to decipher on your own. We recommend you get the latest patch, as some improvements have been made. Still, the first few games will involve a degree of trial and error. You should persevere, though, because once you've learnt the rules the possibilities are nothing short than galactic.

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