Sins of a Solar Empire Impressions September 2,2007 - One of the oldest cornerstones of computer gaming has been the “4X” strategy genre, featuring games that call for players to lead nations as they eXplore territory, eXpand their borders, eXploit resources, and eXterminate rivals (take note of those X's). With the notable exception of Stardock's Galactic Civilizations, fans of the space segment of the “4X“ strategy genre have had a hard time in the past several years. Master of Orion 3 was a huge let down, and other quality titles have been sparse. In the middle of this space-based 4X drought, Stardock is preparing to release another 4X space strategy title, “Sins of a Solar Empire.” Stardock has an interesting goal with this title – to blend real time strategy elements into a 4X title. Will Sins successfully blend these two concepts and live up to the standard of quality we've come to expect from Stardock, or will Sins fall in the shadow of the GalCiv series that preceded it?

Even for a game so early in development, Sins is already entertaining to play. Colonies set up on asteroids or planets serve as your base of operations, with a network of asteroids and planets comprising every star system. These stellar bodies are linked to each other by jump drive links, requiring a player to strategize on which systems to fortify depending upon how the latticework of jump drive lanes works out in a particular star system. Colonies can be upgraded on the ground, and orbital structures can be built for trade, mining, production, cultural influence, or military purposes. Like the previous Galactic Civilization games, cultural influence is a powerful force in Sins, playing a huge role in whether star systems can be effectively conquered and/or held onto. Some systems will prove more valuable than others, though all planets can produce credits based upon their population; asteroids with metals or crystal are required to mine the other two resources.

The meat of Sins is in the ships available to you, most of which are military in nature. They are purchased, like all other things in the game, with credits, metals, and sometimes crystal (the rare resource of the game). Ships are divided into three distinct categories – fighters, standard warships, and capital ships. Fighters are divided between those designed to counter other fighters, and bombers, which are designed to take out larger ships with volleys of missiles. Warships range from frigates to cruisers, and have many purposes, from support to direct combat all the way to carrying small squadrons of fighters or bombers into combat. Capital ships are of particular interest, and are closely akin to hero units in Warcraft III. Each individual capital ship has its own unique auto-generated name, regardless of class, and levels up as more and more combat is engaged in by its crew. With each level a ship can choose to upgrade various areas, and these improvements differ based upon the vessel class. Each ship increases in almost all base statistics with every level-up. This makes combat in the game feel far more personal than most other 4X titles, as each capital ship involved is truly a huge investment in time and resources, and with names and customization through leveling, the player can get quite attached.

Of course, the standard elements of real time strategy (RTS) are present in Sins, but of particular interest is the ability to order specific fleets of ships to synchronize their hyperjumping. When set correctly, ships in a group will wait until all ships in the formation are ready to hyperdrive out, and only then will they jump in formation together. This is a nice way to keep fleets arriving at star systems together, rather than arriving ship by ship and getting picked apart.

The visual presentation in Sins of a Solar Empire is par for the course for an RTS, though the weapon and impact effects could use some more work. Given the game is in such an early beta phase, it is actually surprising that it looks as good as it does. The planets are beautiful to stare at, and the small orbital 'elevators' floating about each planet with vehicles flying between are a nice, if simple, visual touch. The jump effect is particularly nice, as is the scalability of the zoom in the game—the player can zoom all the way out to view multiple star systems, or all the way in to view a single ship up close (and everywhere in between!)—all with the simple roll of a mouse wheel or keystroke.

Sins sounds great, with a fabulous musical score and decent voice overs. The combat tracks are particularly rousing. Where Sins hurts slightly is in the sound effect department, with many combat sound effects seeming too weak. The game could also benefit from some general combat chatter from fleets as the player zooms in, as Homeworld had, though it unfortunately lacks this at present.

Sins of a Solar Empire is an engaging and fun 4X space strategy game that successfully blends the RTS element into a genre that is traditionally turn-based in nature. The game is so chock-full of strategic and tactical gameplay that any self-declared Admiral would find themselves remiss not to check this game out. Even if Sins was ready for release now, it would be a decent title. However, given that the game isn't even out of beta – with two unique factions yet to be released, and storyline and multiplayer mode forthcoming – this game is promising to go far beyond “decent” and into the realm of impressive. Keep your eyes on this one, 4X fans – it could just be that jewel in the rough you've been waiting for.

Games, News, Reviews, Media and More