Sins of a Solar Empire

February 14,2008 - In a world where an increasing number of computer games are being ported over or concurrently developed for console, it is easy for the average computer gamer to feel threatened. One of the last hold-outs soothing fears of a console-dominated gaming market has been real-time strategy gaming, which requires a speed of point-and-click command that is difficult to achieve with a console's controller. Recent titles have been fairly successful, and it should be a relief to armchair imperialists that yet another gem has found its way onto the market – this time, from a new developer known as Ironclad Games. Given the development team is comprised of a mix of former Barking Dog Studios (anyone remember Homeworld: Cataclysm?) and Rockstar Games employees, it should come as no great surprise that Sins of a Solar Empire is a truly ambitious and unique game. Touting their new title as an “RT4X” game, Stardock and Ironclad Games has attempted to create a mix of RTS and 4X strategy, a genre most are familiar with through the Civilization series.

Sins takes place in a science fiction world of peaceful traders turned vicious defenders, a proud and massive alien empire reduced to fleeing renegades, and an exiled people vengefully striving to return to their homeworld. The background story combines many science-fiction cliches, but in such a skilled manner that one could hardly mind. What some players may mind, however, is the lack of a single-player storyline campaign. Though this is not unusual for a 4X game, where the player is encouraged to forge their own path as the game progresses, it is definitely disappointing for an RTS game.

Sins of a Solar Empire is as ambitiously deep as it is massive. It takes on the task of introducing real-time strategy into a world with 4X strategic scope. Similar to Supreme Commander, this scalability is amazing, in large part due to the ability to zoom in to see individual fighter craft dogfighting, and out to the point of reviewing multiple star systems. The gameplay itself is similar to 4X strategy games in the varied tactics a player can use, with military, culture, economy, diplomacy, colonization, and research all playing key roles in the success or failure of an empire. One particularly satisfying element of the game is the presence of pirates as an offensive tool, as bribing pirates or other players to attack others by putting out bounties redeemable by destroying ships, structures, and colonies is truly a joy.

With so many 4X elements put into a real-time setting, Sins can be overwhelming for a new player, particularly given the lack of a single-player storyline to gradually introduce the player to new concepts. There is a basic tutorial, but a short tutorial can only do so much to prepare a player for a game with such a broad scope. Fortunately, Sins plays at an extremely slow pace as compared to RTS games, and this slow pace combined with the presence of pirates in uninhabited systems that must be cleared out before additional worlds can be safely colonized makes the concept of rushing almost impossible. This game is truly about empire building and the eventual clash of civilizations, not who can queue up the right kind of units first. Despite this slower pace and elimination of rushing, Sins remains overwhelming for new players, but fortunately the easy AI in the game's single-player skirmish mode is enough of a pushover to give new players an easier time learning the game. By contrast, the hard AI can be quite challenging, but it is not within single-player skirmishes that Sins shines. Multiplayer is where the heart of the game's beauty lies. There are few joys in gaming so beautiful than to watch two massive fleets combining in battle, and there is nothing quite like the fresh smell of nuked homeworld in the morning. Of course, managing fleet battles which can last thirty minutes or longer while continuing to expand and build one's empire can be overwhelming, but with a little practice the multitasking required can be managed, and the results most rewarding.

Sins does lack a few elements that could have helped it elevate it from great into the truly legendary – first, a lack of an ability to invade worlds rather than bomb them to dust leaves out a gameplay dynamic that could have been rather fun, and kept simple through calculations rather than direct management of ground forces (which would simply make the scope of the game too massive for a single player to manage). There is an additional lack of a complex diplomacy system as in most 4X titles, with no way to make trades of any kind with the AI, give research to other players, or return missions to the AI. The mission concept of Sins, one in which the AI gives the player unique objectives such as “destroy this many of empire As ships,” or “Give me this many credits,” is fairly fresh, though the inability to give AIs in good standing with your empire missions of their own is disappointing at best. Finally, cultural influence as an offensive weapon is largely ineffective in Sins unless playing the Advent, who have a giant interplanetary culture-damaging superweapon. Planetary bombing frigates are also a bit on the powerful side, though have been balanced in a recent patch.

Sins is a beautiful game, and truly gives the player a sense of scale. From tiny fighters flitting between frigates, cruisers, and giant capital ships, all the way to interstellar views, Sins remains detailed, gorgeous, and a true testament of what can be done with system requirements that do not require a computer that would put many gamers into debt.

The music of Sins switches between peaceful ambiance and stirring, epic combat tracks based upon the situation in the particular region the player is currently focusing on, and it does so seemlessly. The unit dialogues and other tidbits of voice acting in the game are fabulous, and are at times amusing (try giving a TEC colonization frigate a few orders to attack – just try it!). And if sound effects are a concern, though they do not stand out as beautifully as previous space RTS titles such as Homeworld, they are definitely better than what most RTS or 4X titles offer.

Sins is the delightful lovechild of three of the best strategy games in the annals of gaming history: take a dash of Supreme Commander, throw in some Civilization, and put in a sprinkling of Homeworld, and you have a game that successfully melds the RTS dynamic into a 4X setting, in a fully 3-D environment where players are forced to think with more strategic and tactical depth than most real-time strategy games require. Sins is a slow-paced game compared to the masses of increasingly twitch-based RTS titles, but that is the point. Though it is in some ways flawed, Sins of a Solar Empire remains one of the best strategy games to grace store shelves in recent times, and is sure to be one of the sleeper hits of 2008.

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