Sins of a Solar Empire ^(PC)

Genre: Strategy Publisher: Stardock Developer: Ironclad Players: 10

By Lachlan (8th Apr 2008)

Proving that independently developed games can be every bit as viable as their big-budget cousins, Stardock's latest is the space-strategy many PC owners probably didn\'t even know they were waiting

As Douglas Adams once wrote, “space is big”. Just how big? Really, really big, a fact which is often sadly neglected or unsatisfactorily faked by game designers. While fun, Freelancer felt more like driving on an invisible road between soccer ball-sized celestial bodies than exploring a limitless universe. Battlecruiser 3000AD featured correct Newtonian physics, but unfortunately was far more notable for having one of the most hilariously, bewilderingly obtuse user interfaces ever put into a game.

At the other end of the spectrum lie the Homeworld and Master of Orion series of games. While still “faking it” in a conventional sense, the original Homeworld was so steeped in deep-space atmosphere that its various real-time strategy conceits (resource gathering, build queues and the like) were easy to overlook. Master of Orion 2 was the standout in its own line of games, a turn-based title that offered many ways to approach building a galactic empire, be it through subterfuge, diplomacy, exploration or unchecked aggression.

Sins of a Solar Empire is the new release from the independent software developer Stardock. In the hands of any other small developer, Sins could easily have been another unassuming budget title. Instead, Stardock have created a compulsive gaming experience, with a unique style of game play and a grand sense of scale.

The game unfolds in real-time across a crowded solar system, or even amongst multiple systems in some of the larger maps. Interviews have seen the game designers refer to the style of game play offered by Sins as an RT4X – a combination of Homeworld-style real-time strategy, and the 4X empire building of the Total War and Master of Orion series.

As an independent company, Stardock probably feels the sting of budgetary restraints more than companies like Relic or Westwood. While undeniably stylish, the game’s introductory cinematic resembles first-year computer animation assignment more than it does the big-budget, bombastic CGI introduction to a game like Dawn of War.

As well as the background story, this cut scene also introduces the game’s three major factions. Taking a leaf from Supreme Commander's book, Sins features a coalition of human governments fighting for survival (the Trader Emergency coalition), exiled psychics out for revenge (the Advent), and a once-proud alien race fleeing from an unknown threat (the Vasari Empire).

Aside from the background fluff, the different races are superficially the same. There are some slight differences in ship-design, economic model, and late-game superweapons, but for the most part, every unit for one side has a corresponding one in the other two teams.

Making the factions similar is a sacrifice most likely made in the name of game-balance, but one of the few real criticisms to be leveled at the game is fact that the factions are almost identical. Having the intergalactic aliens focus on the same game mechanics as the human factions is immersion-breaking and a little dull.

A little bit more unusual, particularly for this day and age, is the fact that there is no single-player campaign on offer. Stardock press material suggests that players should ascribe their own narrative to the events that unfold in each match, whether playing against human opponents, or the game’s own impressive AI. While lacking the atmosphere of Homeworld (a game that has aged extremely well), the depth of play and sheer scale on offer renders cut-scenes and triggered events quite redundant.

Although matches start out at a slow, almost glacial pace, you’ll soon find yourself being forced to juggle economic, military and diplomatic concerns, along with the seedier side of running a galactic empire in the form of the black market. With each player getting only a single planet to start with, the pressure is on to seize and develop resources as quickly as possible, while building up a fleet to ward off early incursions.

Ships and structures move about and are placed on a 2D representation of space. Each planet has a grav-well – a circular area denoting where you can position structures, or order your ships to move. Other planets, asteroids and gas clouds are accessible by space-laneways that connect the grav-wells to each other. While some degree of micro-management is in the player’s best interests, your ships and structures have a large degree of autonomy, able to react appropriately to whatever they find circling a distant planet.

The game interface is surprisingly user-friendly, given the wealth of information and options available to the player. Separate buttons bring up the screens that control research, diplomacy and the black market. The camera controls are simply excellent – scrolling the mouse wheel lets you zoom

On the technical side of things, performance is great, scaling back quite well even on five-year old systems. Stardock’s copy protection is almost non-existent, although only registered copies of the game are entitled to the latest patches and updates.

The game isn’t perfect by any means, although what Stardock got right vastly outweighs the few easily patchable issues that remain. Without locked teams, the AI players have a tendency to gang up on you, occasionally turning free-for-all matches into you against everybody else. Attracting the attention of pirates because you forgot to pay them off quickly becomes tiresome and frustrating, but as of writing, the most recent patch has allowed for the pirates to be turned off on any map.

This patch has also given the enemy AI the capability to recognize when the jig is up and surrender accordingly, definitely a feature I wish more RTS games would implement. Endlessly scouring the map for the last enemy Portaloo or Balonium Silo when they’ve got nothing left to throw at you is the anti-climactic end to way too many skirmish matches in other titles.

Sins of a Solar Empire stands as one of the deepest, most rewarding strategy games released for the PC in the last few years. It’s unforgiving and occasionally even overwhelming, but ultimately a must-buy for anybody who enjoys strategy games. The fact that it scales well to older systems, and features copy-protection that won’t make you feel like a criminal is a welcome added bonus.