Second Opinion: Sins of a Solar Empire
Title: Sins of a Solar Empire
Platform: PC
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher: Stardock
Rating: T
When fellow Tom's Games senior editor Travis Meacham took a look at Sins of a Solar Empire , he primarily focused on the overall package of the game, with a heavy emphasis on the single player aspect. Seeing that as a whole, Sins is a game that was built around the multiplayer more than anything, we've decided to take a second look at the game much like we did with our Mass Effect reviews. Considering that Sins does have a bit of a learning curve, this second look may also be useful to those who've already purchased the game.
First and foremost, when you first play Sins you'll get the impression that Ironclad games really built their product around a solid multiplayer core, which is something that has been requested time and time again by fans of games like the Master of Orion or Galactic Civilization series (let's pretend Master of Orion 3 didn't happen). While not quite on the same level of those games due to its real-time strategy nature, the pacing of Sins makes most single and multiplayer games slow enough that you'll still have a pretty standard "4x" type of experience, also known as explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate.
Let's dive into the 4x concept a bit shall we? As mentioned by Travis, there is a heck of a lot of opportunity to "eXplore" star systems in the game, and they come in all sorts of pre-set or even random shapes and sizes. To go into further detail, there are small maps which are perfectly fitted for a typically quick game between two or three players, or even gigantic maps than span many star systems each with hundreds of planets that could take days, months, or, for an extremely dedicated player, even years to play through. Throughout these systems could potentially be all sorts of habitable planets, asteroids of different shapes and sizes, broken up asteroid fields with occasional pre-placed neutral refineries which can be captured by players, wormholes which with research can assist in travel to other star systems, sectors overcome by electrical storms and magnetic disturbances, hostile pirate bases, useless gas giants, and even junk yards. Certainly on the "explore" front, Sins certainly delivers.
Ironclad Games has filled Sins of a Solar Empire with strong 4x stratgey gameplay for fans of space simulators.
Once players have a bit of an understanding of what's around them, it makes sense to try to jump to the next step, or "eXpand" as quickly as possible. While following the expand process, it is typically a goal to build a solid infrastructure that provides the resources and income needed to thrive as an empire. Players must also expand upon their knowledge via their tech trees, in order to gain access to a variety of civic and military based discoveries. The art of expanding does not come easy in most cases though, as players will often times have to face guardians in order to lay their claim to a colonizeable planet or asteroid.
To complicate the expansion process slightly, not all planets are immediately colonizeable. Arctic and volcanic planets require special research in order to be colonized. Research itself is not possible without expanding upon the number of research labs, and even the art of taking on the guardians is not possible without a fleet. Once a planet is claimed, investments must be made to build up the infrastructure, and a player may find through exploration that their planet contains one of nine special artifacts. As the game progresses, it quickly becomes evident just how important it is to expand, expand, and then expand some more on all fronts.
The last two steps, "eXploit" and "eXterminate" are the two areas that players will typically get the most excitement or grief from in most situations, as playing in a happy sandbox land is only fun for so long. Obviously a one versus one match will make almost all diplomatic options worthless, games with more than two players will play out much differently. It is in this way that Sins provides a very unique experience via the personalities and the moral character of your fellow man. In most true RTS games, a game is usually decided in much less than an hour, even in team matches. In Sins, the time frame of planetary conquest takes much more time in most situations, with a quoted estimate by the developers that players should expect at least five to ten minutes of game time per planet.
In games with undecided teams, players may find themselves the victim of a bully who demands tributes, or a savior who comes to aid the little guy. Alliances can be formed or broken in the drop of a hat, and backstabbing can and will happen. Very few games really allow people to play the good or the bad guy, as they're too quick or too focused to allow such decisions to be made. In Sins' multiplayer, diplomatic iterations between players can influence the outcome of a game a hundred times over.
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