- Game Informer (83/100): "Like Blizzard's RTSs or Command & Conquer, Universe at War requires a hands-on approach to command. Adept focus-firing, forcing enemies into bad unit matchups, resource harassment, and the like will carry the day more often than out-gathering your opponent – especially given the particularly binding population cap."
- Games Radar (80/100): "Universe at War takes a lot of chances, and most of them pay off in the form of a unique real-time strategy experience. Just grin and bear the campy story and you'll find plenty to love here."
- 1UP (70/100): "Each side handles resources differently, too, which will likely wind up separating the UAW lovers from the haters. Both the Hierarchy and Novus simply send out harvesting units to automatically appropriate junk far-flung across the map, while the Masari simply construct structures anywhere, which generate resources indefinitely. That means multiplayer battles focus more on breaking main bases and less on the localized miniskirmishes that are some other RTS games' hallmark."
Metareview: Universe at War: Earth Assault (PC)
7
Universe at War: Earth Assault enters the market during a time we're calling: "Publishers at War: Wallet Assault." UaW probably benefits from there not being a plethora of high-profile sci-fi RTS games entering the market at the same time. The reviews don't have a lot of negative things to say about the game, so if you're looking for a solid sci-fi RTS during the holiday season, UaW seems like a good choice. We're still curious to see how the Xbox 360 version plays when it releases early next year.
Reader Comments (7)
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 5:13PM (Unverified) said
I love how the alien ships look like the ones from Alien Front.
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 5:28PM (Unverified) said
I wonder if the game is fun with cheats. I love taking one marine, putting poweroverwhelming and destroying 10,000 people. Except when Zerg Queens make him into a broodling. Stupid Zerg.
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 5:37PM (Unverified) said
The only way an RTS is going to rope me in is by being substantially different from Starcraft. Starcraft, imho opinion, is perfection. Any attempts at being like it will result in epic fail-- like this game.
World in Conflict has the right idea-- different type of story, gameplay, etc.
Somewhat off-topic: the worlds needs a professionally made game something like the Empires mod for Half-life 2. A few people are playing an RTS, while most people are playing as their units. There are a lot of hurdles in between the simple idea and making it fun for everyone, but I'm sure one of the talented devs out there can make it work. (Valve? ID hasn't done anything (useful) in a while.)
Something like Team Fortress could definitely work, although I'd prefer something more serious.
World in Conflict has the right idea-- different type of story, gameplay, etc.
Somewhat off-topic: the worlds needs a professionally made game something like the Empires mod for Half-life 2. A few people are playing an RTS, while most people are playing as their units. There are a lot of hurdles in between the simple idea and making it fun for everyone, but I'm sure one of the talented devs out there can make it work. (Valve? ID hasn't done anything (useful) in a while.)
Something like Team Fortress could definitely work, although I'd prefer something more serious.
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 5:58PM SheppyReturns said
Only two games can bring me back into the RTS realm.
Starcraft 2
Krush Kill 'n Destroy 3
Those are both first day purchases for me. Jeff, you may want to look into a game called The Outfit on 360. An average single player game but essentially you earn money by taking checkpoints and you use that money to purchase vehicles, health, special attacks, etc. So the multiplayer is about as close to what you want as we're likely to get without jumping back to Sacrifice, Pikmin, or Grim Grimoire.
Starcraft 2
Krush Kill 'n Destroy 3
Those are both first day purchases for me. Jeff, you may want to look into a game called The Outfit on 360. An average single player game but essentially you earn money by taking checkpoints and you use that money to purchase vehicles, health, special attacks, etc. So the multiplayer is about as close to what you want as we're likely to get without jumping back to Sacrifice, Pikmin, or Grim Grimoire.
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 6:03PM (Unverified) said
As tempting as a 360 is, I've remained solely a PC gamer-- even through the Halo marketing blitz. =P
What you described sounds something like Unreal Warfare in UT3.
What I would want would be somewhat like the forge-bot in Halo, with the ability to spend your team's money on weapons, vehicles etc, with the ability to set objectives for your team, select what type of units players can spawn as (not specifically, but say: 3 soldiers, one heavy weapons, one medic, and players fill in those roles accordingly) and whatever awesome stuff a developer could come up with.
Reply
What you described sounds something like Unreal Warfare in UT3.
What I would want would be somewhat like the forge-bot in Halo, with the ability to spend your team's money on weapons, vehicles etc, with the ability to set objectives for your team, select what type of units players can spawn as (not specifically, but say: 3 soldiers, one heavy weapons, one medic, and players fill in those roles accordingly) and whatever awesome stuff a developer could come up with.
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 7:31PM (Unverified) said
Well, on The Outfit, you pick your character. I usually pick the flamethrowing Nazi but that's just because I'm all about book burning. Books hold lies. That whole Harry Potter thing? Completely fake! None of that happened!
Maybe this will help on The Outfit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaFA8bsu6TU
Reply
Maybe this will help on The Outfit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaFA8bsu6TU
Posted: Dec 13th 2007 6:36PM TwistedBishop said
I'm pretty excited about it after playing the beta and the demo. It's great to see these strong new original IPs being made by talented developers. I think the game's biggest hurdle will be the whole Games for Windows Live mess, but we'll see how that shakes out.
All in all, between excellent releases and some huge announcements, it's been a great year to be an RTS fan.
All in all, between excellent releases and some huge announcements, it's been a great year to be an RTS fan.
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