Space Empires V - Not For Weaklings

[Jason]

<strong>[ Review ]</strong>

<p><a href="http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?p=3083&page=1&cat=59" target="_blank" title="ACG review">The Armchair General</a> took a break from its regular diet of wargames (and, uh, <a href="http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?p=3079&page=1&cat=59" target="_blank" title="que?">Gears of War</a>) to <a href="http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?p=3083&page=1&cat=59" target="_blank" title="ACG review">review</a> <a href="http://www.malfador.com/" target="_blank" title="Malfador">Malfador's</a> latest 4X monster, <a href="http://www.spaceempires5.com/" target="_blank" title="SE5">Space Empires V</a>. Rather than focusing on the bug issue, ACG scored it 70% for the slow pace and unforgiving difficulty.</p><blockquote><p>So what&rsquo;s the actual game like? In a word, difficult. Those setup options at the start have a major impact on each game, selecting the wrong combination can be fatal, and is also a bit hit and miss. For example, to start with, players will only have the technology to colonize planets that are similar to their own. Whilst this does give a player some breathing space&mdash;since a player&rsquo;s alien neighbors won&rsquo;t be after the same planets as the player&mdash;it does limit early options for expansion as players are restricted to only a certain percentage of the worlds they encounter. </p></blockquote><p><a href="http://www.gamingexcellence.com/pc/games/721/review.shtml" target="_blank" title="GE review">Gaming Excellence</a> also brought up the difficulty, but was a little harsher in the scoring department (5.9/10).</p><blockquote><p> I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ve guessed by now that the greatness in SEV lies in its complexity. It is also, however, one of its greatest drawbacks. The complexity can&rsquo;t be toned-down, thereby creating a learning curve much too steep for the average gamer. SEV certainly seems to target the dedicated strategy-game players that have grown bored with exploring the limits of other titles of the genre in a matter of minutes. To make matters worse, the game isn&rsquo;t equipped with a single-player storyline to gradually add the more complex options, so after going through the very basic fifteen minute tutorial, you&rsquo;re on your own. The manual isn&rsquo;t much help either so even experienced gamers will find it necessary to play a game to tinker with options only to discard it and start another. </p></blockquote><div style="text-align: center"><a href="http://www.tacticularcancer.com/gallery.php?dir=Space%20Empires%20V&file=se5screen_26.jpg"><img src="http://www.tacticularcancer.com/screenshots/Space%20Empires%20V/thumbs/se5screen_26_thumb.jpg" alt=" " width="200" height="150" /></a> </div>

 

[YourConscience]

Ehh, someone finds this game *difficult*?! Wow, that's strange. I found the AI to be so weak, that even with giving them large bonuses it won't properly attack you at all.

Or perhaps my steam version comes lighter?

 

[Deathy]

Difficult in the sense that the game is too complex to get their heads around, I guess.
The AI is filth. I need to get a multiplayer game going, but I don't like playing strangers over the internet, so I'm a bit stuck.

 

[Oarfish]

Yeah, the AI is broken at the moment. It builds too few ships with crappy designs.

And as for moaning about the lack of a storyline.. FFS. It's a strategy game, not everyone thought westwood's injection of 'plot' into the genre was a good idea.

That said, as soon as the mods / patches make the aliens more diverse the better. At the moment everyone from evil hamsters to angelic gas beings deploy near identical craft and strategy.