Empire Earth Preview

With the help of an creative team, and his experience in the past with the outstanding Age of Empires, Rick Goodman is an inch away from completing the ultimate RTS game. Empire Earth is a new product from Stainless Steel Studios and, in addition, one of the most highly anticipated games of this year. This game has a good chance to set a deep impact to the game industry as we know it. With a large number of units, customizable civilizations, it also offers many other outstanding features. A group of extremely talented people has gathered to bring this huge project to life. One individual who has joined the team recently, is Damon "Stratus" Gauthier. He led Team Canada to victory over Team USA in the Canada vs. USA Starcraft: Brood War Tourney in 1999 and is currently working on the improvement of the multi-player components in EE. The development team was also reinforced with the renowned playwright and screenwriter Gordon "The Old Campaigner" Farrell, who is assisting in the campaign design. All of this sounds ok, doesn't it? But will the guys down at Stainless Steel be able to pull off such a colossal project? Well, considering their experience we can expect a lot.

The Nano Age!

I don't want to nit pick, but isn't that chopper kinda small?

Since the game was first announced almost one year ago, people everywhere started inquiring about the way in which the developers plan to present the entire history of the human race in one PC game. We all remember Age of Empires and the countless hours we've spent playing this addictive RTS game. But, how many times have you wished to prolong the history of your great civilizations and see how they might turn out in the twentieth century? Empire Earth is the game which will finally make this possible. Not only will it cover a huge period, it will also take a big step into the future. You will be able to guide your civilization throughout twelve different epochs. The prehistory period, when man discovered fire for the first time, is set back in 500,000 BC. The game spreads out to the so-called Nano Age (the age of laser technology and mech units), which will lasts all the way to the year 2200 AD. Other periods, which will occur in between, are as follows: Stone age (50.000 - 5000 BC), Copper age (5000 - 2000 BC), Bronze age (2000 - 0 AD), Dark age (0 - 900), Middle ages (900 - 1300 AD), Renaissance (1300 - 1500 AD), Imperial age (1500 - 1700 AD), Industrial age (1700 - 1900 AD), Atomic age (1900 - 2000 AD), and finally the Information age (2000 - 2100 AD).

Next to the extensive timeline, Empire Earth is going to have a unique system of civilization regulations. You will be able to choose from twelve pre-defined civilizations, or customize your own if you wish. The Civilization Builder will have points, which will allow you to broaden and strengthen your custom nation. This is an interesting innovation; the player will have the opportunity to adjust the civilization as well as the unit characteristics. Spreading out efficiency points to your units represents a nice refreshment in the RTS genre. Furthermore, it is an original way of upgrading units and personalizing your civilization, giving players an infinite number of possibilities.

The pre-defined civilizations are naturally going to be some of the most influential we've seen all the way through the history of nations. One of the first you get to control are the good and all-knowing Greeks, which maintained their existence by forming city-states. These, so-called, poleis didn't unite into one country until many centuries later (they also managed to prevail thanks to the creation of the 'trireme' war ships, which were light, maneuverable, extremely efficient). The Imperial age shows the British and the French; the nations which contributed most to the progress of science and technology (the most famous unit from this era is the Henry Grâce r Dieu - was brought out as the hugest war vessel of that time and was able to carry over 800 sailors and soldiers). In the 20th century we will see the birth of historically significant units like the German U-Boat, the U.S.S Enterprise, as well as many other vessels. Soon after, man learns to split the atom and starts the development of atomic weaponry. In the latter half of this century (throughout the Cold War) International Ballistic Missiles and long-range bombers are developed. As for the Nano Age, we can expect to see a lot technologically advanced aircraft and land units, which will be powered by laser and nuclear equipment (mech units and such are going to be available in this period).

Moreover, the developers plan to introduce even more details, such as giving the player a chance to recruit some of the historically famous characters from each epoch. We will see prominent individuals like Alexander the Great from the ancient periods, as well as many famous Greek leaders from that same epoch. "...Actually, we'll start in Greek pre-history and trace some of the mythological and archaeologically-known early peoples of Greece. Then onwards -- we will visit several battles/wars between Athens and Sparta, as well as Alexander and Darius III."

The makers of Empire Earth even talked about including popular fictional characters and heroes from those specific times (like Hercules and Hector, or King Arthur from the middle ages - this is just an idea that is supported by almost all of the designers, however there is still no guarantee that this will be realized). Later, you may get the chance to accompany well-known leaders like Napoleon, or even general Patton in the 20th century.