Universe at War: Earth Assault Review

Glitches aside, the AI works quite well throughout the single-player game. It rarely gives you a chance to take a breather and will force you to stay alert and alter your battle tactics as you go along.

Although Universe at War suffers from technical mishaps, it certainly shines when it comes to visuals. In fact, it has everything needed to make it look up to date. The overall quality of the design certainly shows, while players are bound to notice the detailed and well-animated units, cool-looking explosions and other modern-day visual treats. In the spirit of their previous work, Empire at War, Petroglyph did more than a good job with the graphics.

Voiceovers are pretty good too and fit each in-game character perfectly. The music is a bit retro, but it works fine. The tunes were composed by Frank Klepacki, who once worked with Westwood Studios on the earlier Command & Conquer games.

The multiplayer is entertaining indeed, especially when you've mastered all the advantages of a particular race. You'll find the usual skirmish modes, which are fun too. Conquer-the-world mode is the pinnacle of the multiplayer though, where players fight over individual territories throughout the globe. And now for the major bummer. This mode is restricted to Live Gold members. Of course, to become a Games for Windows - Live Gold member, naturally, you must pay up.

Universe at War: Earth Assault is, to be brief, a very good real-time strategy game you should try out, if nothing else. Once again, the gents and ladies at Petroglyph haven't disappointed. However, there's still nothing groundbreaking to be had here and due to the aforementioned slip ups, the game failed to achieve its full potential. But it comes very close.