Still Not as Fun as a PC Game | Universe at War: Earth Assault ...

It is one of the best games in my collection | Universe at War: Earth Assault

pc & video games:


	• Universe at War: Earth Assault Xbox 360 \| Sega Of America, Inc., 2008 average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Great Game, but too limited!!

I've always been a big fan of RTS based video games. Ever since the first C&C's, to Starcraft, to astonishing games like Rome: Total War, I have always loved the RTS. There are some RTS' that have stood out above the crowd for their unique game play. I believe that Universe at War is one of these games. It's not your typical ground unit, tank unit, flying unit, cut and paste RTS. Implementing giant walkers, a web of high speed travel, and an entire race with the duality to switch between light and dark.

The game play itself is solid, and I was suprised with the ease of learning to play an RTS on a console. In fact, the next time I was playing Supreme Commander on my computer, I was looking for the nifty 360 controls, such as the ability to select every unit of one type across the map.

As far as the cons, I have always hated an RTS where the unit cap is low. One of the downfalls of the x-box 360 is the low capacity of units. On any standard map you're only allowed to have 90 units. That sounds like enough, until you consider that even the builders are 2 units apiece. The larger units are 8-9 units, and any Hero you summon is garanteed to take up nearly 10 units. Therefore, you're faced with a small attack force. Having played several RTS' this is not necessarily a bad thing. If you could have 6 extremely powerful units, life would be ok. However, on this game, the enemy has powers and superweapons that could erase your entire attack force in a single strike. That poses a problem, because you can't afford to have back-up units because of the cap.

Also, if you play online, and there are more than 3 competitors, the unit cap drops to 60. With a cap of 60 my attack force consists of about 8 guys, it's pathetic, and almost not fun anymore. : \

I bought this game for X-box 360 instead of the PC because my buddies PC can't run it, and he already owned it for the 360. It's still fun to play online, and I can tell that it's a great game with very few flaws. However I will say that I think any RTS is best left on a computer where we can truly experience commanding an Army, not 8 units.

-Justin Castaneda

for more information click here

Still Not as Fun as a PC Game

I too have played very many Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games over the years, from Warcraft, to C&C, to Starcraft - even to recent games like Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander.

This game is GOOD - it's well thought out and it is VERY innovative - I'll get to that soon. But the issues are and will continue to be hardware limitations of the Xbox console. I find it hard to believe myself - the Xbox uses three processors and it can't do any better than this? At default game speeds the game play lags ferociously in larger battles. A review above suggested bumping up a game setting - doing this makes battles more manageable, but then makes "light" gameplay occur too fast - units move much quicker when the graphics aren't taxing the system, and the gameplay seems too accelerated. Another limit is the view size of the screen - many times you feel like your view of the action is limited by being too close to the ground. Large assault groups can quickly outgrow the view of the screen, making it very difficult to keep an eye on things. Even so, some units - especially within the Novus faction - are so incredibly small that they can get lost behind their own buildings, and smaller units can be nearly indistinguishable. This can be especially frustrating when trying to hastily issue build commands to construction robots in the heat of battle. Lastly, the voice acting of the in-game characters is attrocious. It doesn't affect game play, but makes you remorse having to turn up the volume to follow a story line!

All that being said, the game is very creative - flat out. Universe At War does things I've never seen in an RTS. Novus is so far my favorite, with the concept of "Flow" being very unique, and quite powerful, in my opinion. The Walker units created by the Hierarchy are scarily ominous and devastating. I had spent very little time as the Masari, but their differences between Light and Dark modes of operation are extremely unique. Some very dedicated "thinking" went into this game - especially to keep the gameplay balanced between factions. And despite all the challenges and issues and gripes, it's a lot of fun. What isn't fun is having to repeat missions over and over again because instructions weren't clear or the game crashed or ran so slowly that the unit you wanted to live didn't live because it couldn't accept your commands quick enough.

The issue still remains that the limitation of a game console controller makes playing an RTS game very challenging. Whereas I agree that they made the controls MOSTLY intuitive and streamlined, the challenges of controlling units and issuing build commands with a console controller presents a challenge and learning curve that PC users simply don't face. I have yearned for a console-based RTS for years, but I fear that this is simply "as good as it's going to get."

for more information click here

It is one of the best games in my collection

This game is very tactical and perfect for players that like to lead. It is not what you expect at first, but the more you play it the better it gets. Overall I give it 5 stars and I recommend it for players that have played Star Wars Republic Commando because you basically have authority over a grand army, it's just not first person and you need to use your smarts on how to build your army.

for more information click here

Tucker said so

It's great, it plays well, I like it but I really want Armoured Core 4!

Fun game.

It is a pretty good game. The levels in it are very detailed and there are some awesome different units that you can be. The only reason I gave it a four star out of five was because whenever you zoom in on the units they seem to be kind of glitchy. Like if you were playing on the internet and it lags some. Other than that it is a very fun game that you can play for hours at a time. I'm very happy that I got it.

for more information click here

Universe at War: Earth Assault is the next sci-fi real-time strategy game from Petroglyph, the award-winning studio comprised of team members that developed the original Command & Conquer and C&C: Red Alert. The latest strategy game from these RTS pioneers features unprecedented levels of customization and an epic storyline set on near-future Earth. Powerful forces from across the universe have brought war to our planet. In Universe at War, you take command of several unique factions with awesome powers and spectacular units. Control massive-scale alien war machines that are fully customizable. With "Tactical Dynamics," Universe at War's on-the-fly customization system, you can dynamically swap out weaponry, rework your tech tree, and retrain units in the middle of combat to thwart your foe and seize the advantage. Universe at War features large-scale environmental destruction in a persistent world - level a city and when you come back, the area will still be a smoking ruin. Here, though, the environments you fight for are close to home, as you wage war across familiar Earth cities and landmarks. Universe at War also introduces numerous innovative new multiplayer features inspired by today's top MMOs and competitive online games, giving players achievements, rewards, and medals in a balanced environment with intelligent matchmaking.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

hot