A Joy from Afar

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion Screenshot

High Bravado upward an enemy upper-case letter ship equally information technology tries to jump out of the system.

LOW Getting rocked by pirates right every bit I'g about to mount an set on on my main enemy'southward homeworld.

WTF Seriously, spiral those pirates.

I suck at existent-time strategy (RTS). I'm an extremely deliberate histrion when it comes to most games, so the quick thinking required by RTS and I never become forth. Add together in the strategy responsibilities of something like Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion , and it would seem like this game is tailor-made to repel me. In fact, it very much is tailor-made to repel me.

However, I've played enough games to be able to tell the difference betwixt a bad game and a expert game that merely doesn't suit my play way, and Rebellion falls into the latter category. While it's absolutely not the kind of affair I would seek out and play myself, information technology does take quite a chip to appreciate.

Rebellion, the latest expansion to Stardock's Sins of a Solar Empire, bills itself as a "RT4X" game, combining elements of the RTS and 4X genres. 4x games are built on the concepts of "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate", with emphasis placed on developing an actual empire rather than just a armed services. Notwithstanding, unlike most traditional 4X games like the Civilizations, Rebellion's gameplay is real-time rather than turn-based, making quick thinking a must. The simplest way I can describe it is a cross between StarCraft and Civilization.

4X games are known for being very complex, and Rebellion is no dissimilar. The amount of things to keep track of tin can be intimidating, just the tutorial does a (more often than not) good job of preparing the player for them. While no amount of practice can fully set one for an ambitious AI or a man player, the preparation way explained things similar resources, fleet capacity, upgrades, and the various types of available ships. Daunting as the game became, it never felt outright unfair.

Actual gameplay was enjoyable enough. The more Civilisation-like aspects provided a nice interruption from the grind of edifice my fleet, and forging an brotherhood with an enemy rather than destroying them was very satisfying. However, as the game bore on information technology became increasingly credible that I was style out of my chemical element. The avalanche of alerts, tech copse, units and all the other things to spotter was just overwhelming, and fifty-fifty confronting an easy AI I was lagging behind.

However, this is on me, non the game. Everything I needed to succeed was in that location, but my skill level was simply non upwards to snuff. For all intents and purposes I was fairly prepared for the state of affairs I was in, but I was often examining my new Vasari carrier ("Oooo I wonder where the hanger bays are") rather than paying attending to the imminent pirate attack.

Speaking of that carrier, it has to be said that Rebellion is pretty. Very pretty. The level of detail on the various ships and planets is impressive, as I would spend large amounts of time zooming in and just looking at all the little flying cars on my homeworld, or trying to find the weapon emplacements on my capital ships. The iii playable races (there are six factions, but they're composed of only three races) all take very distinct vessel designs, and the galaxy itself is quite marvelous.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a game I really wish I was more skilled at. I appreciate all the various aspects of gameplay and the depth that the combination of those aspects provides. Still, as my fellow critic Kristin Taylor might say, I was far too enamored with the construction of my newfangled Titan to react quickly enough to the raiders destroying my infrastructure. While it's a long, long way from beingness up my alley, it at to the lowest degree makes for a good spectator sport. Rating: vii.five out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 8 hours of play was devoted to single-player modes and 2 hours of play in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains fantasy violence and mild language. I didn't observe anything that I wouldn't let a child come across or hear. This might actually be a good game for kids to learn to multitask with, though it may also be overwhelming.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: There are some audio alerts that denote when y'all are beingness attacked or when a unit has been completed, so deafened players may have issues with them. Other than that audio shouldn't be a problem, as all other meaningful information that I saw is text-based.

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Richard Naik