God of Destiny overall score = 7.9 / 10 (real-time strategy)
Positive
- Three unique, distinct, and neat factions to play as
- Hierarchy walkers are fun to control or take down
- Online modes are simply awesome
Negative
- Can't pull the camera back to see the battlefield
- Clumsy control scheme
Universe at War: Earth Assault is this year's Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. In other words, it's an attempt to deliver an old-school real-time strategy game that features three incredibly unique and distinct factions. And in that regard, Universe at War delivers because it does introduce three alien races, two of which feel like they haven't been seen before in RTS gaming. At the same time, Universe at War also sports some major flaws that hamper it quite a bit.
Aside from the unique races, Universe at War doesn't really introduce anything new to the genre. If anything, this is a very traditional real-time strategy game in the vein of Command & Conquer. Given that Petroglyph was formed by many veterans of the original C&C, that's not too surprising. What's perplexing is that the game seems to miss a lot of the innovations that have rolled into the genre since C&C. These include newer concepts, such as the ability to zoom the camera back and see broad swaths of the battlefield. So while there's stuff to like in Universe at War, there's also stuff to dislike.
Subject: Universe at War: Earth Assault 
Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:20 am
