Sins of a Solar Empire: Game Of The Year

This is an EXCELLENT game that takes the galaxy civilization games a clear step further. Open-ended like a new science-fiction world and played as a seat-of-your-pants RTS game, this is a very intelligent hybrid that I greatly enjoyed.

In effect, SINS is a successful blend of the wonderful GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS and HOMEWORLD series, with a sprinkling of TOTAL WAR for good measure. This is NOT a turn-based civilization game, so expect a much faster pace. What this means is that while it maintains the characteristics of classic turn-based civilization games (exploration, expansion, exploitation and extermination), by relieving from the micromanagement tedium, it allows for an intense RealTime Strategy experience. Now, this probably may not appeal to turn-based purists, but I would advise an open mind: this is a good game.

This concept-blending is new, so expect a slow learning curve - it took me a number of ...false-starts to get the hang of it: after all, it plays like an RTS and (although simplified) it still has enough of turn-based features that need to be taken care of. The interface is simplified and informative at the same time, with info trees sliding out only when needed.

There are three different factions to choose from (financiers, technologists and psitecs) - yet, their differences focus mainly on research tree-branching and ship designs. What I did not like was that the ships of all three factions are effectively the same and their differences are only skin-deep. What I would have liked to find (and was disappointed to the point of withholding the 5th star for fun) was ship design and building! Remember how much fun was to design our own spaceships (from freighters to battleships) in GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS II? Well, no such luck here. Let's hope they keep it in mind when the patch gets prepared.

Quick and constant exploration is not only encouraged by a necessity if one wants to survive - let alone win. Spaceships built within a solar system cannot travel beyond it, unless using "wormhole"-like singularities. This adds to realism but can stretch your finances to their breaking point - since only locally built ships can be used. Moreover, it makes really hard to locate the strategic points to either built defenses or focus an attack. The AI will constantly be bypassing your planning like the Maginot line - and leave you with such a French feeling...

The graphics (of all of backgrounds, planets and units) are very nicely done. I really liked the multiple afterburners tracing through space as a spaceship squadron was dopplering past my screen...And less-than-cutting-edge PC owners rejoice: even 4-5 years old systems can handle this game like a breeze!
What I truly appreciated was the realistic scale of things. Galaxies are much larger than star systems, which in turn are much larger than planets, which in turn are much larger than space stations...than spaceships and so on. How is this achieved? Excellent zooming!
SUPREME COMMANDER was the first game to introduce strategic zoom; however, SINS implements it much better and shows how it should had been done: from a galaxy to a single planet and to a single spaceship, zooming in or out firmly maintains the effectiveness of battle controls by grouping and simplifying the info-tiles as one zooms out. In SupCom, we had to chose between either discerning the units or moving ...info-tiles around the battlefield - not a bad first attempt, mind you. In SINS, one almost never looses perspective: ongoing battles, critical hotspots, or colony revolts are all easily identifiable in real-time.

On another note, SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE is a STARDOCK release which, yes, means their specialized installation utility. Nevertheless, this game hides no DRM or other intrusive security idiocy. It was released in early February in the US (from where I got my copy) and although it is not protected by anything more than its customers trust and honor, it NEVER LEFT THE BESTSELLER LIST EVER SINCE. That should be a lesson to other game publishers who insult their own customers with Limited Installations and draconian DRM.
Since trust and respect between a game publisher and its customers is a two-way street (and STARDOCK was willing to prove its friendship first), SINS deserves our support.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This is a the GoTY edition which comes with the large poster and OST disc extras, this is only the original game and does not come with the 2 (and soon 3) expansions, though on its own the game is perfect for single player, there is real time battles and table top RST management, I highly recommend seeking out game play videos on youtube first to get a feel of how this game is. Some players like playing online however I have found that an online session can span at least 3-6 hours which will take over ones evening.

To me the real juice of this game is the "Epic Spaceship battles" which is beautiful and spectacular to look at.

Even without the micro-expansions this is a fun little RTS game, great for passing an hour or more away. The 3 different races you can choose are all very interesting and with unique strengths and weaknesses. The game is easy to learn, the tutorials are well put together and it isn't overly complicated like some RTS are. There are resources which need to be gathered (metal and crystal) from asteroids, and your planets earn credits so the more planets you have the more you earn. There's a research tree where you can research new technology for your race, like more powerful shields for your ships or more efficient resource extractors. There's a pirate faction that becomes active every 15 minutes or so and attacks the player who has the highest bounty on their head. Your capital ships gain experience from combat and level up as they go, at which time you can choose for them a new ability and when they level up high enough fighter and bomber squadrons which they launch as if they were an aircraft carrier.

If you expand too fast you're likely to overstretch yourself and the other empires and the pirates will pick at your outer, less defended planets and if you expand too slowly you will be at a disadvantage in resources and the AI is quite challenging without making you want to smash your keyboard against the wall.

I give it 5/5 because it's so much fun.