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A great game - after the patch

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: December 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Short History

I've been playing 4x games almost from the beginning. The first fun 4x game that I played was master of orion. Being able to play different races with different abilities and customizing up to 6 ships at the same time! Man, it was great ... for it's time.

Then came Master of Orion II which is a good game in its own right. I've spent many days playing the second game of the series and have to say that for quite a while it was my favorite game of the genre. That was until I happened upon space empire IV. I'd heard about the space empires series, but the reviews were generally low, so I stayed away from them. But, since Master of Orion III was a total loss and the Galactic Civilization series seemed to lack the depth that I like in a game, I thought I'd give it a try.

Space Empires IV

So, about a month ago, I purchased for less than $20 Space Empires IV. It's a solid game with a lot of committed modders out there that really made a good game. I wouldn't say great, but good. The tech tree is huge, the AI is O.K., and ship design system is good as well. It was the most fun that I had had with a 4x game since the original Master of Orion first came out.

Space Empires V

Then, space empires V came out. Quite a few low reviews made me wait for a while to purchase the game. There were a lot of bugs in the initial release and I can see why the reviews that were done were low because of that. But, I got the game this week and all I can say is WOW! What a great game!

The 3D graphics are the really good! The real time space battles instead of being turn based really are well done. The ships are different for each race and look pretty good. Not perfect, but good. Each weapon has it's own effect in battle and you can set each ship to do a different function. One ship can act as a picket defender, another could Kamikazi, another stay at optimal firing range. There are quite a few strategy options that can be set for each fleet. The layout is nice too.

The technology is incredible! You can get cloaking, the obligatory laser beams, anti-matter torpedoes, missiles, anti-missile guns, fighters, bombers, and even organic weapons with armor that heals itself, etc. Just about anything you can think about to put into a strategic space sim is here.

The sounds are good. Ships have neat sounds when the blow up, weapons sound good. Warp points have a good sound, but it somehow overloads my speakers and sounds a little bit like feedback at one point of the sound, but the actual sound is very appropriate for ships going through a warp.

The ship battles are great fun! And there are a lot more of them than I've experienced in other space sims. It really has a feel like you're fighting for galactic dominance. You can't really sit back and relax, it's a fight in this game. Albeit a fun one.

So far the AI seems to be good. Again, not great, but very good. I planted 2 colonies in a system that was a little ways away. The AI came in and took them out without declaring war on me. They even warned me in advance to leave the system as they were claiming it. Then ... they did! It was pretty cool.

Be warned, as with most good strategy games, there is a learning curve that at first may feel like a cliff. But hang in there, the actual gameplay is worth it once you understand what's going on. My personal opinion is that to maximize this great game that someone would be well served to buy space empires IV first. Play it a month, then go to space empires V. But, if you're like me, you won't. Just means that the learning curve will be a bit steeper. OH, and btw, I've heard that steam has an offer out there where you can buy Space Empires V and you get Space Empires IV for free included.

My Review

Graphics - Good 7
Sounds - Average 5
Gameplay - 9
Overall Fun - 10

Pros -
Absolutely HUGE and fun tech tree
(I'd estimate the numbers of technologies at least 500 distinct techs)
Good AI ... the best I've seen for this style of game
Good battle scenes
(Numbers of ships battling each other definitely reaching an epic scale)
Sounds are average for a game of this type
Ability to create/design your ship using researched technologies
- This part is great fun and probably the best part of the game
Good real time battle scenes

Cons -
Sound could have been a little bit better
Lots of bugs before patching up to 1.20
(that's the latest patch version at the time of this review)
LONG learning curve. Almost assumes that you've played Space Empires IV.

Final Conclusion

Overall a great game. I think this is the best PC game that I've purchased since the Total War Series. Two thumbs up ... WAY UP!

Great game. Best value in space strategy gaming.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: November 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing the predecessor to this game for over 5 years. How many games can claim to have a loyal fan base 5 years after release?

SE5 not only improves on everything over SE4, but adds a lot more options too.

You can research and build a fleet of missle destroyers, or Battleships with Meson Blasters, or marine ships that captures enemy ships, or bombard planets, or build super carriers with bombers. Everything is custom designed by you.

You can make custom treaties with your neighbors. Make Peace, make war. Build an alliance against someone else, or just stand alone and conquer the galaxy. Every game is different.

If you research high enough, you can build a Ring World and populate it. You could destroy a star in your enemys system and wipe out all planets, or create a star and build a Sphere World around it.

There is also Intelligence and spying. Get his ships to come to your side, put his planets into rioting, steal his technology, or just spy on his empire.

There is a very active MOD community that created many, many mods for SE4 and has already started releasing Mods for SE5. In fact, just about everything in the game is Moddable, even by a novice. Most settings are in .txt files and can be set by anyone.

As of the current release, version 1.08, there are some bugs remaining. But this game is SO huge and expansive, you could never do everything in one game anyway. Plus, Malfador releases many patches every year, for many years after release so its only going to get better.

The graphics look much better than SE4, but are not pretty by todays standards. If you want eye candy, buy "Nexus, the Jupiter Incident". That is the best looking Space Sim ever, but once you've played Nexus through, there is nothing else to do. If you want to run a huge empire again and again, trying different techs and strategies, there is NO game that even comes close to the Space Empires series.

One of the best 4x games ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The wait has been long but finally it is here. Space Empires V has been in development for over two years and finally Aaron Hall, the sole developer for this game, and SFI have released it.

While version 1.0 does have many bugs, the game overall has continued, via support and updates, to improve dramatically since it release. One thing is for certain; Aaron Hall loves to support his games.

SE V is an empire building game of epic proportions. As a player you set up your empire and choose racial traits, flag and ship designs, racial portrait, and general game settings. You can choose from a low-tech start to a high tech start depending upon your desires. I have found that the low tech start is perfect for me as I enjoy the time it takes to research new technologies, and man does this game ever deliver on those, over a 1,000 technologies to research. I especially enjoy designing my own ships, fighters, bases, weapons platforms, drones, and satellites. You even get to design carriers, and troops. The 3D combat is a true blessing as it gives the game a depth that hasn't been present before. The ground tactical combat is a bit dated looking but still loads of fun. Remember people play these kinds of games not for the eye candy but for the depth of game play and boy does SE V ever deliver in that regard.

While there is too much to go into as far as this game is concerned, know one thing for certain, this is on highly addictive master peace and it will suck up your free time like a black hole does light and matter.

The game is also extremely moddable. One of the best features of the game in my opinion is that any one with note pad can edit, modify, and alter the settings of this game. It is no surprise that the modding community for SE IV kept that game alive for over six years and it is to be expected that the same will be true for SE V.

Remember this game is not for people who are out to play games like Empires At War or GalCiv. This game is for a much more serious gamer who enjoys game play well over eye candy. A player who wants depth in their games and a real sense of role-play. This game will above all else delivers in the sense that it makes you truly feel as if you are actually an emperor controlling your own expansive galactic empire. A true gem in the rough that just keeps getting better and better.

For the price this game is a steal given the amount of time one will spend playing it over the years. SE IV has been played for over six years and is still a top-notch game. The same will be true for Space Empires V. Enjoy.

This game has potential.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: November 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I would agree that SEV has bugs, I've ran into a few myself. Even game crashing bugs... However, the potential for this game is so great that I can overlook the bugs (that will get fixed in patches, I am confident).

Others have given this game a bad review, because they are use to how normal games are released and played, this game should fall into a subcatigory of games called MODable games. Someone a while ago was dissapointed that the tech tree took too long to research, well just change it. It's not that hard, infact the makers of SEV made it easy to do. The data files are all text files and you can edit them easily.

Even better, with previous releases of Space Empires MODers released free ware programs that sped up the process. The potential of this game is something that can keep you entertained for years, not hours. What are most games rated at, you can finish it in 30 hours... With the MOD universe out there, SEV will keep you entertaind for a long time.

What a breath of fresh air Space Empires V is

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

SE V is one of those rare games where once you have grasped the basics then you start to peel back the layers before you know it's 3 am!! Think of it as Civilization in space. Except that it uses a tech-tree that's an order of magnitude larger, much more devious AI (that doesn't cheat) and a phenominal socio-political model that really challenges the player.

The graphics and menus are not as polished as current uber-titles like Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander or Battlefield 2042 so an uber graphics card is not required, however this game can really use a fast CPU to manage all the AI player resolution activity.

Thus if you are only looking for eye-candy and a short quick action-packed visual game - give SE V a miss. But if you really want the ultimate thinking grand space-opera strategy game - this is the only one you'll ever need!!!

Space Empires V

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Personally I got hooked on the Space Empires series through the demo for SE IV. Shortly thereafter, SEV came out. When I noticed the games price had dropped from the last time I checked, I decided it was time to purchase the full game. The game itself has a few balance issues which can be corrected by utilizing player created add-ons. All player created add-ons (there are many) are easy to find over the web, and have great support with them for troubleshooting. There is a very active and good online community for this game, both for getting solo play tips, as well as to find players for multiplayer games.

Slightly buggy but Great fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: October 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game would have been a hands down 5 Stars! Heck maybe even 6 stars, if it were not for the bugs. As of this writing, I have version 1.17 which is a lot more stable than the previous builds, but I have tracked down an annoying bug that crashes the game revolving around Alliances.

The good news is that I have talked with Tech Support and even sent them instructions along with the file on how to fix it. They have been very nice and receptive to fixing any bugs mentioned.

But I digress...

Space Empires V has brought back into gaming something I have missed since the early 90s. A true turn based strategy game. While playing the demo, I realized early on that this game has incredible depth. You can build the plans for star bases, ships, units and lot more. This includes building the plans for mines, satellites and ground units like tanks or the ships that haul them.

While I have played for a good 20 hours or so, I have yet to really touch the surface of this game as the depth is amazing.

You can negotiate treaties with other Empires that involve trade, mutual defense, minefield codes, intelligence, research, use of various technologies such as creation of black holes and a whole lot more. Alliances works similar to treaties.

The research tree is huge and it will take you quite a while before you can research everything on it. This covers the spectrum of weapons, to engines, to tractor beams and wormholes. Research includes planetary enhancements, ship enhancement, intelligence and nearly every sci-fi space technology you can imagine.

This review could easily be three or four pages long, so I'll just close with saying that this game is improving with each patch. With the depth of stuff you can do in the game it might be amazing that there are not more bugs! This game is a definite must try. Visit the Space Empires website and download the trial demo. If your a space strategy game fan, this games worth your money!

Don't play the base game -- download the Balance Mod!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Even if you don't finish the rest of this review, make sure you find and download "Captain Kwok's Balance Mod" before playing this game. The basic game has fundamental problems like two fighters outclassing a full-size ship. Not only does the Balance Mod level out overpowered weapons and strategies, it also improves the graphics of the warp points and even makes the computer players smarter! Also check www.pbw.cc for a fan-created site that helps you play multiplayer online.

The Space Empires series, which began as shareware, is mostly programmed by a single individual. That's why there's so much room for modders to improve the game. It also means Space Empires V doesn't follow the market-research-driven philosophy of games like Civilization IV. There's tons of complication and micro-managing everywhere.

Your very first turn, you can't just explore or build a colony ship -- you start with nothing, not even ship designs. You have to go to the design screen, add a bridge, add crew quarters, add life support, add engines, add a colony module... way more clicking than feels worth it. But it is! Eventually designing your ships becomes a little mini-game and a good time. Anyway, to get back to my original point, once you've built that colony ship and sent it off into space, don't be surprised if you've founded an empty colony that doesn't produce anything. You have to remember to manually move population into the colony ship before you launch it. That's the sort of pitfall that a mass-market game like Civilization IV would never allow to happen.

But I love the game anyway. After I got through my initial period of frustration (and the twenty-minute tutorial), I came to love all the micro-managing and needless detail. Sure it adds complexity to have ice planets and rock planets and gas giants, oxygen atmospheres and methane atmospheres... but it also adds realism and a fun little mini-game of getting the right kind of populations on the right planets. Sure, fifteen different weapons types means some are overpowered and some the AI can't figure out how to use. But I can build one civilization that defends itself with orbiting satellites that shoot missiles, and another that uses shield-depleting weapons so it can board enemy ships and steal their technology. You can play for days just trying different paths in the tech tree and figuring out which ones the overpowered ones are. I haven't given up on tractor and repulsor beams yet. I think the game is almost more fun to learn than it is to play.

Bottom line: for people who have already played Civilization and Galactic Civilizations I and have copious amounts of free time. And who are willing to figure out how to give the AI an advantage over them instead of expecting it to do a good job on its own. But those people, like me, should love it.

Just Ok

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game itself is good except in several areas. First is that I could not figure out how to redesign colonies by demolishing buildings. Second is that the tech-tree is very poor. Third is that the ship design is very time intensive due to poorly designed interface. Fourth is that the game slows down quickly. Fifth is an unhelpful manual.

1. The demolition of buildings is negative in my mind because if you build research colonies and then you complete the tech-tree, you are stuck with colonies that make no real contribution to your empire.

2. Their is no real assitance in helping you to assess what tech discovery will lead to what future development. The biggest annoyance of this to me was that when playing with NO WARP POINTS, their was no assistance in figuring out what technology would allow me to create them to escape my home system.

3. I found the ship design to be a little bloated, everything is there together. Guns, missiles, colony bases etc. are all in the same queue. Their is a filter button, but having to constantly go across the screen to get to it, scroll and select is kind of a pain and is time consuming when you could be spending time playing the game.

4. Despite that I have plenty of RAM, a good graphics card and a fast processor, based on the game elements it seemed to slow down very quickly and overall went much more slowly than expected. For any potential buyer whose played Pax Imperia Eminent Domain, this game goes much slower.

5. I consulted the manual to try to figure out how to demolish buildings, and to try and find out what line of technologies I needed to discover for warp point creation to allow expansion. After a very long time of looking through what is a large manual, I could find no answer to these two questions.

Aside for these five problems, the game is a good game. If those elements were overcome I would say a great game, but those five things brought down the enjoyment of the game for myself. I am neutral on this game and would just say buy it at your own risk, I'd say you have a 50/50 chance of loving it or hating it.

Boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: February 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

While the overall design is nice, the game moves much too slowly to be enjoyable. The micro-management is considerable and the fleet/ground combats are disappointing. Combat is, ultimatly, the driving force of the game but the player mostly just watches. You get more input in designing the ships than you do using them.

The technology and diplomacy aspects seem to work fairly well.

It's a decent design but just not very much fun.

Not recommended.

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