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2nd best strategy game(after warcraft III of course)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 37
Date: August 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

2001 of the year when i discovered empire earth.
i was walking in the street and i saw this cd shop
so i went in to buy a couple of video games, when i saw the game:empire earth in a cheap plastic bag with a lame tiny poster
so i said what tha hek i'm gonna take a risk i gonna buy it, back home i installed it, everything's fine, intallation complete; i clicked on play and suddenly my world just got better , the startegy game that i always dreamed of was there on my pc, empire earth baby, you better memorise the name cause the sequel is gonna be even better.the company that is releasing the game is the same who made the fantastic homeworld 2, so if you have any experience about homeworld 2 you'd be really impressed.and if the 1st one was declared the best game of 2001 then the 2cnd on is gonna be the best of 2005,2006 and 2007. WANT MORE INFO BOUT THE GAME VISIT WWW.SIERRA.COM.

Shipping Sucks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 26
Date: April 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I ordered this game on april 25 and selected 1 day shipping so it would be here the day it came out April 26 which cost $15.00 then I go to track it and it says it won't be here till May 4-11 thats 1-2 weeks. Other than that the game is very fun keeps you playing it for a long time the animations in this game are great and the diplomatic part where you can make treaties is pretty cool

Better than the first................

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: April 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Yesterday I bought EE 2. I loaded it and started to play and I was amazed. First of all I played and have the first one. The first release broke out of the hum drums of RTS games by integrating a whole new aproach in many ways (not going into detail) but this one uses that success and mutiplies it by 5X.

The interface is more simple to use and there is a editor that is shipped with it. Although some units are not avaliable in it the editor is more robust including triggers and perameters the whole works.

The graphics are great but nothing like Rome Total War set on high resolution but better than the original which is to be expected.

My problem is even though this is a huge and fun to play game the game play is the same. With new releases lately in the RTS field such as RTW and Code Name Panzers which throws out the resource gathering (it's getting old) and replaces it with a more non-linear way of playing with you deciding how the story will unfold type of play there is no reason why Empire Earth 2 should integrate this to.

In all, a great game that advances on the aspects the original introduced 4 years ago. My advice if you liked the original then you will like this one but if your looking for a RTS that is earth shattering like WarHammer or RTW wait until this fall for the new Star Wars: Empires at War to come out. This may be what your looking for! Check it out on Gamespot or in PC Gamer this month and you'll see what I mean.

Shipping does stink

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 38
Date: April 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I ordered this item on April 26th and picked 2 day shipping which was $9.99. Later on I checked when it would be here and it said May 2nd. That is 6 days and I didn't pay for 6 days I paid for 2. I could just go out to the store to get it instead of waiting 6 days. The first game was great though so I can't wait for this one. It is the only game that I played for 6 months without getting another game and I love it and still play it now.

Reasonably entertaining but rather complex. Good RTS

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 110 / 116
Date: May 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Empire Earth 2 (EE2) is a worthy successor to Empire Earth (EE), filling a number of holes and adding massive amounts of content to the original game. The play is frantic and tough and enough content's been added so that you can spend days on a single game. I knock a star off both fun and overall for a combination of things making the game far more complex than it should - including inexcusably skimpy documentation - but this deserves 4/4 stars for fun and playability as a game that can keep you up late, late, late at night.

If you've never played 2001's EE, you should. The concept here is pretty simple. You control a civilization from the stone age through far in the future, but as this is a real-time strategy (RTS) game you can't stop the clock like you do in Civ, meaning you're constantly fighting off opponents along the way. The real issue is why you should buy this over EE. The simplest way I can put it is to compare the original Civilization versus Civilization II, where the two games were both popular but for different reasons. The first one created a genre and became a classic. The second, while not nearly original, fixed holes and added massive layers of complexity to the first game.

Simply put, there's a lot more in EE2 than there was in EE. With 300 differing units (versus 200 in EE), more civs, and any number of new variables ranging from weather to tech advances to temporary bonuses, it means that the old "hold off the barbarians by building Hadrian's Wall until you advance and build 10 leviathans to do a Sherman's March through Georgia" RTS strategy doesn't work here. At higher difficulty levels, the AI has gotten a lot better. As well, civilizations are more balanced. The two combine to force you to really have to know the ins and outs of both your civ and your opponent to win. Everything (resource management, unit management, battle strategy, and far more advanced diplomacy and battle plan coordination) becomes important to watch, especially at higher difficulty levels. The downside is it's a major pain trying to keep up with everything, but if you can it's a blast. The fact this is multiplayer-ready straight out of the box is also an improvement, as well as significant tweaking of handicap levels in multiplayer games that make the potential of newbie versus veteran matchups actually playable for a change.

Where this loses a star on both fun and overall is that they didn't do enough to make the information overload easier to manage. There are a couple nice new features in the UI (the Citizen Manager is helpful but I find multiple screens just make things even more confusing) but nothing revolutionary, like the city managers in the later Civs that helped you deal with all the extra layers of complexity. Even small things, like unchangeable hotkeys, weren't well thought out. Where I go from frustrated to disappointed is unacceptably skimpy documentation. There is no tech tree printout included, something basic to all RTS games and that was included in EE. Moreover, neither is a civilization list along with their bonuses as well as any detailed information on unit and building statistics. While all three are available piecemeal in the in-game tooltips feature, that doesn't make up for the fact that this is basic stuff that any RTS game should include. (It's almost as if Sierra has made a deal with Prima to force you to buy the strategy guide.) The lack of help in managing the new complexity means this game is far better suited to hard-core, experienced RTS players than those new to the genre. Finally, graphics are only ok at best even though this requires fairly new equipment to run properly.

Don't get me wrong. This is an entertaining game that will have you shocked that it's 3 in the morning when you just wanted to play for a couple of hours before bedtime. Its just that if they'd spent a little more time polishing up playability this would leap from a good game to a classic. Still, very much worth buying.

Could have been better...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: May 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing history related rts's for quite some time now, starting with Age of Empires 1. The first empire earth didn't really bring anything new to the standard success formula of these games, it just had 'more'. When Rise of Nations came out a while back, I was astounded, it streamlined the clunky interface of the RTS and allowed you to do so much all at once without freaking out about how fast/slow you did things. This allowed you to focus on the combat aspects of the game. Empire Earth 2 is just Empire Earth 1 with some of the great features of Rise of Nations added on. The whole idea of capturing the enemy city center was taken from Rise of Nations. The whole 'frame in frame' idea with the little window in the lower right is really stupid. There is no point to this as you can just push the spacebar when anything happens. Besides the weather effects, the graphics are not that good. The game also has a pretty clunky interface. It is true that it is a deep game and everything, but then again so is Civilization 3. This game has almost no innovation, just taking parts of other proven games and throwing them together with duct tape. If you are going to play a history rts, with ages and such, get Rise of Nations instead.

As always the sequel fails to live up to the original!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: May 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game with high hopes that it would be better than the first Empire Earth and was disapointed. The Graphics are maybe a little better but I wouldn't say they were anything spectacular.

One thing that is lacking in this game that was in the first is the ability to make your own civilization and what kind of characteristics it will have. You are offered a few different types of civilizations with preset characteristics and thats all the choice you have.

The AI in this game seems to be less of a challenge than in the first. While there may be some new units in the game they are still pretty much the same just have different names. Tech tree is more drawn out but the end result is the same. I have had the game 3 days and have already went back to the original, cause it was actually more challenging.

Bottom line it's just another example of a company trying to squeeze more money out of a sucessful title, but with nothing really new to offer, save your money and don't believe the hype!

Empire Nations Stew

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 54 / 70
Date: May 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Stainless Steel Studios has good timing with games. The first *Empire Earth* crossed my laptop as I was settling into my mobilization for Operation Nobel Eagle. I'd come home from long patrols and unwind with a heaping of world domination. I seemed to have an easier time of it than our current Administration.

Now Mad Doc takes over and returns the series as I am mobilizing against the Real Time Strategy genre. I'm sick of retread RTS games whose publishers promise much, but deliver something too safe. With American culture currently awash in remakes and rehashes, it seems nobody can produce anything fresh or innovative anymore.

*Empire Earth II* doesn't change my perception. But it's as solid an RTS as anybody has managed: being streamlined enough for anybody to get the hang of it, but with enough useful details and tweaks to separate the men from the boys. It also looks and sounds good.

Graphics definitely makes demands of my Radeon 9800 AiW and my 1G of Kingston ECC memory: aside from the great-looking explosions, shrapnel, and dust clouds, EEII suffers from horrendous slow down whenever more than a few units or civilizations exist on the screen. Shutting off the good-looking weather and seasonal effects didn't seem to matter. Audio booms deep, loud, and clear over my home theater system. *EEII* one-ups *Rise of Nations* in audio and video.

*Empire Earth II* plays more like *Rise of Nations* than its own predecessors. However, marketers tried to make *RoN* seem like a real-time *Civilization*, when it was really just another *Starcraft* knock-off. *EEII* at least announces up front, "Hey, I'm an RTS".

So *EEII* falls into the Imperial RTS subgenre with Blizzard mechanics. Players select with the left-click and execute unit orders with the right-click, except for special powers and building orders, which are executed and canceled in exactly the opposite way. Players build town halls/ command centers to generate labor units who mine and build everything else.

Newer structures, resources, and limitations help explain why *EEII* plays like *RoN*: just as Big Huge Games borrowed liberally from Stainless Steel Studios for its first RTC, Mad Doc borrows liberally from BHG for *EEII*. For example, MD took the research point idea from *Rise of Nations*, and so Universities and Cathedrals generate points needed to research tech. MD also borrowed the "warehouse" idea from BHG, which allows labor units to deposit resources closer to mining sites. Finally, Mad Doc employs BHG's national borders concept (inspired by *Civ III* and *Alpha Centauri*), but here borders are fixed in pre-generated territories instead of being adjustable culture lines. *RoN* forbids building outside of borders, but borders could be pushed back. *EEII* freezes borders, but actually makes overseas construction a requirement for capturing territories.

And with that the similarities largely end. *RoN* makes a big deal about multiple victory conditions and paths, but it really just boils down to war. In fact, *RoN* is so conquest-oriented that it allows only the most pathetic defenses in order to discourage base camping. Fortresses, for example, helped to establish borders, but no matter how heavily you garrisoned them and upgraded the attack value, they couldn't stop a pack of archers from reducing them to rubble. A good offense is the best defense, and so *RoN* virtually mandated the tank-rush to stand much of a chance of winning under just about any circumstances. Especially at the end, when the final technologies allowed instantaneous unit construction.

*Empire Earth II* almost delivers what *RoN* promised: the opportunity for a meaningful economic, technological, or diplomatic victory. In part because *EEII* defenses and fortifications actually work, allowing the player to sit behind fences, walls, turrets, towers, fortresses, anti-air, and anti-ship guns while he or she gathers resources to win the "Economic Crown" over and over again. There's nothing quite as heartwarming as watching a fortress hurl a massive fireball into an upstart Visigoth and knocking him flat. The catch is, *EEII* limits the number of active fixed defenses in each territory to 7 per type (2 for fortresses). This forces the player to plan more carefully than RTS titles normally require, since these limitations give other players a higher chance to outflank defenses. Defense structures also seem to have lower hit points than in many other RTS games, but they compensate with greater range and firepower. This helps to thwart the infamously ignominious tank-rush.

*EEII* generally thwarts *RoN* with lots of little tweaks. The former abolishes that stupid, traditional 200-unit population cap in favor of a cap distribution system. A maximum cap of 2000 overall units per mission still exists, but it's possible to command up to 1000 units at a time. *EEII* also centralizes the research and unit upgrades in a single UI display instead of requiring the player to hunt down individual buildings. Civilizations are now grouped by regions and both Wonders and super powers are region-specific. In regards to resources, *EEII* allows warehouses to be built almost anywhere they are needed, and warehouses, city centers, refineries, and uranium mines can be garrisoned with citizens to increase gathering efficiency. More unit types seem to exist per era (but less than in the original *EE*). Finally, it features a pause button, complete with hot key, which effectively turns *EEII* into a turn-based game: one can still give orders and scroll around the map while paused.

But tweaks are what *Empire Earth II* amounts to. Nuclear weapons don't set off an Armageddon clock, but don't do much damage either. I find the defense cap arbitrary. I believe more non-military and more civilization-specific units should exist. I also believe more Wonders could exist for each region. And the lack of a power grid or storage building capacity, as found in Westwood Studios games, eliminates some economic and military depth from *EEII*. Worse, the game is unbalanced heavily in favor of air power: instead of tank rushing, I build six to eight airfields and win skirmishes entirely through tactical bomber rushes.

Still, I enjoy *Empire Earth II* more than *Rise of Nations*. Mad Doc still got my money. I guess that's as good a capsule endorsement as any.

Major disappointment

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 16
Date: May 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I thought this game would be a great one and an improvement over the first EE. Well, not quiet, this EE2 has nothing to offer, the grqphics look like the ones in Age of Empires II (realeased in 1999 I believe). The game runs slow, i have a computer with the following specifications:
*Windows XP
*Dx 9.0c
*Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz
*2 GB of RAM
*256 RAm video card

and yet the game runs slow.

I love Empire Earth I because the graphics are good, and the game runs smoothly...This new released now is a major disappointment, and I dont understand why if the graphics are not good. The gaphics of this game look like a paint by an abstract painter.
If you have played the first Empire Earth, you will see the difference between EE I and EE II, and you will go back to the first one.

Save your money and play EE I ntil these guys come with a real improvement over EE I.

Reasonable, but a bit uninspired

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: May 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First I'll start by saying this is a pretty good game. It's taken several nice features from other games and put them into one release, which is cool. However, this game feels a lot like Rise Of Nations, the tech tree system is almost identical and the territory based maps are similar as well, making you wonder if this is EE2 or RON2.

Another issue is the 3d graphics (I think this is a major problem with the game industry right now, full 3d isn't necessarily better, look at AOK or Stronghold: Crusader). While the graphics are very nice to look at when zoomed in close, they add little to the game-play and can ruin performance. I feel that the point of games like this is to have epic battles and rule vast empires, neither of which are done best at close zooms were fancy textures would be visible anyway.

A small side note is that the pathfinding isn't up to modern standers either; units sometimes get stuck trying to move around the edges of forests, and don't always take the best rout.

All in all, this game does draw together some of the better features from the RTS field and can be a lot of fun if you have a good machine and don't mind your troops getting lost every now and then.

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