I always felt that the Empire at War games were hampered in part by need to fit into the Star Wars mythos.  But now that Petroglyph is free from the shackles of Lucasland, they have created a real-time strategy game based on an original setting.  And by original, I mean it feels a lot like Starcraft.

Ok, that’s not really fair.  While Universe at War does contain some very familiar trapping (sci-fi setting, three unique factions, and a narrative told through talking heads in little boxes on the screen).  There’s a lot of really interesting stuff going on here.

Destroy All Humans

In fact, it appears Petroglyph cherry picked a lot of really cool design ideas from other RTS games and stuffed them all into Universe at War.  And tying it all together (at least initially) is a pretty darn engaging story of mankind caught in the middle of a big sloppy intergalactic brawl between Novus, a race of goody-two-shoes machines, and The Hierarchy, a collection of super eeeeeevil beings who appear to delight in being complete jerks.

The third side in the game, the Masari, are a hyper advanced, near godlike race once thought to be extinct.  To say more of their origin would give away a key plot point, but suffice it to say that you’ll see this little twist coming by the third mission.

Conquer the World

Still the story line moves along, taking the player from one well designed mission to another until the third act when things open up to reveal the trapping of the game’s global conquest mode.  This is where player gets to pick and choose what territories they want to strike and how they want to bolster the defense in regions they already control.  We’ve see the like in games like Rise of Nations, Dawn of War, and Petroglyph’s own Empire at War.  It’s not terribly deep in Universe at War, but is certainly a nice addition since you can mess around with this in skirmish mode all your want once the single-player campaign is over and done.

Three is a Magic Number

Each playable side in the game is pretty unique.  And there are all kind of quirks you’ll need to become accustomed to in order to play them effectively.  For example, Novus units are able to travel quickly around the map vie a network of power lines making getting units to and from the front line a snap.  The Masari can easily bolster production, offense, or defense by assigning worker units to specific buildings.  Masari can also change the very nature of their units through a light/dark power toggle giving them access to an impressive range of abilities.

The Hierarchy are the toughest race to figure out because they are very powerful, yet strangely vulnerable.  Hierarchy forces utilize giant walkers that act as a mobile base of sorts.  These slow moving walkers can spawn in smaller troops and vehicles, and (if you can get them close enough to an enemy base) unleash a fury of destruction.  Walkers have a number of hardpoints that can be upgrades with armor, weapons, and other enhancements.  But they are far from invulnerable.  Concentrated enemy firepower can take down an unprotected walker quickly.

The interplay between these three sides is really the bread and butter of the game, and on the whole it’s a pretty satisfying meal.  There are rumblings of imbalances and tactics that have no counter among the hardcore players, but Petroglyph has been updating the game with tweaks to smooth things out.

Fog of War

However, more needs to be done.  The biggest issue at the moment is the maximum zoom level of the camera.  It simple doesn’t zoom out far enough to give you are decent view of the battlefield.  This will apparently be addressed in the next patch, but for now, it makes controlling your units a hassle.

Some units also appear to have some serious pathfinding issues.  As you move your army across the map, stragglers sometimes get stuck on the geometry.  Novus forces will also occasionally ignore the quick “power line” route in favor of trudging across the map on foot.  And Hierarchy Walkers will sometimes completely ignore move orders for no good reason.

Universal Soldiers

But more often than not, the game puts on a good show.  The battles are explosive and exciting, and despite having three really odd factions, the learning curve isn’t terribly steep making it easy to pop in and play any side without too much of a headache. Though not without faults, Universe at War is an excellent entry in the RTS genre, and any minor issues in the game will probably be addressed in the next update.  And when that update rolls around it’s likely we’ll still be playing.

Review by: Greg Bemis