Sins of a Solar Empire, as good as it looks?

[Amacrine]

Hello all! I'm new here so no sarcastic comments about some unspoken rule I might be breaking with this thread!

Basically I have my uni finals beginning on Monday, lasting for a week. I then have a week off until my final year project and, when not massively hungover, I'm definitely want to catch up on some much missed gaming.

Is Sins as good as all the reviewers made it out to be? Or is it part of the 'loved by critics, hated by anyone with half a brain' group of disappointments?

 

[Agayek]

Yes. It's a lot of fun. The only downside to it is that a full game usually takes a while on anything but the smallest maps, and I rarely have the patience to finish it completely.

 

[elitecrewer]

It's pretty incredible. Definitely something that'll stick with the PC, it's everything that the critics say, no worries there. It's not a Starcraft -> a lot more complexity and a lot slower paced, but it *is* one of the most refreshing things to happen to the RTS genre.. since Starcraft. It's better than SupCom as recent sci-fi RTS games go.

It does take about 10 hours to finish a match (there's a save feature online), but that makes it *the* game to be playing from 10pm to 6am... It's just difficult to put it down in between. It enters my 'have bothered to play it all night' hall of fame, which also includes WoW, Pirates!, Civilization, Starcraft, Diablo 2 and Counter Strike.

 

[Clashero]

It's strange. Sins has all the right elements for me: well done sci fi setting, original and creative gameplay, looks really good, the production values are high, very understandable tech tree and UI, satisfying combat (planet bombing is ridiculously beautiful), but it just didn't quite click for me. That said, I only played the demo, perhaps the full game is a million times better.
So, do yourself a favour and play the demo.

 

[Dr. Nerfball]

I will admit it's a brilliant game, and absotively beautiful, but I honestly prefer Gal Civ 2, mostly because there are some minor niggles in Sins that really screw over the combat sometimes. Nothing major, but enough to break flow and loose you some battles. But once you learn the game well enough you can work your way around the (admittedly few) problems. Anyway, good luck with it and have patience, it's totally worth it.

 

[Jandau]

Since everyone is singing praises to the game, I'll point out the glaring faults:

1. No campaign mode. It's boring in single player since all you get are skirmishes.

2. Ugly. You rarely get to see the nice 3D graphics since you'll spend most of your time zoomed out and staring at tiny monocoloured icons.

3. Poor pacing. Games are too long for a multiplayer matchup, too short for a long haul singleplayer. Also, early in the match the game is dreadfully dull and it takes quite a while before it can get remotely interesting.

Yeah, it's a good game and gets points for innovation, but it's flawed in the three points I made above (well, points 1 and 2, the 3rd one is very subjective) and I must confess I didn't enjoy it much.

Galactic Civilizations 2 is a better choice for your interstellar overlord needs, and there's a plethora of RTS games featuring much richer content...

 

[Tyrann]

Huge fan of it here. And the new expansion (Entrenchment) made it even better. It's a game that'll grow since Stardock has announced there will be many small expansions to come.

 

[Anachronism]

It's not a Starcraft -> a lot more complexity and a lot slower paced, but it *is* one of the most refreshing things to happen to the RTS genre.. since Starcraft.

Well, yes, that's because it's a blend of RTS and 4x. A 4x which goes at the speed of StarCraft would be a disaster: having to micromanage 20 things at once while fending off a Zerg Rush. It would result in a lot of broken monitors.

It enters my 'have bothered to play it all night' hall of fame, which also includes WoW, Pirates!, Civilization, Starcraft, Diablo 2 and Counter Strike.

Aha! There is proof at last!

(For the benefit of everyone else, I know this guy in real life).

 

[Rivana]

It's strange. Sins has all the right elements for me: well done sci fi setting, original and creative gameplay, looks really good, the production values are high, very understandable tech tree and UI, satisfying combat (planet bombing is ridiculously beautiful), but it just didn't quite click for me. That said, I only played the demo, perhaps the full game is a million times better.
So, do yourself a favour and play the demo.

Strange, this is exactly what I wanted to say in a reply. I've tried the demo and love the idea of the game, but didn't really feel it when playing the game. I am just glad I didn't go out and buy the game like i do so often.

 

[Unknower]

I didn't like it much. I'm not sure why though.

By the way, I don't think graphics are important, but you'd think a game released in 2008 should look much, much better than a game released in 2002 (Hegemonia: Legions of Iron). Explosions actually look better in Hegemonia.

 

[Pyre00]

It can be fun but also irritating. A good idea is to try to not make a fleet so superior to the enemy's that they run. Because when this happens it becomes extremely annoying.
But all in all, probally one of the top 3 RTSes I've played.

PS: All you need is Kodiaks. Really.

 

[elitecrewer]

It's not a Starcraft -> a lot more complexity and a lot slower paced, but it *is* one of the most refreshing things to happen to the RTS genre.. since Starcraft.

Well, yes, that's because it's a blend of RTS and 4x. A 4x which goes at the speed of StarCraft would be a disaster: having to micromanage 20 things at once while fending off a Zerg Rush. It would result in a lot of broken monitors.

It enters my 'have bothered to play it all night' hall of fame, which also includes WoW, Pirates!, Civilization, Starcraft, Diablo 2 and Counter Strike.

Aha! There is proof at last!

(For the benefit of everyone else, I know this guy in real life).

I told you... I only ever played the WoW *trial*.....

Anyway, interesting point here about different types of RTS.

I've never heard the term '4x', but I assume it's referring to the speed. Starcraft is about whoring hotkeys -> going blazing fast and rushing the opponents (*not* Zerg rush). And it's great fun. SoaSE (beautiful acronym) is a lot slower -> it's micromanaging, strategising (<- not a real word) and sometimes engaging in politics. Opposite ends of the RTS spectrum, both fantastic.

 

[Anachronism]

I told you... I only ever played the WoW *trial*.....

Anyway, interesting point here about different types of RTS.

I've never heard the term '4x', but I assume it's referring to the speed. Starcraft is about whoring hotkeys -> going blazing fast and rushing the opponents (*not* Zerg rush). And it's great fun. SoaSE (beautiful acronym) is a lot slower -> it's micromanaging, strategising (<- not a real word) and sometimes engaging in politics. Opposite ends of the RTS spectrum, both fantastic.

4x isn't a type of RTS. I assume you've played Civilization? That's a 4x game; more often than not, they're turn-based. Solar Sins just incorporates elements from the RTS and 4x genres.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X_game

 

[dmase]

Its has really drawn out battles that kinda of make mad and frustrated that they take that long, and its really hard to pick back up after you have quit. Thats kinda of how i fealt about civilization at first then i played it more and began to love it so i probably haven't spent enough time with it. One other thing there really is very little resource collection or control which is one thing i like about other games like Civilization or red alert.

 

[elitecrewer]

I told you... I only ever played the WoW *trial*.....

Anyway, interesting point here about different types of RTS.

I've never heard the term '4x', but I assume it's referring to the speed. Starcraft is about whoring hotkeys -> going blazing fast and rushing the opponents (*not* Zerg rush). And it's great fun. SoaSE (beautiful acronym) is a lot slower -> it's micromanaging, strategising (<- not a real word) and sometimes engaging in politics. Opposite ends of the RTS spectrum, both fantastic.

4x isn't a type of RTS. I assume you've played Civilization? That's a 4x game; more often than not, they're turn-based. Solar Sins just incorporates elements from the RTS and 4x genres.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X_game

I've sunk around a week into Civ 2 through 4, yes. And I'm now deeply confused about strategy sub genres... RTS, TBS... 4x.. where does 'grand strategy fit in'.

I've just thought of something then -> Sins is quite comparable to Rise of Nations, in that they both lean towards being 4x. I think I'm using the terminology right there.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

There's a demo out for it IIRC. It's probably on mirror sites like fileshack.com and on Impulse.

 

[zacaron]

I didn't like all the long travel between systems but I might consider giving it another try.

 

[ThatJoelGuy]

it is indeed good. TEC are a bit over powered though