Sins of a Solar Empire

Aug 3 2008 by Darren Kelso, Sunday Sun

Game: Sins of a Solar Empire From: Kalypso/Ironclad For: PC RRP: £29.99 Rating: 7+ Out: Now

NOT sure if you’ve noticed, but space is pretty big. I mean vast.

But its mind-boggling scale has been hard to capture in games . . . until now.

New real time strategy, RTS, title Sins of a Solar Empire not only brings home the sheer enormity of space — thanks to a superb and seamless zoom feature — but also its outstanding beauty.

In the distant future, the Trader Emergency Coalition is an alliance of human worlds facing a threat on two fronts. Firstly, from the Advent — a long-ago banished race of humans who have returned seeking revenge — and the Vasari . . . an ancient alien species out to make humans extinct.

As you’d expect from a solid RTS, all three factions have particular ship, structure and weapon designs, all with their own strengths and weaknesses.

You start each game as one of three factions, up against either one or both of the other in at least one solar system with a series of planets all ripe for conquering. Some maps support six solar systems.

Planets are linked by “phase lines”, allowing light-speed travel — but only between certain planets — making some highly important links in your empire’s chain.

Some planets support large populations, which will provide credits, one of the three resources in the game. Some planets are rich in metal, while others have abundant supplies of crystal.

All resources are used to make different ships and structures to protect your empire or improve planets to maximise revenue.

Ships come in a range of designs, from small, fast scout ships for exploring new planets, through frigates of various types, cruisers specialising in certain areas such as planetary bombardment, to huge capital ships.

These giant behemoths — which it’s best to build fleets of smaller craft around — give you some powerful abilities to turn the tide of battle in your favour.

But guard them carefully . . . losing one can be disastrous as they are difficult to replace.

All ships, planets and structures — but especially capital ships, which you can rename — are superbly modelled, with gorgeous space backdrops, but the ability to seamlessly zoom out of a planet’s orbit to an overview of the whole system really impresses too.

Gameplay is absorbing and addictive and, unlike similar games, is not turn-based, so things can get quite hectic! Thankfully, a handy display lets you keep tabs on all your systems and ships, and directing orders and transferring fleets is made very simple.

Games, even on smaller maps, do last a long time, but the online multiplayer mode does — thankfully — have a save feature, although obviously you’ll need to make sure all participants can play at the same time.

Overall, Sins of a Solar Empire, from developers Ironclad, is a well-balanced, beautifully presented and thoroughly enjoyable space-themed RTS . . . a must-buy for fans of the genre.