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| From: Stardock
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $26.99
You Save: $13.00 (33%)
New (8) Used (5) from $20.00
Rating:  79 reviews
Sales Rank: 961
Format: Cd
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows Vista
Genre: real_time_strategy_games
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 708192010608
UPC: 708192010608
EAN: 0708192010608
ASIN: B000YFOGS8
Release Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 79
Maybe I'm missing something March 13, 2008
Bruce F. Webster (Parker, CO USA)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
First off, my bona fides: I've been playing computer games for over 30 years; heck, I was designing computer games nearly 30 years ago. I don't even want to think about how many hundreds (if not thousands) of hours I've spent playing various games (mostly 4X and RTS) over the years. You can check out some of my other game reviews here on Amazon (via the link above) to get a sense of my preferences and biases.
I gave SINS four (4) stars overall because it is way above average for the clean, innovative user interface and general quality of the software. It's slick, professional, and absolutely solid. The user interface takes a bit to learn, but once you get the hang of it, it helps you get things done very quickly. And the ability to zoom smoothly from very close to very far out make operating at different scales very easy.
On the other hand, I have a hard time giving the game more than three stars for fun because every game I've played so far (and I've played a lot) ultimately degenerates into shuffling fleets from system to system as your remaining opponent(s) attack. And since ship movement is so slow (yes, even on the 'quick' setting), I find myself spending a lot of time just staring at the screen, watching my fleets inch their way to the current system(s) under attack. Resources (credits, metal, crystal) and 'slots' (logistical and tactical) tend to be so constrained that it's very hard to set up a system that can really defend itself without a decent fleet on hand.
There are no real politics beyond very simple agreements (cease fire, peace treaty, trade agreement, share intelligence). Other (AI) factions make demands of you -- initially for resources, but then for attacks on other factions. You are under a time limit and you have no option to decline gracefully; you either fulfill the demand (and receive a reward comprising some mixture of good will, credits, metal, and/or crystal), or you fail to do so, and you lose goodwill with the faction. Note that you cannot turn around and make those same demands on the AI factions -- an asymmetric disparity that is (IMHO) a serious flaw.
A typical Sins game starts out interestingly enough, but tends to become tedious towards the endgame. Because both movement and construction are so slow, progress in the latter portion of the game tends to be slow as well:
-- Faction A attacks Planet X occupied by Faction B
-- Faction B starts bringing its fleets from elsewhere to Planet X
-- Faction A manages (or not) to wipe out the population on Planet X
-- Faction B manages to bring enough ships to bear to force Faction A to retreat
-- Faction A starts the slow process of building new ships to replace those lost in the attack and then moving them (slowly) to where its fleets are
-- Faction B starts the slow process of recolonizing Planet X (if necesary), after which it can start the slow process of rebuilding the logistical and tactical infrastructure of Planet X, as well as the slow process of building new ships to replace those lost during the battle for Planet X
Or, alternately, Faction B retreats from Planet X, in which case it is Faction A that has the slow process of recolonizing and rebuilding Planet X.
Fleet tactics during battles mostly consist of aiming all your ships at one of your opponent's ships for the 30-60 seconds it takes to destroy it, then repeating that until your opponents flees or is destroyed, or you flee or are destroyed. The variety of technologies that the different capital ships can have are nice, but if you have two or more battles going on simultaneously, it's pretty difficult to do any actual tactics or maneuvering for more than just one battle.
Now imagine that you're doing this simultaneously against 2, 3, or 4 AI factions. It's easy for them to wear you down, but hard for you to make real progress against one of them.
Did I mention the pirates? If you have pirates in the game (some games exclude them), they'll show up out of nowhere and attack your systems also. You can bribe them to go attack other factions.
In the end, it's that combination of simultaneous attacks, slow production, slow movement, and slow progress that pretty much makes Sins very tedious in the endgame. Based on the glowing reviews I've seen here and elsewhere, there must be people who really enjoy that sort of thing and/or have some magic strategies that make all this work.
In sum: great technology, great UI, great initial gameplay, and very tedious endgame. YMMV. ..bruce..
 The best RTS game.... EVER. February 5, 2008
Walt (Seattle, USA)
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
Space Empires meets Supreme Commander. This 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate) allows you to view your entire empire/galaxy in real time and zoom into your solar systems, planets, fleets, battleships even as far as individual fighters. Play one of three races. Each with unique ships and tech trees. Win through diplomacy, cultural influence or sheer military domination. Build capital ships to support your fleets. As they gain experience like RPG characters you can upgrade their weapons and defenses to your liking. With all the moddable features the developers put into this title plan to see conversions of Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar, Star Gate.. ect I can't wait!. In short, this is a must play for any RTS fan.
GalCiv2 and Supreme Commander had a love child February 6, 2008
Daniel Cordell (Seattle, WA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Sins of the Solar Empire is one of those games that first makes you wonder why nobody'd ever done this before, until you realize that technology just wouldn't have provided a good experience.
If you are a fan of 4X Strategy games or real-time strategy games, then you'll probably truly enjoy Sins. It's slower-paced than most RTS games, but for good reason: much more complexity than most RTS games. Likewise, it's less complex than many modern 4X strategy games.
When you buy this game, PLAY IT AND LEARN BEFORE YOU PASS JUDGEMENT. The game is complex and there are a lot of little tricks that you can learn on your own or from the manual that will get you up to speed. One of the best tricks I've heard is to, after playing through some of the tutorials, start up a 2v2 game on a medium map. 1 hard AI as an ally, 2 easy AIs as enemies. That'll give you time to learn the ins-and-outs of how the game works.
Buy this game, support StarDock! They'll be coming out with lots more free content in the near future as well.
Great Graphics and Great Gameplay! February 6, 2008
D. Stotzer (Cincinnati, Ohio USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Just got this game yesterday, so I'm no expert. But so far, I can see this game has fantastic graphics. If you are familiar to stragegy games, then the user interface and methods of play should be generally similar to what you are used to. But this game adds so much more. Like Homeworld, you can manage battles if you want to, but you don't really need to, as the AI is smart and can do most of the 'detailed' work for you. But you will need to keep an eye on a battle and maybe build more ships, or send in more defenses from other planets. Maybe even ask for help from an alliance or bribe pirates?
This game is great so far, and I've only completed 1 of the 4 tutorials and just had to jump into a single mission. So, tonight I'm need to do another tutorial to better understand what to do. But last night I was having so much fun, I didn't want to stop playing.
This game also allows for Mods and recording Replays, so the future looks pretty open for new ideas...
They did everything right February 6, 2008
D. Blas
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Stardock/Ironclad did everything extremely well in this game. Let's run down some of the high points:
1) Innovation: This game combines Real Time Strategy and 4X in a way never before accomplished. The ability to seamlessly change the zoom from a single ship to an entire galaxy is no small feat. But at the same time, a truly unique interface makes the game very playable without the need to micromanage
2) Graphics: Beautiful to look at while at the same time able to run on older systems makes this a good game for any computer. It doesn't take much horsepower but you get a lot in return, including great scenery and a massive scope.
3) Multiplayer: Terrific multiplayer/matching engine makes the replay value higher than any other similar game.
4) Stability: Stardock had this game in testing for a long time with a LOT of testers, so it is rock solid and very refined. No crashing, no bugs, and great performance. When was the last time EA or Ubisoft released a game where you could say that?!
To sum it all up, this game is one that everyone will be playing for a LONG time. It's worth every penny because you will still be enjoying it many years from now.
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