Universe At War: Earth Assault

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $7.60

Features:

• Unprecedented unit and faction customization give you the ability to change units and research in the middle of combat to overcome any challenge.
• Full Games for Windows, Direct X compatible, Live for Windows support.
• Dual-layered gameplay featuring intense tactical battles and strategic global mode where you manage resources, consolidate territories, and maneuver armies.
• Massive-scale units that dwarf conventional RTS units.
• Developed by Petroglyph, makers of Star Wars: Empire at War.

Accessories:
Universe at War: Earth Assault Official Strategy Guide (Bradygames Strategy Guides)	PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Must buy for Christmas! [Posted on 2007-12-21]
Wow, theres never been an RTS Like this since Starcraft 2!

Such diversity in units, Interesting storyline and the graphics are to die for! Very enjoyable to play. My only complaint is that i wish the camera was more adjustable to zoom out further.
Giant walkers that trample through cities like War of the Worlds! I had a blast playing this game and i recommend it to everyone.

Not too graphic or violent either- so older kids can play it too. I think this game is perfect for anyone that likes pc games and theyre between 12-40 years old.

HALF A GAME FOR HALF THE FUN [Posted on 2007-12-23]
I am a avid RTS fan ever since the father of all, the original DUNE by WESTWOOD. And I have played most of them, from the COMMAND & CONQUER and AGE OF EMPIRE series to the SUPREME COMMANDER and WORLD AT CONFLICT action-oriented approaches.
Under this light, UNIVERSE AT WAR was weighted and measured - and found lacking.

Graphically it is comparable to C&C-TIBERIUM WARS, with the explosions, and toxic clouds more impressive than the units. The later are a bit cartoonist - but, one could argue that this adds to clarity. Zooming-in is adequate, whereas, contrary to SUPREME COMMANDER (where zooming out turns the game to a combat of ...colored tiles), UaW retains its battlefield feeling even if all zoomed out.
Later into the campaign game (and similar to EMPIRE EARTH 3 and RISK) there is also a tactical overview map in which troops get moved, territories claimed and super-weapons get launched.

RTS games are sensitive to faulty faction balancing: UaW suffers no such problems. There are three factions: the Hierarchy, the Novus and the Masari - all alien (yeah, the humans are toast). Every faction has its unique units (with their own strengths and weaknesses) and research bonuses. There are 12 technologies available (across three tech-trees), but one can have...only six of those available at a time (luckily these options are editable).

Where the game looses its first rating star is its buggy gameplay: units are slow to get assigned into groups, they seem reluctant to follow orders and there is no way to set up patrol paths for sentries. All very annoying during a fast-paced Real-Time strategy game!
On this note, one cannot help but mention (once...more) the AI cheating: no matter where one decides to hide his base and how stealthy his units are, the AI opponent will find them out and pound them with a disproportionate number of firepower.

Multiplayer is through Microsoft-LIVE - a more than spectral manifestation of the usual corporate greed: in order for all the game features to be available online, one has to pay for a Gold...subscription. In effect, buying a game that is advertised to include a multiplayer will only get you far LESS than a complete onLine game. Thus, justifiably, the second rating star was withheld for the lack of half the multiplayer game.

I should had waited for STARCRAFT II...

Great warmup for StarCraft II [Posted on 2008-02-05]
This game has three great factions to choose from, each with unique abilities. The RTS is my favorite type of game, and this one will keep me busy until StarCraft II is released. Recommended.

Very well thought out RTS [Posted on 2008-04-03]
I've played a lot of RTS games trying to find the one that sticks out. The last good RTS game that I played was probably StarCraft. Even though this game is nothing like StarCraft it has the content needed to make a good RTS game. Let me give you some example:

There 3 races in this game and each one has completely different units and buildings. They allow for the gamer to create a different strategy each time the game is played. In most RTS games, if you have the largest army (Guardians, Carriers, BattleCruiser in StarCraft) you will win...usually. In this game the gamer must determine what is the best course of action against the race you are playing and exploit it!!

Because this game came from a smaller developer (petroglyphgames) they have the ability to bring in new innovations and ideas to the game world. By looking at StarCraft 2 there isn't anything new...just by what I can see (I may be wrong on that one). This game has great potentional, and I'm sure the expansion pack for it will be sweet (just like it was for Star Wars Empire at War made by petroglyphgames).

This game is a definate buy if you are looking for a different RTS game. If you like the boring same 'ole RTS keep your Empire Earth 3. BTW- the developers of C&C3 are the ones that developed this game!!!!

Unplayable!! [Posted on 2008-04-30]
I really want to love this game. It seems like it should be really fun. The concepts for the three factions are interesting and the visuals are great.
The problem is, many people, including myself, can't play the game, despite meeting or exceeding the system requirements. The game tends to hang up, crash, or otherwise bug out either immediately upon startup or about 5-10 minutes into matches. There have been two patches already, and neither has fixed the problem. Petroglyph and SEGA are aware of this issue, and don't seem to be doing anything about it.
I'm abslutely sure I would like this game if it would actually run properly.

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