Empire Earth France Preview - 07/15/03

On June 25, I was invited to Paris for a presentation of Empires: Dawn of the Modern World by Rick Goodman. At 11, I arrived at the Hotel "Meridien Star". After having found my way, I find myself in front of a conference room, where there was an inscription reading "Empires: Dawn of the Modern World - Presentation by Rick Goodman".

I knock on the door, in return I am reassured to see that I am not the only one to have left the costard/cravate in my cupboard; -)

When I arrived, a small man with small glasses and a small moustache accommodated me. He was a pleasant man, who put me at ease immediately and he articulated his sentences well, which is rather hard when one finds themselves in front of a group of French journalists! Also present was Dara-Lynn Pelechatz and Kevin Wynne of Stainless Steel Studios. Additionally there were 3 people representing Activision, one British and two French women named Diane and Stéphanie (who I thank from the bottom of the heart for this invitation).

After the arrival of some latecomers and a few inevitable technical problems, Rick entered the scene to begin a 45 minute presentation on Empires.

It started with the explanation of the steps Stainless Steel Studios has taken. At the end, some fansites, including Empire Earth France, had relayed a survey of the players created by Stainless Steel Studios, in order to determine the amount of time waited by the players and what was more or less appreciated in Empire Earth.

It was apparent that the players preferred to play from the Middle Ages until the modern era. It was on these temporal bases that they created Empires.

In the same manner, the survey found that there were two types of players: those who like to take their time and benefit from the details of the play and to conceive long-term strategies. There were also the "hardcore gamers" who generally only play multiplayer games, these players like to play a game in 15 or 20 minutes and like to employ only the most effective strategies, since their pleasure lies in the victory.

Because of this, the Stainless Steel Studios team decided to conceive a mode of play for each category of players, like the tournament mode and the standard mode of Empire Earth, but with a distinction even more thorough. Rick then introduced us to his "Holy Grail of Historical Gaming" (those who speak English will understand this pun) which presents the principal military and economic powers of 600 B.C. up to 1950 A.D. which reproduces the entirety of civilizations of Empires i.e. Germany, England, Korea, China, the United States, as well as Russia and France!!! You imagine my joy at this moment; -) In addition Rick specified that he would present to us more in details on these two last civilizations. In regards to the "Holy Grail", I would like to note on the left part of the fields of civilizations which appear in the form of question marks. According to Rick Goodman, they are reserved for future play. It should be noted that the 5 Epochs are managed in a rather original manner, since one must change civilization at the entry in the First World War: some civilizations are accessible only to the Middle Ages, at the Gunpowder Age and at the Imperial Age, others are accessible only during the First and the Second World war. Middle Ages, Gunpowder Age and Imperial Age: England, Franks,Korea, China First World War and Second World war: Germany, France, The United States, The United Kingdom, Russia. Rick then began his presentation of two civilizations, while starting with France: First of all, it should be clarified that when launching a game, we have all be in awe by the beauty of graphics. Age of Mythology and Warcraft 3 are poor in comparison.

The rivers and the fog of war (the fog of war, is in fact true fog, and not just a dark shade as is the case with the majority of RTS) are splendid. One would almost believe that oneself was in a movie. You are cameraman, it is possible to have all the possible and unimaginable angles of sight. Indeed, when the 2 buttons of the mouse are clicked, it is possible to turn the camera and it is always possible to zoom using the mouse wheel. One would think that this may harm the gameplay, but that is not the case here. In my opinion, it acts more of a graphic bonus rather than a useful option, and it is completely possible to play without using it.

This functionality will be very useful in the campaigns where one generally takes his time and his pleasure to explore the map.

France, it seems will be an economic civilization rather than military, since it has some extremely useful no-claims bonuses, like the exemption from payment of the farms, the automatic reparation of the buildings, and better walls... Another interesting bonus is the possibility that allows all the French units to cross through the forests.

Rick showed us that it was possible at any moment to give units to an ally and that a Special Ability prevents the enemy from building structures during a certain lapse of time.

It then introduced us the building "Turn off monitoring". An example is the Priests Tower which appeared in the EE Expansion pack which is invisible to the enemy and allows a visual monitoring of the chart.

While listening to the sounds of the units, I noted that the French units spoke in English with a French accent that was almost exaggerated, which is rather funny.

Rick then introduced us a few new units, to start with a "saboteur" (who is in fact saboteuse) with a beret on the head. This unit makes it possible to place explosives on the enemy buildings and vehicles. Rick then showed us that the French tanks did not have a long range compared to the German tanks, but a characteristic of the French units (planes, tanks...) is that their drivers automatically evacuate the vehicles before the explosion: the drivers of tank escape and the pilots of planes parachute to safety, which makes it possible to support possible a second wave. In the family of the units, Rick us also introduced the motorcyclist who acts as a scout and the flame thrower which is an infantry unit who causes much damge at close range. Lastly, the French can mobilize their villagers to fight the enemy.

The presentation of Russia was shorter, but also contained some interesting information, such as the advantage which enable the Russians to recover part of the resources invested with each lost unit. The Russians also have a special ability which is called "mobilization" which makes it possible to instantaneously create all the units put in queues in the various buildings, and another which allows the instantaneous refill of the heavy vehicles.

From the units perspective, Rick presented the marksmen. As its name indicates it, this unit has a very great range and allows long range attacks of particular fortified positions, to prepare the ground with a wave of infantry for example.

Commissar is also a unit which was very interesting: Rick had a small regiment with Commissar in second line and about fifteen units of infantry in first line. A score of German infantry, this regiment was not going to make long fire. Rick then selected the Commissar and ordered to him to coldly descend one from the Russian units in front of him. In this manner the other units of infantry became much more powerful and it finally destroyed the German regiment!

In addition provided were explanatory cards on 2 other civilizations: England and Germany, as well as a board showing a few units. After this presentation, I was able to play the Alpha version of Empires, which, even if it still comprised some bugs (what is completely normal 4 months before the final product), seemed a success. The user interface in Empires is more or less the same as the one used in Empire Earth (improved obviously), thus EE players will not have any surprise with it.

The multiplayer mode was not very stable yet but it will undoubtedly be fixed by the time Empires goes gold. I noted that the mining resources, unlike Earth Empire, were more infinite but only there was always a maximum number of villagers per resource (2 of more for the French that for other civilizations, which still constitutes an economic no-claims bonus of choice). The use of the special abilities is very easy: it is enough to research an ability at the library (at a price raised generally enough, considering the power of these abilities.) Once the research is carried out, an icon appears in the left higher corner of the screen and players can click on the icon to employ this ability.

Finally, the power of counter seemed to me about similar to that of Earth Empire. To end this, I had the chance to interview Rick Goodman. You will be able to read his interview here.

Note: This article has been translated from French to English, to see the original version, click here.