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REVIEW: Emperor Of The Fading Suns
For those unfamiliar with EFS, it is based on a pen-and-paper RPG from Holistic Design. SegaSoft's strategy game doesn't have any role-playing elements beyond assuming one of the houses of the Fading Suns universe and attempting to gain the crown using both diplomacy and military force. Strategist and developer are the only roles that matter.
Like many other strategy games, planets are hex-based battlefields. Once the home world is conquered, however, there are still 40 other planets to contend with. Battle is very comparable to games such as Empire. However, Empire is to chess as EFS is to 3-D-chess. If players focus only on one planet, they will be conquered easily. Like 3D-Chess, resources must be moved from one level (or planet) to a another in order to counter the enemy's movement.
EFS is not just Empire with red and blue glasses, though. It features technology research much like Civilization. In fact, with over 100 military units, 114 researchable technologies, 13 resources, an electoral voting system, economics, and a strong diplomacy model, this game dwarfs Civilization in complexity. Unfortunately, though it eclipses Civilization's intricacy, it can't compete with its exceptional manual. EFS comes with a scant 40-pager, which makes a learning curve more like a learning U-turn.
My biggest complaints with EFS involve timing and multiplayer options.
It can take weeks to finish a game against the quick-thinking computer,
and the longer the game goes...
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