If you love world building and space battles, Endless Space is for you
. An intricate game of strategy and cunning, Endless Space comes from Amplitude Studios and it will blow you away at warp speed! With so many worlds to build and/or conquer your level of play is endless…
1. Graphics (Great) – Galaxies and nebula are bright and wonderfully colored. Shining dots in the distance represent stars and solar systems that can possibly be populated or contain an alien race. Most of the screen showcases this and connected planets that you have discovered that are linked to each other. Aside from space ships floating along a path in between planets, not much else happens. The real treat however, comes when you attack or are being attacked by incoming enemy ships. Be it intergalactic pirates to space invaders you get the option to manually or auto complete battles. In the manual battle option, your fleet encounters the enemy fleet in a stage by stage battle that rains down all sorts of sweet chaos in the forms of shells missiles and shields. Depending on what arsenal you have unlocked and defenses you have equipped your ships with, you could be in for a visual barrage reminiscent to Star Wars.
2. Game play (Great)- If you have ever played one of the Sid Meier’s civilization games, then you have played Endless Space. Some small things are different of course, but most of the concepts are the same. Special units are created in a turn based system that will be used for specific tasks. One type of ship is used for scouting the unknown; one is used to populate planets to expand your territory and many more can be used to defend or attack against incoming threats.
You’ll need to expand your territory and settle new planets to increase your generation of dust, science, or manufacturing prowess. Dust which in this game is your method of currency can be used to outright purchase ship units, instantly complete planetary improvements, or help pay for special hero unites that can be hired to improve your empire. The things a hero unit can improve are production, growth of a planet, be and admiral of your fleet, and even dedicate themselves to the sneaky art of sabotage. As time passes and your empire grows these hero units will gain experience and level. Leveling up these units entails choosing a special talent they possess such as increase production, make ships fly faster, quell revolting peasants, and so on and so forth.
Science governs the growth of a humongous skill tree for your empire that is split into four main categories: diplomacy, colonization, arms and armaments, and scientific discoveries. Each talent is linked to another which leads into another. The more science your empire produces, the faster you can learn these talents. Since each path focuses on one aspect or another, you will need to decide if you want to get that missile launcher first or the ability to terraform molten lava to create habitable planets.
Manufacturing power explains itself. The faster you can pump out those space ships or planetary improvements, the faster your empire can grow. Even better is that fact that you can put that manufacturing power to alternate use such as producing science or even more dust!
Sound simple? Well it it’s not. You have to also keep an eye on your people. Happy people work harder and faster whereas unhappy people will go on strike and not work at all. Your empire needs food! Pirates can band together and attack you without notice!
At any moment, another empire faction could swoop in and decide your planet is worth taking over for its resources and its all-out WAR! Good luck is what I have to offer you. Even as a veteran of Civilization games, it took me over 5 complete games to come in second place.
3. Story (Good)-It’s a race for money and power. The stories may vary from faction to faction but at the end of the day, everyone is after the same thing.
4. Soundtrack (Good)-Every bleep and bloop has its proper place but nothing really sticks out as good or bad. There is no dialog with the exception of the into movie that gives the overview so nothing lost with a bad voice over system, but nothing gained as well.
5. Replay Value (Outstanding)-Endless Space has near endless game play. There are several factions for you to choose from and play with. Each faction has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. You can even edit these races to create a set of advantages you want to help min/max your play experience.
You can even customize the size of your game. Play with a small or gigantic nebula and decide how many factions you wish to play against. Not enough of a challenge? Take this bad boy online and crack some intergalactic skulls together by shooting rockets down someone’s unsuspecting throat. Maybe a little more friendly of an option for you is to invite your friends to come and play the game with you. With advantages, disadvantages, heroes and the ability to customize your own fleet of space ships down to what armor and weaponry it carries, there is an endless supply of things to do.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Endless Space is a great game that any fan of Civilization type games will love. There will be a learning curve to deal with but it will offer you the challenge you may have been looking for in a game and the value your hard earned dollars have been yearning for.
Game Rating: (3.75) [Great] Game type:(Turn Based Space Tactical RPG) Game System:(PC) By: (Iceberg Interactive and Amplitude)
A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Reverb Games, Iceberg Interactive, and Amplitude Studios for providing a copy of Endless Space for review.
Game Score System: Overall Total Value: (Trash) =0-1.5(Meh) =1.75-2.25(Good) =2.5-3.25(Great) =3.5-4.25(Outstanding) =4.5+
Grade Value Per Section:
Point Value (Trash) =0 (Meh) =.25(Good) =.5(Great) =.75(Outstanding) =1.0
Graphics(x1)
-Nate Biller
