Universe at War: Earth Assault
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Universe at War: Earth Assault
Real Time Strategy (RTS) games are a staple of PC gaming and most people believe they should be played only on a PC and never on a console. In most cases this is true as the actual controls for the console version of a PC RTS fail to work in any meaningful way and the game becomes an uncontrollable clunky mess. In the terms of Universe at War – Earth Assault the game lands right between good and bad in the terms of controls, they are better then other console RTS games, but could be better.
Universe at War – Earth Assault revolves around three alien factions fighting each other on Earth, with the Hierarchy invading Earth to strip it of all resources, the Novus who come to Earth to defeat the Hierarchy but not actually help Earth and the Masari a race of aliens who fled to Earth millenia ago when the Hierarchy first came to power. With some great graphics and completely unique units and gameplay for each race, Universe at War is one of those games that if you enjoy it, you will play it for a very long time.
Gameplay
When we are used to playing a RTS with keyboard and a mouse, moving to a controller can be an adjustment. The actual controls for the Xbox 360 version are very well done, but I found them lacking in speed compared to most RTS games on the 360 such as C&C Tiberium Wars. I could never find and pick what I wanted to build quick enough and this in the end caused me to lose against the AI opponent more then once. In the end the controls almost felt like they were actually an after thought, which was a shame because with better controls this game would easily be the best RTS game on any console.
Each race has a different way of playing, the Novus build buildings and these small towers which allow for almost instant transport anywhere they lead to, while the Hierarchy build massive walkers that build units and each walker can be highly modified with weapons, armor and more. Just for example switching between these two play styles take a bit of getting used to and unlike most RTS games where you can play any side because each one side has a balanced counter unit on the other and very similar buildings, in UaW:EA it is a brand new experience between each of the races and this is a good thing.
Multiplayer is fairly standard compared to all other RTS games, but what really makes the game unique and potentially very fun is the cross platform play with Windows users who have the PC version. You can now play your friends who are on the PCs and in fact you will not be at a major disadvantage like most people would expect. As the game is balanced between the two platforms. I did not really have a chance to play this in multiplayer as much as I would have liked but all those I spoke to said the game is great and I would concur.
One gameplay issue plagues this game in a serious way and I hated this part. You can only build six units in que at any time for some strange reason in a game from 2007 we see this when every other game allows you to put in an order for a huge number of units. The developers must not have realized the AI auto builds and the player has to build manually and this shoves the balance of the game versus the AI all out of wack.
Graphics
Universe at War is a gorgeous game, every unit, every map, water, trees, buildings and more are stunning in their quality on the 360 and some of the maps this graphic quality shows. With such a wide variety of map types from alien, forest, desert, city, etc the game has such a variety in maps it is something you will never be disappointed with.
There is one major issue with the game and it is gameplay lag that happens during the game, especially during some, but not all of the battles when the frame rate drops to a horrible rate. There is almost no excuse why a game would be released with a major issue like this and it hurts the games final rating but does not hurt the over all value of the game because the frame rate issues are short. On the official forums there is word if you clear your hard disk cache it will fix this issue and while I did notice the issue happened less it was there.
Universe at War has one more issue and it is the UI (user interface), while you are playing the game, the actual interface offers very little helpful information on what you are looking at until the tool tip pops up and even with the tips set to pop up quickly, you will end up losing precious seconds until you recognize each and every icon and with three distinct factions in the end this becomes a chore, painful and usually ending in your demise. More of a standard UI with the same quick controls would have made this much better and more fun in the long run.
Audio
Sound effects and music in the game are well done, but in the end the music does become something of a bore, with repetition and annoying beats and tempos. Of course with the 360 we can just stream our own music and in the end this is what I did. The sound effects were surprising because they varied so much between every unit, faction and activity and with all the RTS games I have played in the last year or so I was shocked there was not more repetition.
Voice overs in the game are not that good, some of the voices are good, but I found some of them to just sound simply bad and out of place. I do realize this was more to help separate each faction and hero, but they came across as something done quickly and poorly and in the end it shows.
Value
There is so much to do in the single player campaign you can spend much time playing and replaying it, the skirmish maps add a ton of variety and with each setting you can adjust, the single player offers a wide variety of replay value, more then any other RTS on the Xbox 360 to date. Multiplayer is fun against other equally skilled players but against bad players you will easily over power and dominate them which in the end is not as fun as it sounds.
Bottom Line
Rental and only a purchase if you really like the game and do not mind the issues it has.
Pros
* Great graphics and effects
* Sound, voices and music are good
* Good controls at times but could be better
* Three factions with totally different units and play styles
* Nice campaign length
Cons
* Extreme frame rate issues at times, the game will crawl during some battles
* User Interface is not well done
* Hard to learn what each thing does by its icon as tool tips take a while to pop up (even if you put their delay to short) and during a battle this means you will die
* Controls could be better but could be worse
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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