The emperor’s new clothes
Well, this is a disappointment. Empire Earth III, a real time strategy game that I have been looking forward to for a while (see my initial post on the subject here), appears to be a bit of a dud.
Actually, that’s putting it somewhat likely. So far, it has received a universal drubbing from the critics, who have labelled it sloppy and overly simplistic. Gamespot, whose reviews are almost always the most reliable and judicious of the lot, has given it a rating of 3.5 out of 10 and declared that it has been “dumbed down to the point of irrelevance”, while the other major sites don’t appear to be any more positive. I really can’t disagree with them: I’ve got the demo on my hard drive and have booted it up a handful of times, but each time have found myself exiting and telling myself “It’s okay, it’s just an unfinished demo” or “It’ll get better in later levels.” Looks like it doesn’t.
This is a real shame because, based on the early screenshots and previews, I thought it showed a lot of promise. Empire Earth II, although fun, was unwieldy in its complexity, and the prospect of a more streamlined game based around a similar concept sounded like it could only be a good thing. I guess we should be careful what we wish for, as it seems that Empire Earth III has been sanded down so much that it has lost any semblance of form or character. Consider this one most definitely scored off my Christmas wish list.
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