System: PC | |
Dev: Ironclad Games | |
Pub: Stardock | |
Release: June 12, 2012 | |
Players: 1 | |
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p | Fantasy Violence, Mild Language |
There are several new ships, too, but by far the most impressive of them is the Titan class. These ships are tough to build—they're expensive, and you have to create them in several different stages—but they are immensely powerful. This forces players to decide whether a big investment will pay off before it's too late.
Fans of the previous games will also notice Rebellion's fresh coat of paint. While the franchise is known for its low system requirements and Rebellion continues this tradition—it still runs on the Iron Engine, takes up only a few gigs of hard-drive space, and will work with most computers—this expansion is a step forward visually. It's not the best-looking title in the game industry by any stretch of the imagination, but given the small download and the ability to run on old computers, it looks decent enough. My only significant complaint with the graphics is that there are long load times, both when you start the game up and when you begin an individual match.
The sound doesn't fare nearly as well, unfortunately. Thanks to the sheer size of the game (and perhaps as a nod to the scientific fact that sound doesn't travel through space), Sins doesn't honor each individual laser blast and explosion with a sound effect. What you do hear are the obnoxious, poorly acted comments your team makes all the time: 'Show me the path!' 'I seek knowledge!' In fairness, though, the epic orchestral music is a nice fit for this franchise.
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So what does all this mean? In a way, it's a gutsy move for Ironclad to release an expansion for a four-year-old game, especially when the marketing team for Legends of Pegasus is telling gamers to 'forget your Sins… become a Legend.' Rebellion leaves plenty of room for a competitor to improve on its formula; personally, I would like to see cutting-edge graphics, a story campaign, and faster and more gripping gameplay. But Rebellion is easily the definitive game of this series, with lots of new content and all the old stuff thrown in too—and if Legends of Pegasus wants us to 'forget our Sins,' it had better give us something truly great.
By Robert VerBruggen Contributing Writer Date: June 20, 2012 |
Graphics
Given the small download and reasonable system requirements, the game looks fine, but it won't knock your socks off.
Given the small download and reasonable system requirements, the game looks fine, but it won't knock your socks off.
Control
There are lots of menus, but that's unavoidable in this genre.
There are lots of menus, but that's unavoidable in this genre.
Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The voice acting is terrible, but the epic music is a nice touch.
The voice acting is terrible, but the epic music is a nice touch.
Play Value
Sins is showing its age a little, but it's still the best example of this genre we have.
Sins is showing its age a little, but it's still the best example of this genre we have.
Overall Rating - Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.
Review Rating Legend | |||
---|---|---|---|
0.1 - 1.9 = Avoid | 2.5 - 2.9 = Average | 3.5 - 3.9 = Good | 4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy |
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor | 3.0 - 3.4 = Fair | 4.0 - 4.4 = Great | 5.0 = The Best |
Game Features:
Sins of a Solar Empire remains one of the most well-balanced and intuitive strategy games of the past decade. A perfect hybrid of traditional RTS games and true 4X style (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate), the original Sins and its expansions were incredibly successful and popular with players, especially those looking to challenge others in massive multiplayer games.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a new, stand-alone expansion, meaning players do not need to have the original game to play (though owners of the original game will receive a discount when purchasing Sins: Rebellion). Does this stand-alone expansion continue to deliver the goods that the original brought players, or does it fall short of expectations? The short answer is a little of both.
On top of it all, Sins: Rebellion is still a masterful strategy game, bringing out the best in both the RTS and 4X genres. Decisions on what to build, when to build it, what ships to construct, etc, are all still present within the game, and every decision the player makes has an impact on the experience. While not a pure base-building game like Command and Conquer or a nearly-pure tactical RTS like Company of Heroes, Sins: Rebellion is a masterfully woven tapestry of both, and it rarely ever short-changes the player on either front.
Sins: Rebellion doesn’t follow the traditional path of expansions when considering new races or playable civilizations. Where other games would simply invent a new alien race, Rebellion took the three original races, the TEC (human), Advent (techno human), and Vasari (aliens), and split each one into two different factions: a loyalist faction and a rebellious faction.
TEC Loyalists are isolationists and favor defensive tactics, while TEC Rebels are a rag-tag bunch of mercs who like to pillage, just a step above full-blown pirates. Advent Loyalists favor mind control and will look to expand their cultural influence, while their counterparts, the Advent Rebels, are slightly insane zealots who love to fight but don’t rely on culture like their brethren. Vasari Loyalists are unique nomads that generate wealth through their ships, while Vasari Rebels are even more unique and play counter to other races by constructing large space stations that turn the other races’ powers against themselves.
Also new is a corvette class ship that serves as a much needed, middle ground option between the workhorse frigates and research-expensive cruisers. Each faction has unique, specialized corvettes that typically will debuff enemies instead of just dealing out damage: some ships can take down shields of other ships while others might damage the enemy’s engines, making a quick escape very difficult. These new abilities and features strongly favor players who love to micromanage their fleets, to gain tactical supremacy over their opponent, as those who rely upon the AI to auto-cast abilities will be frustrated.
Joining the fray as a new ship are the massive Titans, incredibly large capital ships that are expensive to research and build. Tactically, they are not like corvettes that should be micromanaged; instead, Titans wade into a battle and blow away entire armadas with sheer firepower. Like other capital ships, Titans can “level up” and receive bonus powers, such as passive upgrades or super powers that require anti-matter (similar to mana in RPG games) to cast.
Veteran players of the original game will recall that these games can take on lives of their own and can sometimes only be completed in multiple sittings. Sins: Rebellion adds multiple, optional victory conditions – such as diplomacy and research – that can drastically reduce the number of hours it takes to complete a game (though all of these victory conditions are, by default, turned off). It adds a new and fresh element to the game, forcing players to adopt new playing styles and strategies based on the opponent.
Diplomacy, somewhat of an ancillary part of the original game, was greatly expanded with a DLC package (shockingly called Sins: Diplomacy), and is now open to all players to pursue, regardless of whether the previous DLC package was purchased or not. In Sins: Rebellion, quests and missions are now present that allow the player to gain favor with other factions, perhaps giving pause to the human player who is used to nothing but eliminating all rivals from the galaxy. That being said, as with most games like this, war is inevitable, and typically more satisfying.
Microsoft onedrive keeps popping up. The scope and size of the game is incredibly massive, but can be unwieldy, especially for new players to the franchise. However, Ironclad Games does a tremendous job of allowing players to actually feel this scope and size with the ability to zoom into the hull of a ship, and just as quickly zoom out to see the entire playable universe, relegating that large ship to a mere ant, comparatively. On larger maps, players can build up their empires in relative ease, establishing whatever foothold is important for their style.
The size of the galaxy, however, leads to very long games, and extended periods of time where players find themselves simply playing housekeeper instead of militant aggressor. Many times, especially if the map is large enough, players may not run into their enemies – or at least the bulk of their military force – for hours at a time. Phase jumping between systems, which is like traveling in hyperspace in Star Wars, is an incredibly tedious task that can literally take entire fleets minutes (in real time) to simply jump two systems away.
The graphics engine has been given a major overhaul, as Sins: Rebellion is easier on the eyes than the original Sins. The layout of the HUD is almost identical, but the interface has been cleaned of unnecessary clutter, vastly increasing playing field. For example, the buttons for the market resource counter have been made smaller and pushed even further up the screen, freeing up more of the field for players to view. Everything is sharper and clearer, as intricate details of ships and structures are easier to see without having to zoom in to uncomfortable levels.
Sins: Rebellion isn’t without it flaws though. The artificial intelligence hasn’t been improved from the original game in any measure that a player would expect, especially considering the four years between launches (not including updates and DLC). While the AI does a decent job of picking targets to attack if the player chooses not to individually manage their ships and/or fleets, special abilities – and anti-matter – are often wasted if players do not micromanage these attacks. Because of this, it is highly advised that players create specialized fleets and continually give orders to those fleets in battle.
The biggest gameplay element that is still missing though is a campaign story, something that is hardly ever missing from true RTS games. However, due to the hybrid nature of Rebellion, the 4X game style doesn’t always lend itself to great campaign play (though it would still be nice to see someone try). Many years ago, Homeworld seemed to capture this element perfectly, but subsequent 4X games (Masters of Orion, Galactic Civilizations, and Sins series) never seemed to successfully (if at all) incorporate a campaign and story that well. While this isn’t a requirement and doesn’t detract from what Sins: Rebellion does well, it is disappointing nonetheless that it isn’t even being tried – as many gamers unfamiliar with the series might be more inclined to give it a shot.
Along those lines, while there are more difficulty options present in Sins: Rebellion, the harder levels simply seem to allow the AI to “cheat” (not entirely uncommon in games), but it would be preferable to see a significant rise in AI behavior as opposed to simply granting fewer economic, military and research penalties. On the flip side, the easier levels are almost too easy, as tactics go right out the window.
The easy levels are very simple to master and it is advisable for new players to start here due to the incredibly steep learning curve of the game. RTS veterans who are not familiar with this franchise would be advised to go through the tutorials to understand the basics, if nothing else. That being said, the tutorials themselves are incredibly bland and do not teach players tactics (or common sense for that matter). They provide a very basic and rudimentary foundation to build upon, and players who try to emulate the tutorial lessons exactly will find their empires burning very quickly – they are to be used to understand general concepts, not strategy – hence the steep learning curve.
Will players get what they pay for? The strategic elements of the game have always been around, so essentially, players are paying $40 to upgrade the graphics, get some new factions and a few new ships. If this expansion was simply DLC for $15, it would probably be worth the price tag, but for $40, it’s overpriced for what’s “in the box.” Players would expect vastly improved AI and many more gameplay options for this price.
Ultimately, the game is, and most likely always will be, a niche game; 4X Games never seem to garner the mass appeal that they desire (or deserve). The learning curve doesn’t help this in the slightest, as it is so steep that new entrants into the series may give up on it before giving the experience a proper amount of time to digest. A stand-alone expansion should welcome new players relatively easily, but Rebellion doesn’t do this: it assumes its players are familiar with the original game, and treats the gameplay as such.
Sins of a Solar Empire is available now for the PC.
–
Follow me on Twitter @mattrowland1
Sins of a Solar Empire is almost five years old and has had some smaller “mini expansions” already, so when Ironclad Games first announced Rebellion, there was some confusion about what they were planning to add to the game that wasn’t already there, since a singleplayer campaign was ruled out long ago. One could even say that they went with a space game trope of just adding a bigger ship class, but that wouldn’t be doing the game justice.
While Rebellion can be played as a standalone game, make no mistake that it is an expansion pack. After five years most other developers would be releasing a sequel, which could drastically change the gameplay format, and that is not what we have here. Rebellion makes some big changes to the game, but the core gameplay is still there, inviting veterans to return and quickly assimilate with the new changes.
For new players, though, Sins has always been something of an enigma with a somewhat steep leaning curve, AI players that can be brutally intelligent, and multiplayer partners who have spent years honing their skills. The new tutorials added in Rebellion go beyond the basics and do a decent job of preparing players for a trial by fire against more experienced opponents. At the very least, it should help the Rebellion community retain more of the rush of new players that come with the release.
One of the biggest concerns going in was the game’s most hyped new feature, the massive titan class ships. With a massive forward gun like the one shown above, you’d be expecting it to saw through other capital ships with ease. I was almost disappointed when I found out it wasn’t the Death Star of warships. For the massive resource and economic investment it almost seemed like I would have been better off with a few standard battleships. It was only after playing with these ships for a while that I noticed they grow in power exponentially when you level them.
Titans are more then just a resource and technology investment, they’re a time sink with levels that cannot be bought like a traditional capital ship. This forces players that want a strong endgame titan to spend time carefully deploying them to battles for experience, while protecting them from too much danger. They level slowly, but a high level titan is the death machine that we all feared, and the time investment needed to get it there balances out the slow, unstoppable doom of one of these monoliths.
Corvettes received a lot less attention then their much larger cousin in the new additions category, but also serve to change the way the game is played. Sins veterans aren’t used to terribly powerful small ships in the early game. Normally a player would have a starting capital ship and a few small escorts. Corvettes change this up by allowing players access to a small, fast and decently powerful frigate without too much of a research investment.
Sins Of A Solar Empire
While corvettes do allow for players with a rush strategy to hit harder much earlier on, they are not a zerg rush. A defensive minded player could spend the equivalent time and resources building and upgrading their turrets. If anything, corvettes are good because they give players an incentive not to rush to heavy cruisers, as many love to do. Even in the endgame a swarm of cheap but upgraded corvettes can be deadly.
The last, and perhaps largest of the major changes is the splitting of the factions. The core of each faction you’ve come to know are still there and fully intact. The split instead adds new abilities to the sub-factions, and determines their titans. This unlocks a lot of new ways to play, or strengthens current ones. As a defensive TEC player, I jumped on the chance to join the TEC Loyalists. A second starbase per planet along with cheaper novalith canon superweapons allowed me to turtle up in defense while pounding my enemies from light years away.
Some of the other changes were unexpected, yet amazing. The TEC Rebel’s truce among rogues ability had the pesky pirates fighting on my side, and the small fleet of pirate ships surrounding new planets not only let me pass, but they defended the world once I took it, alowing for a quick and painless expansion process once researched. The big enchilada in this case though is the Vasari Loyalists, who have decided they’ve spent too much time in this galaxy, it’s time to move on.
Since the Vasari Loyalists are the biggest change to gameplay, I’ll focus on them. I could, and likely will, write an article discussing tactics in Sins, but let’s focus on what’s truely new. As a Vasari Loyalist you can research tech that moves your government and research facilities onto your titan, eventually allowing you to simply blow up planets that you no longer want or need for their resources. This transforms the planet into a dead asteroid and provides a large one time resource boost, making you able to be a mobile plague of locusts, combing the galaxy for easy prey.
Ironclad has done a great job balancing this. While initially it’s hard to combat a mobile player, you’ll eventually get used to it. Being mobile isn’t necessarily better, just different, and is by no means mandatory. I’ve seen Vasari players keep it in their pocket, using the ability as the ultimate scorched earth policy while leveling their titan, or just trying to expand normally. The new tactics that can be employed are a breath of fresh air for the game.
In what could have been great fodder for a sociology paper, once I observed a Vasari player rush to go mobile as fast as possible because an Advent player nearby was kicking his butt. For the next hour or so he wandered the galaxy not as a hostile, but seeming to emulate the Quarian Migrant Fleet from Mass Effect, wandering around taking the planets no one else wanted and playing mercenary for other players. Eventually he lost his titan and left, but it was certainly an interesting scenario.
I must admit I fell victim to a trap laid by a mobile Vasari player myself once. He sent his titan against a border world of mine with a small force. I knew that loosing his titan was basically game over for him, so I sent everything I had against it. Meanwhile the rest of his fleet arrived at a different planet of mine, ignoring the defenses to capture the planet then quickly detonating it and retreating. He gained a large sum of resources to cover his losses, and I was forced to withdraw from the useless hunk of rock he left behind.
Changing pace though, we have to remember that Sins of a Solar Empire is getting old. For a game that’s been around almost half a decade though, the graphics have aged well, and when stacked against newer games in the genre, the textures still look crisp and clean. Close-ups can lead to disappointment with some ships, but for the most part the game holds up well.
Sins Of A Solar Empire Rebellion Campaign 2016
In Rebellion, Ironclad has finally given players something they’ve wanted for years – shadows. It may not seem like much, but when using the game’s cinematic mode and following your ships closely it can really add to the experience of a dramatic battle. While it’s not something you’ll notice a lot because you’ll be zoomed out managing battles and planets, when relaxing with a more easygoing game or using cinematic mode to film a video of your own, it will definitely be appreciated.
Overall, Rebellion is a huge boost for the Sins community. While the graphic upgrades could have been more extensive, it’s hard to find other flaws in it that Sins of a Solar Empire didn’t already carry, and Rebellion’s new tutorials work to take away one of the series’ biggest gripes. Rebellion manages to maintain the high level of polish that the base game was already at, with only a few small bugs that I noticed.
This is exactly what the game needed to keep the community strong and active in the future. Rebellion isn’t cheap, but part of that is because it will allow new players to join in without paying for the original game. I’m sure there are a lot of people who dusted off their old copy of Sins of a Solar Empire only to experience sticker shock at Rebellion’s pricetag.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is certainly worth the investment though, for both old fans and new players looking to get a first taste. Definitely a must-have for anyone who is a fan of the genre. I can’t give an expansion pack much higher praise then to say again that it expands the game and adds requested features without breaking any of the old mechanics. Now get conquering and keep your eyes out for those damned Space Ponies!
Sins of a Solar Empire remains one of the most well-balanced and intuitive strategy games of the past decade. A perfect hybrid of traditional RTS games and true 4X style (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate), the original Sins and its expansions were incredibly successful and popular with players, especially those looking to challenge others in massive multiplayer games.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a new, stand-alone expansion, meaning players do not need to have the original game to play (though owners of the original game will receive a discount when purchasing Sins: Rebellion). Does this stand-alone expansion continue to deliver the goods that the original brought players, or does it fall short of expectations? The short answer is a little of both.
On top of it all, Sins: Rebellion is still a masterful strategy game, bringing out the best in both the RTS and 4X genres. Decisions on what to build, when to build it, what ships to construct, etc, are all still present within the game, and every decision the player makes has an impact on the experience. While not a pure base-building game like Command and Conquer or a nearly-pure tactical RTS like Company of Heroes, Sins: Rebellion is a masterfully woven tapestry of both, and it rarely ever short-changes the player on either front.
Sins: Rebellion doesn’t follow the traditional path of expansions when considering new races or playable civilizations. Where other games would simply invent a new alien race, Rebellion took the three original races, the TEC (human), Advent (techno human), and Vasari (aliens), and split each one into two different factions: a loyalist faction and a rebellious faction.
TEC Loyalists are isolationists and favor defensive tactics, while TEC Rebels are a rag-tag bunch of mercs who like to pillage, just a step above full-blown pirates. Advent Loyalists favor mind control and will look to expand their cultural influence, while their counterparts, the Advent Rebels, are slightly insane zealots who love to fight but don’t rely on culture like their brethren. Vasari Loyalists are unique nomads that generate wealth through their ships, while Vasari Rebels are even more unique and play counter to other races by constructing large space stations that turn the other races’ powers against themselves.
Also new is a corvette class ship that serves as a much needed, middle ground option between the workhorse frigates and research-expensive cruisers. Each faction has unique, specialized corvettes that typically will debuff enemies instead of just dealing out damage: some ships can take down shields of other ships while others might damage the enemy’s engines, making a quick escape very difficult. These new abilities and features strongly favor players who love to micromanage their fleets, to gain tactical supremacy over their opponent, as those who rely upon the AI to auto-cast abilities will be frustrated.
Joining the fray as a new ship are the massive Titans, incredibly large capital ships that are expensive to research and build. Tactically, they are not like corvettes that should be micromanaged; instead, Titans wade into a battle and blow away entire armadas with sheer firepower. Like other capital ships, Titans can “level up” and receive bonus powers, such as passive upgrades or super powers that require anti-matter (similar to mana in RPG games) to cast.
Veteran players of the original game will recall that these games can take on lives of their own and can sometimes only be completed in multiple sittings. Sins: Rebellion adds multiple, optional victory conditions – such as diplomacy and research – that can drastically reduce the number of hours it takes to complete a game (though all of these victory conditions are, by default, turned off). It adds a new and fresh element to the game, forcing players to adopt new playing styles and strategies based on the opponent.
Diplomacy, somewhat of an ancillary part of the original game, was greatly expanded with a DLC package (shockingly called Sins: Diplomacy), and is now open to all players to pursue, regardless of whether the previous DLC package was purchased or not. In Sins: Rebellion, quests and missions are now present that allow the player to gain favor with other factions, perhaps giving pause to the human player who is used to nothing but eliminating all rivals from the galaxy. That being said, as with most games like this, war is inevitable, and typically more satisfying.
The scope and size of the game is incredibly massive, but can be unwieldy, especially for new players to the franchise. However, Ironclad Games does a tremendous job of allowing players to actually feel this scope and size with the ability to zoom into the hull of a ship, and just as quickly zoom out to see the entire playable universe, relegating that large ship to a mere ant, comparatively. On larger maps, players can build up their empires in relative ease, establishing whatever foothold is important for their style.
The size of the galaxy, however, leads to very long games, and extended periods of time where players find themselves simply playing housekeeper instead of militant aggressor. Many times, especially if the map is large enough, players may not run into their enemies – or at least the bulk of their military force – for hours at a time. Phase jumping between systems, which is like traveling in hyperspace in Star Wars, is an incredibly tedious task that can literally take entire fleets minutes (in real time) to simply jump two systems away.
The graphics engine has been given a major overhaul, as Sins: Rebellion is easier on the eyes than the original Sins. The layout of the HUD is almost identical, but the interface has been cleaned of unnecessary clutter, vastly increasing playing field. For example, the buttons for the market resource counter have been made smaller and pushed even further up the screen, freeing up more of the field for players to view. Everything is sharper and clearer, as intricate details of ships and structures are easier to see without having to zoom in to uncomfortable levels.
Sins: Rebellion isn’t without it flaws though. The artificial intelligence hasn’t been improved from the original game in any measure that a player would expect, especially considering the four years between launches (not including updates and DLC). While the AI does a decent job of picking targets to attack if the player chooses not to individually manage their ships and/or fleets, special abilities – and anti-matter – are often wasted if players do not micromanage these attacks. Because of this, it is highly advised that players create specialized fleets and continually give orders to those fleets in battle.
The biggest gameplay element that is still missing though is a campaign story, something that is hardly ever missing from true RTS games. However, due to the hybrid nature of Rebellion, the 4X game style doesn’t always lend itself to great campaign play (though it would still be nice to see someone try). Many years ago, Homeworld seemed to capture this element perfectly, but subsequent 4X games (Masters of Orion, Galactic Civilizations, and Sins series) never seemed to successfully (if at all) incorporate a campaign and story that well. While this isn’t a requirement and doesn’t detract from what Sins: Rebellion does well, it is disappointing nonetheless that it isn’t even being tried – as many gamers unfamiliar with the series might be more inclined to give it a shot.
Along those lines, while there are more difficulty options present in Sins: Rebellion, the harder levels simply seem to allow the AI to “cheat” (not entirely uncommon in games), but it would be preferable to see a significant rise in AI behavior as opposed to simply granting fewer economic, military and research penalties. On the flip side, the easier levels are almost too easy, as tactics go right out the window.
The easy levels are very simple to master and it is advisable for new players to start here due to the incredibly steep learning curve of the game. RTS veterans who are not familiar with this franchise would be advised to go through the tutorials to understand the basics, if nothing else. That being said, the tutorials themselves are incredibly bland and do not teach players tactics (or common sense for that matter). They provide a very basic and rudimentary foundation to build upon, and players who try to emulate the tutorial lessons exactly will find their empires burning very quickly – they are to be used to understand general concepts, not strategy – hence the steep learning curve.
Will players get what they pay for? Nudi 5.0 software free download full version. The strategic elements of the game have always been around, so essentially, players are paying $40 to upgrade the graphics, get some new factions and a few new ships. If this expansion was simply DLC for $15, it would probably be worth the price tag, but for $40, it’s overpriced for what’s “in the box.” Players would expect vastly improved AI and many more gameplay options for this price.
Ultimately, the game is, and most likely always will be, a niche game; 4X Games never seem to garner the mass appeal that they desire (or deserve). The learning curve doesn’t help this in the slightest, as it is so steep that new entrants into the series may give up on it before giving the experience a proper amount of time to digest. A stand-alone expansion should welcome new players relatively easily, but Rebellion doesn’t do this: it assumes its players are familiar with the original game, and treats the gameplay as such.
Sins of a Solar Empire is available now for the PC.
–
Follow me on Twitter @mattrowland1