Empire Earth 2 is, well, mediocre at best

MetalMat

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
9,687
36
91
My roomate got a copy of the game and let me try it out.

I really dont like the "rock, paper, scissors" thing going on with that game, to me it is just a lazy way of designing a game. The graphics stink, I am spoiled by the Warhammer DOW graphics. I also find it cheesy that everyone speaks english in every epoch, even if you are not an english speaking civilization.
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
I tried it and it didn't grab me, seemed cluttered, and wasn't pick up and playable.

I prefer a game I can play without reading the manual.
AoE2 was fine, clear and obvious, but this seemed like a step back. I only played for a very short while, but I prefer EE1 to it I think. (Initial impressions).
 

MetalMat

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
9,687
36
91
Originally posted by: Lonyo
I tried it and it didn't grab me, seemed cluttered, and wasn't pick up and playable.

I prefer a game I can play without reading the manual.
AoE2 was fine, clear and obvious, but this seemed like a step back. I only played for a very short while, but I prefer EE1 to it I think. (Initial impressions).


To me it seems like EE is just a jack of all trades, master of none. AOE 3 is gonna smoke this game.
 

warcrow

Lifer
Jan 12, 2004
11,078
11
81
Damn, I think PC Gamer gave it a high ranking score this issue too. Hrm...
 

MetalMat

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
9,687
36
91
Originally posted by: warcrow
Damn, I think PC Gamer gave it a high ranking score this issue too. Hrm...


I mean, the game is not horrible. In fact, I like the way some of the things work, like the citizen managing system is really cool. I also like how they added a screen at the bottom right and you can hotkey different places/units for the screen to look at. The game has a very steep learning curve.
 

skace

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
14,488
7
81
The first one was mediocre at best also. But multiplayer? So damn fun! I bought EE2 for this reason alone :D.
 

LoverBoyJ

Senior member
Mar 22, 2001
992
0
0
EE1 was so imbalance and has the AI on the upper hand. Its like 1:2 ratio, for every unit of resource that you buy/get the AI get it at half the price thereby the AI advances so fast that you have a no chances of catchin up. Is this the same with EE2? if so this game is not worth my time.
 

Smilin

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2002
7,357
0
0
Originally posted by: Lonyo
I tried it and it didn't grab me, seemed cluttered, and wasn't pick up and playable.

I prefer a game I can play without reading the manual.
AoE2 was fine, clear and obvious, but this seemed like a step back. I only played for a very short while, but I prefer EE1 to it I think. (Initial impressions).

I think I'm liking EE 1 better as well. The only exception being the AI cheating, but that doesn't matter in multiplayer.

Citizen management in EE2, despite all the hype, sucks.
 

Malladine

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2003
4,618
0
71
Originally posted by: skace
The first one was mediocre at best also. But multiplayer? So damn fun! I bought EE2 for this reason alone :D.
how so? Please explain! And is EE2 also damn fun? And the the same reasons?
 

Liviathan

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2001
2,286
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0
I had hopes for the game....just not a big fan of the historical games. Units become hard to manage.
 

skace

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
14,488
7
81
Originally posted by: Malladine
how so? Please explain! And is EE2 also damn fun? And the the same reasons?

Dunno, I just used to play it with a group of friends. We had fun competing, perfecting farm strategies and rushing through the ages. None of my friends have EE2 yet, waiting for the price drop, I didn't have much fun playing the computer in it so I stopped. I won't be able to rate it until my friends get it and we can play multi because thats all I ever did in EE1 (never played single either).
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
I still play EE1 from time to time. Its rare when a game comes along on such an epic scop. I rarely play the SP campaigns in historical games, R:TW being the exception, but I loved the MP in EE1.

I haven't picked up EE2 yet, not enough cash/time to play it thoroughly. :(
 

MetalMat

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
9,687
36
91
I quit playing EE2 when my friend let me borrow KOTOR. In fact, I will probably delete EE2 from my hard drive, its just not fun playing against the computer and the sp campaigns sucks.
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
The AI in EE1 cheated? Even in the highest difficulty I never had trouble beating them. Hmm.
 

Smilin

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2002
7,357
0
0
Originally posted by: sourceninja
The AI in EE1 cheated? Even in the highest difficulty I never had trouble beating them. Hmm.

Yes.

The AI was given a resource bonus to compensate for poor thinking. The only way to disable this cheating was to design a scenario by scratch and specify in the options that the AI not be allowed to cheat.

You can observe this yourself if you wish. Use a cheatcode to disable the fog of war. Watch the AI, especially it's resource-collecting citizens. You will notice the AI builds units that it has not collected the resources for!

The AI was otherwise poor and pretty easy to beat. However, If you say you had no difficulty beating it on the highest difficulty I would have to declare shenanigans on you. I reserve shenanigans for only the worst offenders on this board so tread lightly. I found the (cheating) AI to be quite challenging even in 7 vs 1 games online with competent teammates when set on the highest difficulty.
 

Sentinel

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2000
3,714
1
71
Originally posted by: MetalMat
Originally posted by: Lonyo
I tried it and it didn't grab me, seemed cluttered, and wasn't pick up and playable.

I prefer a game I can play without reading the manual.
AoE2 was fine, clear and obvious, but this seemed like a step back. I only played for a very short while, but I prefer EE1 to it I think. (Initial impressions).


To me it seems like EE is just a jack of all trades, master of none. AOE 3 is gonna smoke this game.

AOE 3 is going to pwn EEII...