Empire Earth III

Gameplay (Benelux) (82 out of 100)

Empire Earth 3 blijft dankzij alle veranderingen een verfrissende RTS-game. Iets meer diepgang had echter wel gemogen.

TTGamer (8 out of 10)

Empire Earth III is really quite a generic RTS. The series has always been about following RTS standards without straying too far away from the proven formulas and EEIII is no different. While this means the gameplay is inherently solid, it also means EEIII doesn't really do anything to truly stand out from the crowd, which is a little bit of a disappointment because I think the concept on offer is closer to being special than a lot of other RTS's, and it could really reach that next level with some daring and ingenious design. I do like the 'Global Domination' mode but ultimately like any RTS this game is only as good as its real time gameplay, which is solid but not spectacular.

Computer Bild Spiele (2.31 out of 6)

Doch unterm Strich bleubt ein ordentliches, wenn auch kein umwerfendes Strategiespiel, das mit manchen Inhalten mehr zu überzeugen weiß als mit anderen, aber nie echte Ausreißer nach ganz unten oder oben aufweist. Eine "gute" Spielerfahrung ist allemal drin.

PC Zone (1993-2010) (7.2 out of 10)

EE3 is still a confused mixture of the previous game and something faster and more exciting. If Mad Doc further develop this new, it could be a great, fast RTS game. At the moment, the girl's let down her hair, removed her glasses, but she's still short-sighted and a bit ugly; Mad Doc needs to do the full makeover in the expansion.

AceGamez (7 out of 10)

It's a mixed experience, but then so is our illustrious past (and indeed will be our future) so there is room for forgiveness. There is earth-shattering fun to be had and if, like Napolean, you are prepared to march on when the odds seem stacked up then they'll be erecting statues of your image for centuries to come!

Gaming Nexus (7 out of 10)

All in all, the controls are pretty much the same as any real time strategy but with the added benefits of being able to look at the big picture. Instead of working on one battle, everything a player does affects what might happen in the future. One must think carefully of every action just as they would when playing a game such as Civilization, but unlike the Civilization series, the player uses their own skills in strategy and diplomacy to realize their megalomaniacal dreams of world domination.

PC Action (Germany) (68 out of 100)

Ich bin frustriert. Beide Vorgänger haben mich mindestens 13 Kilogramm Muskelmasse gekostet, da ich nicht fähig war, mich vom Monitor loszureißen. Empire Earth 3 möchte dieselbe Klasse erreichen, scheitert aber wegen der schlechter KI und unausgegorenen Neuerungen – ich fühle mich fett.

Game Informer Magazine (6.75 out of 10)

Empire Earth II could have used more polish, but as is, misses being promoted to the ranks of its competition.

PC Games (Germany) (67 out of 100)

Als ich vor einiger Zeit hörte, dass Empire Earth 3 in der Entwicklung sei, wurde ich ganz hibbelig beim bloßen Gedanken an die Rückkehr DER Strategieserie schlechthin. Gut, ein wenig Entschlackung hätte Empire Earth 2 sicher gutgetan, aber so? Spielerisch ist Empire Earth 3 bemitleidenswert simpel, grafisch angesichts der Hardware-Anforderungen eine schiere Unverschämtheit. An keiner Stelle wirkt dieses eigenwillige Stück Software schlüssig – Menüs wurden scheinbar wild drauflos gemalt, der Welteroberungsmodus ist für die wenigen Möglichkeiten zu umständlich zu bedienen. Warum Mad Doc Software es versäumt hat, eine schmissig-trashige Kampagne im Stile von Mel Brooks‘ verrückte Geschichte der Welt zu basteln, ist mir auch unklar. Vor den niedersten Wertungsregionen rettet Empire Earth 3 allenfalls der leidlich unterhaltsame Skirmish-Part und die teilweise gegebene Abwechslung der Landschaften und Parteien. Für mich ist Empire Earth 3 die Enttäuschung des Jahres 2007. Und 2008.

Jeuxvideo.com (13 out of 20)

Age of Empire, Warcraft, les Total War... Beaucoup de grands noms de la stratégie en temps réel ont été cités dans cet article. Et pour cause : Empire Earth 3 se contente souvent de reprendre ailleurs des idées et de les assembler en un patchwork avec plus ou moins de bonheur. On se retrouve donc avec un jeu relativement bien foutu mais pas transcendant pour un sou, qui aura donc toutes les peines du monde à rester dans les mémoires face à la concurrence.

GamesWEB (65 out of 100)

Empire Earth III určite nie je titul na zahodenie, avšak absencia niečoho naozaj nového a neokukaného pôsobí ako oceľové závažie, ktoré ho ťahá nižšie a nižšie. Fanúšikov série síce nesklame, ale ostatní by mali radšej mali siahnuť po overenej klasike alebo si počkať na jednu z chystaných tohtoročných RTS.

Game Informer Magazine (6.5 out of 10)

Pass on this unless you’ve exhausted the entertainment value of the last few years’ worth of great RTS titles.

GameStar (Germany) (64 out of 100)

Empire Earth 3 ist das allererste Echtzeit-Spiel, in dem ich die Einheiten-Sprüche abgeschaltet habe. Sie sind schlichtweg zu nervig. Die vereinfachte Spielmechanik hat zudem ihre Tücken; der Vorgänger war vielfältiger und ausgereifter. Zugegeben, die Epochen-Hatz wäre erneut nett, der Weltkarten-Modus motivierend - wenn die Bugs und Performance-Probleme nicht so stören würden. Falls Sie ein originelles Echtzeit-Strategiespiel mit Upgrade-Forschung und Rundenkampagne suchen, dann kaufen Sie Rise of Legends. Das kostet 20 Euro, ist runder und erzählt obendrein eine schöne Geschichte. Wer Empire Earth 3 unbedingt haben will, sollte zumindest die nächsten Patches abwarten.

Gamesmania.de (63 out of 100)

Es hätte so schön werden können: Der erste Teil gehörte seiner Zeit zum Besten, was das Echtzeitstrategie-Genre zu bieten hatte und auch der zweite Teil war gut, lediglich ein wenig zu komplex. Doch was Mad Doc Software hier abgeliefert hat, dürfte diese Echtzeitstrategie-Serie ernsthaft gefährden. Es gibt wirklich keinen Grund, sich dieses Spiel zuzulegen, schon gar nicht für Fans der Vorgänger. Statt hier unnötig Geld zu investieren empfiehlt es sich, den ersten Teil zu entstauben und auf die Festplatte zu packen. Denn abgesehen von der Grafik dürfte der erste Teil der Neuauflage in allen Belangen überlegen sein.

GameWatcher / Strategy Informer (5.8 out of 10)

I loved Empire Earth and still do to this day, but Empire Earth III is literally in a universe of its own. It barely takes anything of worth from its root and instead we are left with an unremarkable real-time strategy. Even if the bugs were to be addressed there are so many fundamental shortcomings still laid bare that unless a major revival happens it looks like Sierra’s Empire Earth is about to suffer the fate of all once great Empires and fall into memory.

ActionTrip (57 out of 100)

With nothing to lure you in -- aside from a variety of units, a few nice tunes and a solid multiplayer -- it would be best if you skipped this one (it's not like you don't have anything better to play).

Video Game Generation (5.5 out of 10)

Playing Empire Earth III was love/hate all the way through. I loved the concept and the distinctive races, but hated the little things that interrupted the game experience. One thing is certain though - gamers who enjoy robust RTS experiences will not like Empire Earth III. If you’re new to the genre or aren’t a hardcore RTS gamer, you might be able to see through some of Empire Earth III’s less endearing qualities. In the end, however, it seems like an unfinished game. Even the manual is incomplete. It’s lacks detailed descriptions of each race and their unique units (only a basic summary of each race is provided). There’s also no quick reference chart for common commands or a build structure chart...simple documentation that’s standard fare for RTS games. I hate to say this, but Empire Earth III is incomplete and mediocre. It’s entertaining, but not nearly enough to justify it’s current price of $49.99.

Game Chronicles (5.5 out of 10)

Empire Earth III seems like the WalMart of strategy games – you can find almost anything you want, but most of it is utter junk. Sure, it's cool to watch your troops go from bronze spears to laser guns. But then again the Age of Empires and Total War series do a much better job of recreating ancient combat, and if I want to have fun with giant armored robots I'll go play Supreme Commander.

Hry Sme (5.5 out of 10)

Empire Earth III nie je dôstojným nástupcom svojich dvoch mladších predkov. Hra je degradovaná na úroveň štandardnej real-time stratégie, navyše patriacej k tým horším, čo trh ponúka. V oblasti hrateľnosti, ani po technickej stránke neznesie porovnanie s modernými stratégiami, no s prehľadom ju porážajú aj niekoľko rokov staré hry. V kombinácií s krvavými hardwarovými nárokmi je to závažné mínus, ktoré môže väčšinu potenciálnych kupcov od kúpy hry odradiť. Empire Earth III bohužiaľ sklamalo a pravdepodobne ani napriek predpokladom na komerčný úspech, na trhu veľa vody nenamúti.

IGN (5.4 out of 10)

Fans of the series will be disappointed that the sequel removes much of the complexity and variety that separated Empire Earth from the other RTS games. Where the previous games had over a dozen distinct eras and tons of historical civs with unique bonuses, Empire Earth III reduces it down to bare essentials. You can play as the tech-heavy West, the population heavy East, or the unconventional Middle East. Beginning in the Ancient era, you'll have the chance to progress through to Medieval, Colonial, Modern and Future as the game progresses.

Play.tm (53 out of 100)

In conclusion it would seem as though Mad Doc strayed a little too far from what made this franchise appealing, which is a real shame especially as it was one of the RTS games that went for complexity and variation, and as I stated before in such an overpopulated market every title needs to have a distinct niche or offer progression of the genre. Unfortunately for Empire Earth III, some very bad AI coupled with terrible path finding, a watered down experience, frustrating battles and terrible use of character speech leads me to suggest that you spend your hard earned cash on one of the finer genre examples of late, such as Age of Empires 3 or Supreme Commander.

Power Unlimited (50 out of 100)

Empire Earth III biedt degelijke RTS gameplay waarin diepgang en fun uitermate knap in balans zijn.

Worth Playing (5 out of 10)

For a franchise that started out by redefining the RTS genre, Empire Earth III has sadly taken a serious turn for the worse, and in this incarnation, you'll find very little of what made the original Empire Earth great. You can probably get a few good games out of both the skirmish and multiplayer modes if you can tolerate the annoying combat unit responses, dated graphics and clunky gameplay. I, for one, will be keeping my fingers crossed that Empire Earth can be returned to its former glory someday, but until then, you'll probably want to do what the developer of Empire Earth III has done and forget that it ever existed.

Gamer.co.il (50 out of 100)

זה לא שאמפייר ארת' 3 הוא לא משחק טוב, פשוט... נו, על מי אני עובד. אמפייר ארת' 3 הוא משחק לא טוב. מבחינת המכניקה שלו, הוא מזכיר יותר את משחקי האסטרטגיה בזמן-אמת של סוף המאה הקודמת מאשר משהו שיכול לעמוד בכבוד על מדפי המשחקים היום. מבחינת כל מה שעוטף את המכניקה שלו, הוא פשוט לא עובד טוב. אם סדרת אמפייר ארת' מנסה לייצג בצורה נאמנה את התפתחות התרבות האנושית, אמפייר ארת' 3 מייצג את מה שישאר אחרי השואה הגרעינית, כשרק הג'וקים ישארו לשלוט בעולם.

1UP (5 out of 10)

The game's intense instability and memory leaks act as unfortunate deterrents to the fun stuff, though. "Woot, I've won!" you rejoice. "Now let's analyze those stats." Crash message: "Empire Earth III has stopped working." Well, duh. The game even throws some fun "out of video memory" messages, even on top-end videocards. And when things aren't acting up, the A.I.'s gimped. It executes some unbelievable "strategies," like almost never leaving its beginning archipelago island -- even in expert mode. Unit movement is beyond clunky, especially for ships; even with waypoints, you constantly have to babysit your formations.

UOL Jogos ( )

"Empire Earth III" é o ponto baixo de uma franquia promissora que resolveu descartar justamente tudo o que ela tinha de interessante; seu alto nível de complexidade foi deixado de lado para dar lugar a um sistema básico que hoje não tem mais lugar. A nova direção tomada também parece ter afetado o jogo tecnicamente, que se apresenta simplório e com algumas escolhas de design questionáveis, principalmente no estranho senso de humor e no desenho de algumas unidades e suas funções.

4Players.de (48 out of 100)

Empire Earth III ist der glanzlose Tiefpunkt der Serie. Wem die ersten beiden Teile gefallen haben, der wird von diesem kastrierten Machwerk genau so enttäuscht sein wie ich. Nahezu alle typischen Elemente wurden mit einer Heckenschere entstellt und übrig geblieben ist ein viel zu einfach gestricktes, unfertiges Echtzeit-Strategiespiel. Der Welteroberungsmodus reizte anfänglich, aber als sich die Scharmützel immer und immer wiederholten, die gleichen Ziele aufkeimten und andauernd die gleiche anspruchslose Aufbauphase runtergerattert werden musste, blieb von der anfänglich nett klingenden Idee kaum etwas übrig. Zu der viel zu simplen Struktur gesellen sich eklatante technische Probleme, horrende Hardwareanforderungen, scheunentorgroße Computerintelligenzmacken sowie eine grottige Wegfindung. Selbst die drei Fraktionen mit ihren nervtötenden Kommentaren können die Wertung nicht mehr aus dem Keller retten.

YouGamers (48 out of 100)

In a year of excellent RTS titles, Empire Earth 3 has nothing to offer. In an effort to garner mass appeal, the game has been dumbed down to the point of irrelevancy. Series fans have no reason to return, and newcomers have no reason to show up in the first place. Empire Earth 3 is the epitome of a video game series' death knell.

Giery.eu (18 out of 40)

Kto grał w poprzednie dwie części gry, tym razem może czuć się zawiedziony. Empire Earth III został bardzo uproszczony i zamiast posuwać się do przodu, wykonał duży skok w tył (można powiedzieć, że o kilka epok). Dość mała liczba dostępnych opcji, fatalne błędy w samej rozgrywce, spore wymagania sprzętowe… tak w skrócie można opisać produkcję. Jeżeli ktoś grał i jest zadowolony z poprzednich części tytułu, to niech tak pozostanie. Lepiej z daleka omijać Empire Earth III niż sobie niepotrzebnie psuć humor...

Absolute Games (AG.ru) (40 out of 99)

Очередная безликая RTS с потертой графикой, шаблонным геймплеем и раздутыми амбициями.

Eurogamer.net (UK) (4 out of 10)

Empire Earth 3 simply tries too hard to be popular. In doing so, it strips out everything that made it good in the first place and forgets to replace it with something equally worthwhile. The key mental image here is of a whole gaggle of babies sitting with shocked expressions in a steaming drain while Mad Doc's developers carry the bath back indoors. As a continuation of a generally likeable franchise, this could hardly have been more disappointing.

Armchair Empire, The (4 out of 10)

While going through the game, even the World Domination mode, I got the feeling that I'd seen this all somewhere before, and not from the previous two games in the Empire Earth series. It didn't really occur me until just now that EE3 is little more than StarCraft with a thin veneer of historical flavor to it. The basic similarities are just too obvious to ignore. What's worse is that it lacks all the personality found in StarCraft and the previous two Empire Earth games. I can understand a game being derivative, but only so long as it adds something good to the mix. Empire Earth III fails to meet up to the standards of the games that came before it. It has failed to learn from its own history. I can only hope that the average gamer will not be doomed to repeat it.

GameSpy ( )

Empire Earth III had some solid ideas behind it. The system of territory control, the balance of the economic model, and the world domination map all represent some great game mechanics. But PC strategy gamers have a lot to choose from on store shelves these days, and bugs, muddled combat, or weak AI aren't things that strategy fans have to live with. It pains us to admit it as fans of the franchise, but this Empire is definitely in decline.

GameSpot (3.5 out of 10)

While it may be a lot smoother and simpler than its predecessors, Empire Earth III has been dumbed down to the point of irrelevance.

GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands) (35 out of 100)

We zouden het nog kunnen hebben over de buggy multiplayer, de vele bugs en de topzware systeemeisen. Maar waarom? Empire Earth was een reeks met liefhebbers en haters, maar we zijn er redelijk zeker van dat die eerste soort na versie 3 met uitsterven bedreigd wordt.

Level (3.5 out of 10)

Ei bine, acum să demontăm şi engine-ul grafic şi am terminat. E groaznic. Pe lângă faptul că eşti obligat să joci un joc simplu şi care merge prost, mai trebuie şi să-ţi pui ochelari care atenuează culorile. În plus, trebuie ca pe fiecare hartă să construiţi baza, să faceţi upgrade-uri, să faceţi armata, care nu respectă deloc niciun standard grafic actual. Te doare capul, te dor ochii, te doare ceafa pentru că trebuie să o faci. Înghiţi în sec după care la un moment dat nu mai ai de ales decât să renunţi. Şi renunţi, pentru că afară e frumos, pentru că piaţa e plină de jocuri competitive şi pentru că ochii trebuie să vadă lucruri frumoase. NU vă atingeţi de jocul acesta că e mai rău decât cel mai rău. Lăsaţi-l... sunt şi altele. Ah, şi aruncaţi-l dacă l-aţi luat, pentru că dacă va trebui să fugiţi pe o insulă pustie şi singurul joc la îndemână va fi acesta…

Fragland.net (33 out of 100)

In short: a huge smear on the image of the entire Empire Earth series.

Yiya (D+)

Es ist wirklich erschreckend, was die Entwickler aus einem ehemals großen, umfangreichen, komplexen und schönen Spiel gemacht haben. Sehr viel, was Empire Earth 1 und 2 auszeichnete, wurde gestrichen. Das Spiel wurde auf ein seelenloses RTS zusammengestaucht. Ein Spiel mit rudimentärem Basisbau und überschaubarer Einheitenzahl. Die fehlende Kampagne, der öde Welteroberungsmodus, KI-Schwächen, schwache Performance und andere Kleinigkeiten sorgen daher im Endeffekt dafür, dass Teil 3 nicht nur der schwächste Teil der Serie, sondern auch eins der schwächsten RTS-Games des Jahres 2007 ist.

GamingExcellence (3.2 out of 10)

One paragraph in this whole review, however, is not going to save a game. It’s just simply not fun to play. Numerous bugs in the game have been successfully patched out, and I generally don’t like mentioning technical faults anyway, but the problem with the title lays in the core mechanics of the gameplay: the pace, the units, the strategy. Little of it is there, and what is just isn’t worth playing.

Gamer.nl (3 out of 10)

Empire Earth III is een absolute afrader. Ook al krijg je ‘em voor een paar tientjes, voor mijn part zelfs gratis, dan nog zou ik zeggen: doe het niet! Zelfs als je hem nu in de budgetbakken treft, moet je deze straal voorbijlopen. Ik snap ook gelijk waarom ik dit spel onder de stapel der PC-spellen heb laten liggen. Terecht vraagt u? Daar is maar één antwoord op mogelijk: een volmondig JA!

PC Arena - Game Arena (3 out of 10)

Producent chciał, by znany tytuł trafił do szerszego grona odbiorców, a wyszedł mu produkt, którego chyba nikt nie polubi. Jako, że ocena może być dla wielu bardzo kontrowersyjna chcę zaznaczyć, że w moich oczach pierwsze dwie części zasługują na najwyższe uznanie, ale to co tym razem trafia do rąk klientów nigdy nie powinno powstać.

Game Revolution (D-)

I think Empire Earth III should get a special patch some time soon. If a user voluntarily chooses to quit, it should pop up a dialog box that states, “Baby, why you gotta make me hit you?” Honestly, if the game didn't try to make you hate it, it would be perfectly tolerable, maybe even enjoyable.