Space Empires IV

The Good
The game has improved graphics... and that's about it. Having black holes was interesting, but most of the other "new system types" weren't fleshed out and are essentially pointless. The diplomacy function works better in SE4 than it had in SE3, thankfully. No more setting an armada of a thousand ships in orbit around the last world of an empire and then having them refuse to surrender.

The Bad
To start with, my main point. The AI cheats rampantly. The AI in SE3 was honest. This had the drawback of making it look like it was just rolling over to die most times. I had a lot of fun with Space Empires 3. Not because I liked winning so much that I preferred an easily killed opponent, either. Sometimes the computer trounced me thoroughly, and even when it "rolled over and died" that took hundreds of turns and longer. No, I liked it because the game was played fairly. Contrast this to SE4's computer opponents who will expand with an aggression not even possible to a human opponent, and then produce ships with a speed that is again, not possible for a human. Which brings me to a second point. The strategies that worked before in the series are now worthless. The game now requires that you spend a lengthy amount of time doing everything. This would be realistic, if only the AI also spent that long. Oh, and one last problem. The cheerful rebellion. In one game I had my entire empire just a hair under maximum happiness and yet I constantly had planets trying to secede.

The Bottom Line
The game looks good and at first seems good, but cannot be played single-player. It works good in multiplayer, so stick to that.

The Good
Few Space Empires IV games I have begun, so please take this review as a newbie's. Hope I'm not fishing in troubled waters ;)

At first glance, I cannot say SE4 is impressive. However, at second glance (1 minute later) the true radiance of this game appears, and it's enough shining to blind.

I'm not sure, but I think I haven't seen game customizable like this: not only race stats, abilities and personalities, but also victory conditions, maps, sequential or parallel gameplay... and not only from the game, but also on the txt archives. The options to save generated maps and to design even enemy races... all contribute to make SE4 the game YOU really like.

If you want to delve into the level of detail, hope you're an expert speleologist; list all features, twists and options the game has is a hard task: control limited supplies of ships when traveling, choose between hundreds of different planet types to colonize (as each produces a unique number of resources), design any ship/base/ground battery/satellite you can imagine, develop a colony in hundreds of different ways, take care of resources and happiness of citizens, create trade routes, set emergency works, solar systems have their own grid map... cough (better if I take breath before continuing...) Best of all, the interface is a jewel of game designing: easy to learn and accessible. Oh, but don't be afraid of the micromanagement, since governors ("Ministers") are there to help their lord/lady, even in battle.

The best diplomatic system I have seen to date, without a doubt: demand, give, offer, sign any treaty you want, threaten, implore... the possibility to construct the dialog at your will: as a diplomatic model must be. The tech tree is as huge as a sequoya, and the theoretical/practical duality is a nice addition, along with the possibility of researching many projects at once.

The tactical combat is another strong point: much like MOO2, but includes nice options like form task groups. Ships fire and take damage (of course), but also get specials destroyed, firing takes supplies away, damage impairs movement, crews have experience levels... another example of the outstanding level of detail.

I have multi-played this game at a friend's home (sorry!), but sure I'm going to get my copy as soon as possible. Sound and graphics do their job, plain an simple. Need more? No! I don't believe in "love at the first glance". In a market full of mega-hyper 3D environments, Disney games cloned from the previous one and mission-RTS, seeing a game like SE4 is refreshing. All fans of 4X in space should get, at least, the demo, and judge by themselves.

The Bad
Well... on the first game, a program came to my mind: Ascendancy; much than MOO or its sequel. I think it has the same "feel". And that's not negative: Ascendancy was a game I liked, even with all its problems. What I mean is: I have seen something similar before.

Since I don't know previous SE releases, I cannot judge, but looks like SE4 follows the stream of old space-4X, with new ideas and improvement of new ones. That needn't to be negative, though, as old ideas are greatly enhanced. SE4 goes much far (I think) from its predecessors than, let's say, SMAC from Civ.

There is a feature I miss most: a complex and detailed political model. Different government types you can choose from and change, internal planetary affairs, populace ideologies evolving through the game (and your actions), and the like. In short, SE4 is not really innovative if you have played its cousins before.

The Bottom Line
The true spirit of 4X is in this game. Give it a try: hardly will you became disappointed.

The Good
You simply won't find a more in depth XXXX game around. The interface is excellent, everything can be on screen at once practically, no multi menu flipping. The game has very low system requirements, it runs on my 166 32 meg. The variety of play styles makes for very good longevity, from an RPG point attribution system better than Master Of Orions to scenario based play. One of the best features of this game I should pont out is its amazing customisability (look it up), all major game files can be edited from paintbrush and notepad. All in all if I were to compare this to Civ 2 Space Empires 4 wins hands down, but this is VERY much personal opinion so buy it and find out for yourself.

The Bad
This game ended any semblance of a life I had before I got it. So if you value your family, friends, job, sleep and anything which may divert you from this game then dont even get the demo. However real life seems so futile when you have seen what the galaxy has to offer. Oh and the graphics and sound (especially sound and music) are pretty pants.

The Bottom Line
The ultimate XXXX game pick it up from shrapnel games today.