Is Space Empires IV Worth Buying?

Emperor Zodd · #1 February 3rd, 2001, 07:48 AM

Taipan, maybe you should consider moving.

WendellM · #2 February 3rd, 2001, 08:04 AM

Chips & Bits sells SE4 for US$42.95 plus US$12 (2+3.50+6.50) for standard (7-14 day) international shipping: http://www.cdmag.com/cgi-bin/order.cbi_home

Works out a little cheaper overall.

Atrocities · #3 February 3rd, 2001, 08:21 AM

Is SE IV worth buying. In a word, yes. Did you enjoy the demo? If so, then you will enjoy the full Version.

The game has a lot of hours of game play. I spent the money, and am happy that I did. Very happy. In fact, I have not gone to work in over 3 months because of this game. J/K

The game is a lot of fun for me, and I have shown it to others, and a few of them have ordered it.

All I can offer is this. If you enjoyed the demo, then get the full Version.

------------------
"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Patric Stewart as Captain Picard
UCP/TCO Ship Yards

Taipan · #4 February 3rd, 2001, 11:46 AM

lol Emperor Zodd. Nah, couldn't move from this place. Much too much the lucky country.

WendellM, thanks for the link to Chips & Bits. Makes it a bit cheaper.

Atrocities, yeah I am enjoying the demo. Need to play it a bit more to make sure it is worth forking out the $$ for it. Looks good so far, but I only downloaded it on Thursday night.

Again, thanks for the replies.

Taipan

jimbob55 · #5 February 4th, 2001, 02:17 AM

Tricky question....

The game has great potential. As it is though, without mods. It's pretty crap. There is no balancing of weapons + techs. There is no decent AI. The graphics, while new + improved over SE3 are still not superior to civ2... In fact in many was the interface is inferior to civ2. There are few sounds, some of the menu systems are clunky to get where you want to go...

All that said. Add a few mods or wait a while for patches and it will become one of the better / best 4x games on the market for some time. It's always going to be lacking in eye candy, it's always going to be lacking 3d surround sound but it will (eventually) have depth. It's possible to set up an entirely original tech tree, AI + construction set for yourself or to share with friends..
So if you like playing a challenging AI out of the box, or zipping round in 3d terrain sims then you probably wouldn't be here. If you are prepared to deal with its little imperfections, it will keep you busy. I say buy it, but it's a game for life not just for christmas.

Hmmm, sounds a little more gushing than I intended.

Instar · #6 February 4th, 2001, 08:15 PM

"It's pretty crap. "
Disagreee, the game is wonderful without mods (or with if you want)

raynor · #7 February 4th, 2001, 08:52 PM

I played Civ, CivII and Alpha Centauri. I think each one is a great game. Civ was a DOS game with not too many frills. It had VGA graphics but that's about it. CivII added slightly prettier graphics and better music and nice cinematic sequences for these special projects called 'Wonders'. The first time through the game, I watched every movie but then I skipped over them to get back to the gameplay. Alpha Centauri had similar quality graphics and sound and the movies. It added some neat sound effects to combat. The first couple of games, I left that turned on. But after that, I turned it off so that combat would resolve faster so I could get back to the gameplay.

Then, by chance, I read about SEIV on http://www.gamespot.com and downloaded the Demo. Finally, I thought, here is a program author who really 'Gets' it. He realized that a lot of us strategy gamers think the eye-candy and 3D sound is pretty impressive the first few times through the game. But after that, we just turn it off so we can get on with the game. He realized that he would probably make us happier if he instead wrote a deeper and more detailed game.

If you want all that glitz but don't care to play a very deep and detailed game, go checkout Imperium Galactica. This game has the graphics and sound but no depth. I played one game but not a second. I still have it and would probably *GIVE* it to you if you lived nearby.

What SEIV does that is so much more incredible than anything I could have ever imagined is allow you to customize the game. Hmm... don't like the way the Xiati race's ships look like? You can replace them with ships that look like Star Wars, or Star Trek or Babylon 5 or whatever. You can also customize how races behave--what they research, what the build, etc. You can even change fundamental rules of the game. Isn't that amazing?!? Do you know how hard it is to create a game that lets you change so much?!?

Bottom line: if you 'claim' to like playing strategy games, then you are made a liar if you don't buy this game.