In my Oblivion Remastered playthroughs, Speed is my favored attribute. I currently play a female Nord Barbarian, and it is an incredibly interesting way to play the game.
Rather playing a lumbering knight or warrior, as a barbarian you focus on quick movement towards to victory over your opponents. The importance is on quick hits that have a concentration on damage over a slow battle. Speed tends to get not as much attention in the Elder Scrolls games. However, in Oblivion they are well worth your time and make the gameplay have more frantic and fluid pacing which helps to ease players with the somewhat clunky combat systems in the game.
It seems that there is no shortage of videos complaining about the state of video games. There are some users who try to say that the video game industry is healthy, but the truth is sobering that the industry is not healthy no matter what one says. It has been trending towards a state of stagnation and open disdain for the people who made it what it is today: the gamers.
Such sentiments seem to be arising out of a culture of complacency which seems to have seeped into the industry due to its own successes. The 1983 Video Game Calamity which struck the industry has been the rear-view mirror since Nintendo came and rescued the home video game market with the Home Entertainment System.
However, there is still a wealth of old games that are just waiting to be discovered once again and give us hope about the future of this great means of storytelling. One of those games is Empire Earth 2.
The thing that Empire Earth II has the most modern games do not have is that the game show a desire for actual innovation while respecting its foundations that were in the original game.
The interface of Empire Earth 2 is more clunky than intuitive to the player. However, one can appreciate how the developers were trying to put as much effort into putting as many features as possible into the menu. Some games such as the recently released Civilization VII, represent a regression in showing information to the player. In Empire Earth 2, every button, every signal has a purpose. Maybe they overloaded the player with choices but I prefer more choice than not having any choice.
What I really love about this game is the weather effects. Age of Empires IV, in spite of being a beautiful game skimps on the weather and it shows. There is too much of a desire to optimize every single feature so people do not complain.
In my opinion, it is better to have people complain and have a great product. If it is able to stand on its own, the crowds will come regardless of initial skepticism surrounding the game.
What Empire Earth 2 has is ability to stand on its own without relying on nostalgia. The sequel is able to improve upon the foundations without disrespecting it. The game seems like a reasonable approach to the need for change and innovation in a game series that was very successful when it launched in the early 2000s.
Overoptimization is the bane of the Video Game Industry. Let’s return to rough around the edges.
Empire Earth was released some 20 years ago and the yet the game is an amazing piece of software engineering and artistry. While Empire Earth is still a classic game, I prefer Empire Earth 2 simply because it combines the original with the Civilization series. This is a similar change that seems to occur to many games in their second iterations. Generally speaking, the original is the rough experimentation and sometimes it becomes more complex or less complex. Empire Earth 2 is the more complex approach and it is truly magnificent game with some rough edges around it.
Empire Earth 2 was a beefy game when it came out in 2005. In comparison with other RTS games, it sought to have a holisitic approach and combine many genres together. The original game was somewhat more RTS than a TBG(Turn-based game). Empire Earth was more about giving the player control and the emphasis on being a grander version of Age of Empires.
Empire Earth 2’s weather effects are a remarkable aspect of this game. Often video games in the contemporary era seem to shy away from such effects, choosing instead to focus on streamlining the experience.
Empire Earth was made in a time when streamlining was mostly something that one saw in console ports not in the PC market. Gaming on the PC was still its own hidden world, one that was separate from the consoles. It was the equivalent of finding a huge city in an endless stream of jungles. Empire Earth 2 had the privilege of having been right at the peak of PC gaming before it became too mainstream and would have its edges smoothed out by an influx of new players.
The Parthenon in this game is a true testament to this game’s beauty.
Sometimes, the best games are found in the past not the present.
While it may not young anymore, it still shines brightly and that why I enjoy playing this game and share it online with gamers.
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