Fantastic EE2 Article

[Cole]

This article is a very balanced one. It sums it up completely.
http://www.heavengames.com/previews/EE2/index_html

The conclusion is a great piece of writing. I think this article may infact turn a few heads after they read the conclusion. I will quote it here,

Socvazius Conclusion
I'll admit, I wasn't expecting Empire Earth 2 to be an exceptionally good game. Would it be adequate? Sure, but nothing I'd enjoy spending late hours and gallons of coffee on. Graphically, it's not too impressive, but it's gameplay is just damn fun. The insane customizability of the game - from defensive strength to the actual speed of most actions - means that just about every anal-retentive, nitpicky RTS'er like yours truly will have their own favorite gameplay design to play with.

I didn't like the fact that teching up was rather mechanical and the technologies had no identity and feel of their own, but having technologies as prerequisites to advancing an epoch is something I prefer over the Age series' building prereqs. One thing I did absolutely love was the citizen manager; it's definitely worth micromanaging your citizens early in the game, but the citizen manager in late game - when you're spending all your time on your troops - is the best damn minor economic change to any RTS game I've seen.

On the first game or two, Empire Earth 2 felt like Rise of Nations; territories, the method of teching up, all that jazz made the game feel just as though it were a RoN clone, most of the EE2U'ers agreed with me. But as I played it more, the feel of the game really started to show itself. The whole setup of the game makes it conducive to being similar to Rise of Nations, but Empire Earth 2 does have its own distinct feel and enjoyable gameplay.

While I was impressed with Empire Earth 2 and am quite eager to get the gold version when it's released, I'm skeptical of its appeal to casual American gamers. The game can be simplified for those unfamiliar with RTS games, but its sheer scale will still be pretty intimidating to most casual gamers. Heck, it was difficult for all of us to get accustomed to the game until we had played our first game and had some instruction from Ian, and we're some hardcore RTS gamers. I think it will appeal to the European audience no matter what, but American gamers may not like it as much. I guess we'll see, but I'm buying the game nonetheless.