Tug of War is a great idea that spreads the battle over multiple maps (three, five, seven, or nine) that represent each side's home territory and the no-man's land between them. Give and take is apparent in the two new skirmish/multiplayer modes as well. Mad Doc has included a civilization editor that allows you to create nations from scratch, but that's still no excuse to ship the expansion with boring additions like these.
The same goes for the campaign, which pits the Russians defending against the French in a snowy struggle that any respectable strategy gamer has already fought a couple of hundred times.
These nations have been featured in nearly every historical RTS ever made and would probably have been in the original Empire Earth if they hadn't been held back for inclusion in this expansion. And the new African region, which includes deserts, scrub plains, and lush jungles, is the setting for a campaign set at the dawn of Egyptian history.īut much of the African novelty is offset by the other two new civilizations, the French and the Russians, and their been-there, done-that Napoleonic campaign. The Maasai campaign is an innovative story about a war with an evil multinational corporation over a newly discovered energy resource in 2037, while the Zulu are featured in new historical "turning points" battles, which deal with the legendary battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879. Incorporating the Maasai and Zulu tribes into the existing mix of 15 RTS-standard civs is absolutely inspired, as African civilizations aren't often brought to life in an RTS. Take the four new civilizations and campaigns, for instance. Yes, even great big guns can be heroes in this expansion pack. The developers at Mad Doc Software balance every good feature in this expansion with something either uninspired or ill-advised. Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy walks the line between new content and reheated leftovers, mixing intriguing additions, such as African tribes and a campaign at the dawn of Egyptian civilization, with bland accoutrements, such as the French civilization and multiplayer rules that nobody will ever use.
Expansions are almost always at one extreme or the other they rarely seem to be simply mediocre. Other times, however, you get a disappointing collection of odds and ends that have been held back from the original game for the express purpose of selling them to gamers for extra cash six months or a year down the line. This might include a new campaign, a fresh faction or two, and maybe even some rule tweaks and new multiplayer modes of play. Sometimes you get great new content that both enhances and lengthens the original game. Expansion packs for real-time strategy games are always a bit of a gamble.
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