You are here:About>Electronics & Gadgets>XBox Games> Xbox 360 Reviews> Universe At War: Earth Assault Review (X360)
About.comXBox Games
SEGA
Newsletters & RSSEmail to a friendSubmit to Digg

Universe At War: Earth Assault Review (X360)

From Eric Qualls,
Your Guide to XBox Games.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Guide Rating - rating
Compare Prices
2007’s Command and Conquer 3 proved that real-time-strategy games can work just fine on consoles if you follow a few rules. Keep the gameplay simple and focus on the combat. Don’t make us micromanage too much. Give us nice graphics and a solid framerate. And give us varied and interesting factions to choose from. It was with these things in mind that I approached SEGA’s Universe at War: Earth Assault. Find out if this game follows that formula for success right here in our full review.
Quick Hits

  • Title: Universe At War: Earth Assault
  • Platform: Xbox 360
  • Publisher: SEGA
  • Developer: Petroglyph
  • ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
  • Genre: Real-Time-Strategy
  • Pros: Cool factions; Conquer the World mode
  • Cons: Bland graphics; framerate issues; wonky controls; too complicated for a console RTS

Features

The story in Universe At War: Earth Assault starts off with an interesting premise but fails when it comes to actual storytelling. An evil alien race called the Hierarchy have attacked Earth. Another group called the Novus are sick of the Hierarchy and show up to beat them once and for all. And a third group of aliens called the Masari actually created the Hierarchy eons ago and have only just now realized that their pet project has grown beyond their control. So, basically, the three aliens groups have shown up on Earth to duke it out and we’re caught in the crossfire. In an interesting twist, you don’t actually play as Earth forces. Like I said cool concept. But once you actually start fighting and get into the rest of the story, you are met with bad cutscenes, corny dialogue, and an utter failure to deliver a good story on the great concept. The alien factions all have their own unique quirks and styles and seem interesting enough, but you never get to really dig into what makes them tick.

Gameplay

SEGA
The gameplay is, at its core, just what you expect from a RTS game. You build bases, build soldiers and vehicles, and then go battle it out with the enemy. The execution of this core is where Universe At War fails, however. The key to any RTS is being able to select specific units or groups and send them off to strategic points. Selecting units is very clumsy in UAW, however, (and isn’t helped by the sub-par graphics – more on that below) so picking what unit you want out of a large group is pretty difficult. Most battles end up with a mass “all or nothing” type rush rather than precision attack. It works, but isn’t what RTS is supposed to be about. Another issue is that UAW is heavily research and micromanagement focused, which just doesn’t work well on a console. Wrestling with menus to try and research while building units and then trying to select units already on the battlefield just feels ham-fisted at best. It isn’t intuitive or smooth at all. Despite my negative tone, I’m not saying it is awful or impossible to play. If you dedicate yourself and practice a bit, it isn’t so bad. But it never feels as smooth and easy as C&C3, which is a problem.

Graphics and Sound

Part of Universe At War’s issues has to do with the graphics. The camera is always too close to the ground, even if you pull it all the way back, which makes it a lot trickier to try and manage battles. Also, the framerate fluctuates wildly and drops to the single digits during battles. On top of all of this, the graphics themselves just plain don’t look very good. The environments are bland and the units types aren’t detailed enough that you can easily tell them apart on the fly. Flashy special effects to help to brighten the game up and make it look okay, but it is only average looking at best.

The sound is similarly unspectacular. The music and sound effects are okay, but the voice acting in cutscenes is pretty bad.

Bottom Line

SEGA
All in all, Universe At War: Earth Assault is a PC RTS first and a console RTS second and it shows. Having to micromanage battles and spend a lot of time in research trees just doesn’t work as well with a controller as it does with a mouse and keyboard on the PC. The presentation poses another problem as the graphics are sub-par and there are massive framerate fluctuations that slow the game down to a near-standstill. It just plain wasn’t executed all that well on the Xbox 360. If you are desperate for a new RTS game or you are just desperate to try enjoy this one, it does get better after a few hours when you learn how to put up with it’s downfalls. Most Xbox 360 fans should probably just skip it or just rent it if you are curious. Or you can stick with Command and Conquer 3, which is my plan.
Compare Prices
Las Vegas on a Budget

Find a BargainHotel DealsCheap EatsFree AttractionsEntertainment for Less

 All Topics | Email Article | | |
Advertising Info | News & Events | Work at About | SiteMap | Reprints | HelpOur Story | Be a Guide
User Agreement | Ethics Policy | Patent Info. | Privacy Policy©2008 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.