Universe at War: Earth Assault Review

Why won't these aliens stop invading us already?
by Steve Butts

December 14, 2007 - On the surface, Universe at War: Earth Assault is your standard base laying, resource harvesting, unit building affair. But what Petroglyph has done is to take that basic framework and use it to create a game with three wildly unique but finely balanced factions that each offer a level of real-time customization that gives players a chance to really adapt to the changing circumstances on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the game's campaign doesn't do justice to the overall design while a number of sticky interface and performance problems add to the frustrations.

In brief, Universe at War tells the story of an alien invasion of Earth, our timely rescue by an otherworldly benefactor and the eventual arrival of a third group of aliens who have been awakened by the whole mess. Of course, any one who's paid any attention to anything vaguely resembling science fiction has seen all of this before. We have the requisite giant multi-legged walkers, the flying anthropomorphic anime robots, and, of course, the ancient mystics who were long thought dead. It has a real paint-by-numbers feel that hides any of Petroglyph's original ideas behind a thick coating of overused cliches. We might be more likely to accept it all if we were more convinced that Petroglyph intended the whole thing to come off as kitsch rather than homage. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on that one.

The one really nice thing about the story is that Petroglyph pushes humanity to the side pretty quickly. We've about had our fill of games where the plucky humans fight back against cruel invading aliens so having a game where the real fight is among different groups of aliens who are merely using humanity as a backdrop is a welcome change of pace. Of course, we'll see what happens come expansion time.

Now, with all that said, the actual gameplay concepts behind each of the races are amazing, not just in their individual strengths but in the fact that they each feel like they might have come from completely different games. Better still, each faction has some far-reaching universal powers that they can adjust on the fly to give their forces an edge in one particular area or another.

The Novus are a high-tech but fragile force that relies on an amazingly interesting system of energy towers that give them a level of mobility that I don't think we've ever seen in any other game. Being able to move large forces around in a matter of a few seconds gives them the opportunity to strike virtually anywhere on the map with lots and lots of inexpensive units. Their resource gathering units are so numerous and agile that it's hard to strike at their economy in the field, meaning you'll have to actually hit them at their base to keep them from continually swarming you.

The Hierarchy are pretty much the opposite. They're much slower but they have the distinct advantage of lacking a sizable base infrastructure. Instead, their force revolves around self-sufficient resource gathers (who aren't too terrible in defending themselves) and massive walkers that can be upgraded with hardpoints either for powerful direct fire weapons or for unit production. The Hierarchy player is basically working with three mobile bases that act as siege weapons and barracks at the same time. Marching them right up to the edge of an enemy base and pumping out fresh troops while their guns are pounding the base defenders is one of the most fun moments you'll have in the game.

Finally, there's the Masari. These ancient, godlike people are soon drawn in to the conflict between the Novus and the Hierarchy and they bring their very own, very unique play style to the mix. Their resource collection efforts are actually centered at their base, giving them a chance to consolidate their power until they can really let loose with their late game powers and heroes. Their builders can actually be tasked on different buildings to improve their functionality, giving the Masari a tremendous versatility. If you want a slight edge in resource production, unit training, or research speed all you have to do is shuffle your architects around. The Masari can also shift the focus of their entire strategy by switching back and forth between Light and Dark mode depending on whether or not they need to put more of a premium on speed over protection. The chance to drastically change the overall abilities and strengths of the army make them a hard foe to counter.