Empire Earth 2 hurls toward gamers

Gamers will get another crack at taking over the world in 2005 with Empire Earth 2, the sequel to 2001's hit real-time strategy game that was announced today by Vivendi Universal Games.

Considering that Vivendi says the original game has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, it's not surprising that the company is positioning Empire Earth 2 as one of its major titles for next year.

"We are going to great lengths to ensure that the sequel is in every way a worthy successor that builds upon the Empire Earth franchise," said Michael Pole, VU Games' executive vice president of worldwide studios, in a company statement

Empire Earth 2 is being developed by Mad Doc Software, which previously worked on Empire Earth: The Age of Conquest, the expansion pack for the first game, as well as the Dungeon Siege expansion Legends of Aranna. Mad Doc is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, close by to original Empire Earth developer Stainless Steel.

In the game, players will be able to guide one of 14 civilizations from the Stone Age to the future. Mad Doc promises a slew of features, including a new graphics engine, dynamic artificial intelligence that will not cheat, new gameplay elements such as ambient weather and seasons, and more eras and units. There are also new gameplay concepts, including territories, which will allow players to treat land as a resource.

Vivendi and Mad Doc also promise greater accessibility for casual gamers, and Empire Earth 2 will introduce a citizen manager that makes assigning citizens to jobs a lot easier. There will also be a new war system that will let players literally draw arrows on a map indicating where they want their forces to attack. And the game will introduce the crown system, which will temporarily reward players who achieve military, economic, imperialistic, or cultural dominance. Empire Earth 2 will also include nine multiplayer games, including "hot spots," which forces gamers to capture and hold strategic positions on the map.

Empire Earth 2 will be shown at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo. The game is scheduled to come out sometime next year.