As the header states this is a great multiplayer 4X'er. If you're looking for the depth and detail that games such as Space Empire or Gal Civ II offer then avoid this, because you will be let down. If you want to enjoy the basics of all the major 4X type games with 2 or more players then this game does it without needing 3rd party software and servers’ ala Space Empires IV email type play. That being said, there are some issues with the network code dropping sync in combat. There is a patch that claims to fix these errors but it only works for the store purchased copy. This game has a large percentage of online sales and the patch will not work for them. That being the case, this company should have considered its patch model based on its sales model. Still, the game works fine right off the download for the majority of its players and the combat sync doesn’t seem to affect game play. The only other technical issue is with design. Given its turn based play, there is no reason the players should not be able to play in a window or be able to drop to the desktop with out a looming crash. Whether or not this can and will be corrected via a future patch is unknown. So those are the down points. Outside of that, the game is well worth the price. It's compact and should play very well on most notebooks. The combat (after the tech tree has grown a bit) look wonderful and very smooth on even lower end systems. Unlike most 4X games, you can pinpoint your attacks to anywhere you want on the enemy ship. This can really add to how effective you are in combat. Also the computer AI is worth using in this to avoid time consuming combat if you know you will end up winning anyway. Most games seem to have a worthless player AI for this and will end up losing a nice portion of a superior fleet due to stupid plays. Having a random tech tree each game is quite refreshing. It helps keep the game for going stagnant by keeping the players from never quite knowing what the others might have. Its simple interface makes multiplay much faster. I've seen reviews that talk about how bad the interface is, but it's not. It's just simple, again for multiplayer reasons since that is the main reason to get this game. It also lends itself well to those who are new to 4x games and find out the hard way you can’t just jump straight into one and play. The tutorial is very good at teaching the basics to new players and old 4X'ers should play it just to learn the in's and outs of the interface. Getting hundreds of moves in this game in a few hours is quite easy and common. Other 4X that have multiplayer (only a few of them and even fewer still available) might take days through an email play system. The sound is pretty basic. It's enough to keep you in the game, but you will do better to have your own music that fits the mood. This seems to be the one thing the developers didn’t really focus on in design. It's not bad, but very basic. Lots of constant repeating tunes and voices. Again, this game is a great 4X multipler game. Most reviews seem to see it as a single player game and trash it for not having the range of detail they want. If you're looking for co-op or head to head in 4X then this is a great game for the price. Like I said earlier, it’s getting harder to find some of the older 4X'ers and even harder to find the few that allow multiplay. On top of that they can be cumbersome for new players to the genre to start off with. This game is great at helping new players and still keeping old 4X'ers happy with a streamlined multiplay setup that's very easy to get going with. Try it for what it was designed for and I bet you'll really enjoy it.
The problem with Sword of the Stars aren’t the funky graphics, or the poor planet management, or the cheesy tech tree. It's the horrible combat. The combat is real time, had it been turn based, (Like in Space Em... Read Full Review
If you are like me, when you first play this game, you might be a little put off. Some of the voice acting is laughable (like the human scientist), the graphics aren't exactly cutting edge, and planetary management is ve... Read Full Review
