Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Empire Earth: Ultimate Edition brings together five major releases in the celebrated Empire Earth series, each with its own spin on the 4X real-time strategy formula. From the original game’s seamless transition through 14 distinct epochs to the futuristic tech-tree of Empire Earth III, players will find a staggering breadth of content. You’ll start with Stone Age villagers chiseling away at cliffsides and eventually command laser-equipped warheads in a space-age theater of war—all within the same interface.

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The Art of Conquest and The Art of Supremacy expansions deepen the experience by introducing new campaigns, alternate histories and powerful hero units. In the first game’s expansion, you’ll rally Alexander the Great’s armies, whereas the second expansion for EE II throws an alien menace into your path. These expansions aren’t mere map packs: they bring unique units, fresh civilizations and campaign objectives that reward creative thinking and careful timing.

Multiplayer enthusiasts will appreciate the cross-title lobby, letting veterans of any installment drop into skirmishes with five other commanders. The suite’s AI has seen iterative improvements—Empire Earth II’s more aggressive computer foes will challenge new players, while the original’s more forgiving opponents invite newcomers to learn the ropes. Unit pathfinding and resource collection remain intuitive, though occasional stutters in large-scale battles remind you that this compilation spans nearly a decade of engine designs.

All told, Ultimate Edition rewards both short sessions and marathon campaigns. The sheer scale of civilizations, technologies and scenarios on offer ensures that you’ll never run out of strategic permutations. Whether you’re micromanaging citizens in a medieval kingdom or marshaling orbital railguns in the distant future, the variety on display is a testament to the series’ enduring design.

Graphics

Visually, Empire Earth: Ultimate Edition is a time capsule of early-2000s RTS artistry. The original game’s isometric landscapes and charmingly cartoonish units have been carried over faithfully, and the add-ons for EE II and III push the series into fully 3D terrain with more realistic textures and dynamic lighting. Buildings look solid, foliage casts proper shadows, and water effects—especially in the later titles—ripple convincingly beneath your fleet of triremes.

That said, you’ll notice disparities between entries. Empire Earth III, released in 2007, sports higher-resolution models and more detailed particle effects, but it also has a distinct “blocky” aesthetic compared to the elegant silhouette style of its predecessors. Textures can appear stretched on ultra-wide monitors without community patches, and some of the original menus feel pixelated at 4K resolutions. A handful of fan mods can smooth out those rough edges, though they require a bit of manual installation.

Animations remain serviceable across the board: catapults heave stones with satisfying arcs, soldiers charge with convincing weight, and futuristic mechs stomp with mechanical precision. Cinematic intros for each campaign have aged gracefully, with slightly grainy video that evokes nostalgia more than it deters immersion. If you’re seeking cutting-edge visuals, you might be underwhelmed—but as a historical sampler of RTS graphics evolution, the compilation stands unrivaled.

Ultimately, Ultimate Edition isn’t about photorealism—it’s about clarity on the battlefield. Units remain distinct at high zoom levels, color-coded civilizations stand out on large maps, and interface icons are sharp enough to communicate complex build orders at a glance. In crowded team battles, you’ll still be able to pick out your trebuchets from enemy archers without squinting at the screen.

Story

Empire Earth’s original campaign feels like a whirlwind tour through recorded history, as you guide shepherds into city-builders, eventually launching rockets to the moon. Narrative hooks are often light—“Crush your foes and build your empire”—but the epic sweep from antiquity to tomorrow makes every mission feel momentous. You’ll cross paths with historical titans from Gandhi to Churchill, even if the dialogue can be occasionally stilted.

The Art of Conquest tosses a fascinating “what if” into the mix by reimagining Alexander’s final battles, infusing mythological elements without straying too far from the series’ grounded roots. Its blend of history and legend offers fresh tactical puzzles, challenging you to hold phalanx lines while battling fantastical beasts. Similarly, The Art of Supremacy for EE II escalates the stakes with an interplanetary alien incursion, forcing you to develop high-tech weaponry and face foes that laugh at traditional defenses.

In Empire Earth III, the storyline narrows to three distinct factions—Western Coalition, Eastern Alliance, and the mysterious PACT—each with its own motivations and technological flair. Although the dialogue occasionally borders on cliché and some characters are given scant development, the branching mission paths and varied objectives help maintain momentum. You’ll push through desert fortresses one moment, then repel cyber-enhanced infantry in high-rise cityscapes the next.

For lore aficionados, the compilation offers over 100 campaign missions that chart humanity’s rise, fall and speculative future. While you won’t find Oscar-worthy voice acting or deep character arcs, the overarching narrative is cohesive enough to keep you invested through the centuries. If you prefer emergent stories shaped by your own multiplayer skirmishes, you’ll find the same sandbox ethos that made the original so memorable.

Overall Experience

Empire Earth: Ultimate Edition stands as a monumental RTS bundle, offering more content than many modern strategy games launch with. Its blend of five full titles and four major expansions translates into hundreds of hours of single-player missions, skirmishes and multiplayer possibilities. At a budget-friendly price point, it’s an unbeatable value for strategy enthusiasts.

Installing and patching can require patience—separate executables for each game and community fixes to unlock widescreen and Steam LAN support mean you might spend as much time tweaking compatibility as you do commanding armies. Once you’re past the setup, however, the series’ tight unit controls, deep tech trees and epoch-shifting mechanics coalesce into an addictive loop that never feels stale.

Community support remains strong, with dedicated modders breathing new life into graphics, AI behavior and user interface improvements. Lobbies still populate during peak hours, and fan-run tournaments showcase the series’ enduring competitive appeal. For newcomers, the learning curve is gradual, thanks to in-game tutorials and the ability to dial down AI difficulty, but veterans will appreciate the advanced strategies unlocked by hundreds of unique units.

Whether you’re revisiting a beloved classic or exploring the franchise for the first time, Empire Earth: Ultimate Edition offers a colossal journey from man’s earliest villages to interstellar outposts. Despite minor aging pains, the compilation’s breadth of content, strategic depth and historic scope make it a must-own for anyone hungry for a comprehensive real-time strategy experience.

Retro Replay Score

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