The game has a camera zoom to cursor setting (which can be turned off). Even when I zoom off the screen and can't see a single planet, all I do is use the mouse wheel and zoom out until the planets are a speck in the middle of the screen, click on them and then zoom back in. One of my quibbles with the older RTS games was getting around the map without getting lost. Space is attractive and includes planets, asteroids, space dust, space clouds and stars. Most of the ship- and planet-building capabilities are the same for all races until you get up to the top upgrades. You play as one of three different races. There is a choice of pre-set or random maps (large, medium, small). You explore galaxies with varying numbers of planets and up to eight teams, plus pirates (more on them later), and you can work with a diplomacy option. Game play: In this game, you can either play solo or multiplayer (online or private LAN).

There's been a lot of buzz about 'Sins of a Solar Empire.' It's being called an RTX4 game built on an 'unrivaled scale.' The 4X comes from eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. I like exploring without enemies sneaking up from behind and annihilating my cities or me. I'm not fast with the mouse, have a terrible time remembering key maps and keep getting lost on the game map.

I dislike real-time strategy (RTS) games. SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE - COLLECTOR'S EDITION, by Stardock Studios, Windows XP or Vista, rated T for Teen, reviewer's rating 9 (out of 10)Ĭonfession time.

Sins of a solar empire pirates