• Publisher: Stardock
  • Release Date: Feb 4, 2008
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 221 Ratings

  • Summary: Sins of a Solar Empire represents the birth of the RT4X genre, seamlessly blending spectacular tactical combat with grand-scale space strategy. Players must conquer worlds, engage in diplomacy and trade with other civilizations, and use the resources at their disposal to enhance their economy, develop new technology and increase military power. They must then test their mettle on a 3D tactical battlefield, where their ships will fight it out in stunning visual glory. [Stardock] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 52
  2. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. Combining elements from different genres is a risky proposition, but Ironclad has managed to create a truly unique hybrid with Sins of a Solar Empire. It may leave purists of either genre confused, but it will undoubtedly cultivate a following of its own.
  2. If you enjoy space battles that are featured in Babylon 5 and other space operas, this game is for you.
  3. Give it time and you'll find this to be a deep, involving real-time strategy game that'll last you for months. [June 2008, p.83]
  4. The problem with Sins isn't that it begs, borrows and steals; it's that it combines everything improperly and streamlines it so much that it whittles away its own soul.

See all 52 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 78 out of 96
  2. Negative: 15 out of 96
  1. An excellent strategy game, with great amounts of variety, especially in the upcoming Rebellion expansion. Controls take a little bit to get the hang of, but after that it's fun as can be. Only drawback is the lack of a single-player campaign, but I believe that's being worked on in the Rebellion expansion as well. The other two expansions, Entrenchment and Diplomacy, add different technologies and structures while still building on the backstory to the game itself. In place of single-player campaigns, it has multiple scenarios in varying sizes. Without a doubt a fun strategy game. Expand
  2. An excellent 4X type game. You really get the sense of massive ships blasting each other apart. Games take a very long time to play out, but if you enjoy the genre this won't matter. The graphics are decent, I really enjoy the multiple independent guns on the capitol ships.

    The big drawback is that there is no single player campaign.
    Expand
  3. Tristan
    5
    Bland and unoriginal. The capital ship system is identical to WC3's hero system, the space battles look boring, there is no storyline, there are no backgrounds for the races or ships, the gameplay feels like any other RTS game where you churn out units to throw into combat. The voice acting is ok, the music is quite good and the graphics are nothing spectacular. Expand
  4. Pontifex
    4
    Starcraft meets Masters of Orion. Not terribly impressive at either. Loses a lot of points for not having a SINGLE PLAYER campaign. Were they too busy ripping off two superior games to hire some voice actors and a decent script writer? A single player serves two functions: To get the player used to the controls and the interface and To entertain. So this game really loses points for not having one. I would go so far as to label it "half a game" because of its short coming. Expand

See all 96 User Reviews