Very Smooth...

[TheHellPatrol]

DD'd and played tutorial: No problems and it looks better than any screenshot can express. The camera position is fully movable/zoomable, which is a must on the land battles, and really shows off the ships and planets. Very, very nice and simple to pick up. I can see that there is going to be a big replay value in this title, it's not going to be a play it once game[:)]. Well, off to conquer the galaxy before WAW comes out[;)]...i'll be back with more in depth coverage after some serious gameplay. Great job guys, another winner[8D].

[Siljanus]

Ahh, so there is a tutorial. Sigh, where's my wallet...

[HawaiiFive-O]

If possible, can anyone else post some first impressions?

I'm right on the fence of buying this title, Matrix hasn't let me down yet. [:D]

[GreenDestiny]

The game is very slick so far. I’m really happy about it. Looks like it’s going to be a very good buy.[:)]

[Erik Rutins]

Thanks for your comments folks, much appreciated. Once we straighten out these install/download glitches, hopefully everyone will have a chance to see what you've seen. [8D]

Regards,

- Erik

[DanS]

I have only played the tutorial so far but here are some very first impressions:

1. Customer support - These guys are going above and beyond what I have seen from any other development house in recent years. Kudos to Vance and the team for fast and useful responses to the few problems that have been out there.

2. Interface - Enjoyable to work with. I am still getting used to when I need to use the RMB versus the LMB but everything seems orderly

3. Graphics - Crisp & clean. Not cartoon like.

4. Game play - The tutorial gound battle had me thinking of a board game from a few decades ago named Titan. Some units seem to get perks for fighting on certain planets (e.g. movement hazards avoided).

Like I said, this is a very shallow review but I am enjoying the game so far.

DanS

[myros]

Add a few comments to the above mini-review:

1. Hopefulyl so as nobody can save a game currently looks like
2. Agreed, interface looks and works well. Text looks a little fuzzy at times playing on higher res but not to bad.
3. Graphics ... clean but very "cartoon like" IMO, not a bad things really, they obviously wanted things to be colorful.
4. Game play. I see why it was rated for 'beginers' in the Matrix blurb. Its simplistic for sure, but then again so is chess ;p The depth is more in planning the moves ahead rather in any options in building/researching/customizing etc Personaly I like a LOT more going on with my empire building games. This looks to be a decent and fun game but for me personaly lacks the depth which would pull me in.
5 Map size ... um where are the "huge" playfields? Scrolled all the way down and the biggest map was like 10 planets all sitting across from each other. Maybe Im just used to empire games having really huge areas of space to explore so kinda expected thats what "huge" meant ;p

Sorry if this minireview sounds a little negative but keep in mind my gaming history of playing every wargame and strategy game in history LOL and I probably came in with expectations a little skewed. I think my refrence to chess above may be the truest one as like chess this game may be easy to pick up and play but with a depth that comes as you play and plan your moves.

Myros

[TheHellPatrol]

The smaller maps seem very easy in my experience but that changed when i started a big one. When the ai has a few planets under it's belt it can churn out ships/units and seems to be countering my strategy a la chess[:D]. Very easy to pick up and lots of strategies to try out, i'm having alot of fun with it. I imagine the games other than "conquest" will be a little faster paced being that the ai has the knowledge on how to take it's opponent out without trial and error.
In one land battle(ai had only 1 planet) the ai had all infantry units against my mixed force and at first i laughed thinking...fool, but i was down to my last 2 units and proper use of towers is what got me the win. It's like two games in one and while not overly complex or expansive neither aspects of gameplay suffer. Great stuff![:D]

[wodin]

ORIGINAL: myros

3. Graphics ... clean but very "cartoon like" IMO, not a bad things really, they obviously wanted things to be colorful.

Myros

That was something I noticed aswell. Some of the infantry reminds me of old Sci Fi comics. Very colourfull aswell. Sure the gameplay is fine though.