Empire Earth III Information
Sierra has teamed up again with Mad Doc Games to bring a third installment of the epic Empire Earth series.
Empire Earth III is said to be completely reworked. While retaining the general Empire Earth concept of building an empire from pre-historic times right into the future, the designers have decided to go into a new direction with certain aspects of the game.
One significant change is that the game now features 3 "region sets"; Western, Far Eastern, and Middle Eastern. These region sets feature unique units, building styles and even gameplay differences. For example, The Western region has a lower number of units, but makes up for this in their cost and firepower, representing its lead in technology. The Far Eastern region depends upon massing larger numbers of less expensive units, while the Middle Eastern region focuses on more mobile units, such as cavalry and buildings that can be moved. These differences are seen through out the game, even into the future where the 'technological' western region gets the classic Mechs (Mechanised war machines) while the east gets strong genetically engineered beats.
In addition to your normal campaigns and skirmish modes, Empire Earth III presents you with a new world domination mode, wherein a random 3d world is generated with different sectors for you to battle for global domination. This is reported to be the new main focus of the game.
Empire Earth II also presents a new exciting prospect for multiplayer. It has been announced, that in addition to the typical multiplayer skirmish, where anyone can play one or more players online, there is an addition of a persistent multiplayer world domination campaign, which would play sort of like a tournament.
Players will take turns making their moves on the world map, and when two players collide, the game will schedule a real-time strategy battle for them to play. Once the results are in, the game updates the world map and the game continues. This will obviously require a long-term commitment to play, so Mad Doc has a persistent multiplayer server in mind, similar to Civilization IV's pitboss server. One player can keep the server running 24/7, and other players will be able to log in when they have a moment, make their moves, and then log out. Meanwhile, the tug-of-war multiplayer mode introduced in Empire Earth II is no more, so it looks as though skirmish and world domination will be the two key multiplayer modes. - Source
Overall Empire Earth III is a refreshing new take on a great series. Mad Doc and Sierra have taken the time to get feedback from fans on the previous Empire Earth games and expansion packs, and are putting into Empire Earth 3 the lessons they've learnt. This means one heck of a game!