Universe at War: Earth Assault

By Alan Bell

Developed by a bunch of former Westwood (Command & Conquer) employees, Petroglyph Studios, Universe at War is arguably the follow-up to the Star Wars licensed Empire at War games (albeit without the Star Wars license). If you’ve never heard of it, check it out – you can get it (with the expansion pack) for $30 (that's Kiwi currency) and it’s worth every cent.

Set in 2012, Earth is being invaded by a vastly superior force. Doomed and all but annihilated, the scrabbling remnants of Earth’s defensive forces give their all in one last shot – an attempt to destroy one of the enemy’s massive motherships. A dismal failure, the attack is on the brink of being crushed (along with Earth’s last hope) when a portal suddenly opens and scores of extremely high tech humans pour out, saving the last of Earth’s fighters when hope seemed all but lost.

Who are these newcomers? Where are they from? What’s with the alien attackers – with their massive advantages they should have crushed anything Earth had to oppose them within minutes, yet the attack took weeks to get as far as it has. Why?

All of these questions and more will be answered in November, when Universe at War hits the shelves worldwide, for PC and Xbox 360. In the meantime, check out these features:

• A Tactical Dynamics system, allowing you to adjust your tactics on the fly to suit the evolving battle conditions
• Three unique factions, with their own strengths and weaknesses
• Earn online rewards to powerup your units
• Persistent online multiplayer profile
• Real-world modern day environments, such as Washington DC and Egypt
• Hero units
• Massive units that dwarf other smaller units and the environment on a scale not yet seen
• Cross platform play for the first time ever in an RTS
• Contest the battlefield and the planet simultaneously with the unique dual-layer gameplay
• On-demand UI that’s there when you need it but won’t clutter things up when you don’t

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