I had a review copy about a month ago now. One thing I really disliked was the close zoom you really can't get out of - i've got these huge ass walkers but can't zoom out far enough to see the entire thing well? Huh.
That's weird, I don't remember having that problem in the demo...
Would you be able to download the demo and give it a whirl to see if the 'problem' is there too?
Maybe thats a small exaggeration, but the zoom level is in no way good enough for the scale on some of the units in the game.
I put in my review for the game a few weeks ago but its not up on Gamepro yet, as its supposed to be in the magazine. Anyways, I gave it a 4.00 out of 5.00.
The high points were the graphics, the three sides being so different in tactics and resource gathering, and the strength that lends to multiplayer, adn the variety of maps. What I didn't like was the zoom levels of course, the inconsistency among graphics (terrain included buildings and the human fraction are really drab), small build queues, and the fact that its still using a rather conservative RTS model - infantry as lone units instead of squads, etc - and there were some minor bugs with the version I got to review (units hanging on terrain, multiple tries to select a group, etc).
Not a bad game by any standard. For someone like me, who looks primarily looks for single-player it was a disappointment due to its rather dull, conservative RTS model in contrast to this years great games like Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and World in Conflict where we get some really smart, somewhat innovative RTS experiences that don't always promote tank spamming and such. Universe at War is somewhat of a let down from those experiences, not bad, just a let down. From a multiplayer standpoint I think the game will do better, each of those three sides is great - the game does a really good job of differentiating between units, heroes, etc - so I think multiplayer will remain vibrant and have a lot of life.
Though, oddly I think the most depressing thing of all was that Frank Klepacki wasn't at his best with the soundtrack. For me his work on previous games like C&C really set a tone that helps to improve games markably, this one was lowkey in comparison and made me wonder where Klepacki was. Could have been used so much better.
