Sins of a Solar Empire

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 317 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 245 out of 317
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 317
  3. Negative: 29 out of 317
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  1. DrTizzle
    Nov 14, 2011
    3
    So glad i picked this up for pennies in the bargain bin of i would have wasted a lot more money than i did.
    Good:
    -Style
    -idea
    Bad:
    -Terrible AI
    -Too tong to play
    -unhelpful interface
    -story with no campaign (needed both or none)
  2. JeffM
    Mar 29, 2008
    3
    An uninspired attempt to combine two inherently incompatible styles of gameplay, Sins ends up falling flat on its pretty face. The scale is ridiculous, completely destroying any possibility of a suspension of disbelief. The artificiality of "jump lines" between planets, not to mention dozens of planets in a single system, is laughably dumb. For the so-called amazing battle scenes, ships An uninspired attempt to combine two inherently incompatible styles of gameplay, Sins ends up falling flat on its pretty face. The scale is ridiculous, completely destroying any possibility of a suspension of disbelief. The artificiality of "jump lines" between planets, not to mention dozens of planets in a single system, is laughably dumb. For the so-called amazing battle scenes, ships just warp into an area, then sit there and shoot at each other until the exploding is over. Yawn. Homeworld this is not. Stick with Space Empires if you want a 4X turn-based game. Or maybe go dust off Homeworld or try out Sword of the Stars. But stay away from Sins... it tries to be all things and comes up a big loser.… Expand
  3. Pontifex
    Mar 31, 2008
    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 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
  4. Celius
    Aug 21, 2009
    2
    Play about an hour and you don't need to play anymore, you've seen all it has to offer and it just happens over and over again
  5. Dan
    Mar 5, 2008
    3
    No single player campaign and very bugged multiplayer. One of the game's features is bugged and can give players extra resources, up to infinity. Online plays degenerates into who can exploit this better. Developers knew about this serious bug for weeks and did not fix it. They first pretended it didn't exist, then claimed it does not affect game play. Not worth your time & money.
  6. WolfMan
    May 19, 2008
    3
    This review is directed more toward the casual gamer. As a casual gamer who plays for a good story this game utterly fails on both marks. The game play requires constant babysitting and the storyline, well, outside the tempting intro cg there is none, no campaigns, dull. The tutorial lacks any narration and you have to read ugly red text to get through it, I didn't play this game for This review is directed more toward the casual gamer. As a casual gamer who plays for a good story this game utterly fails on both marks. The game play requires constant babysitting and the storyline, well, outside the tempting intro cg there is none, no campaigns, dull. The tutorial lacks any narration and you have to read ugly red text to get through it, I didn't play this game for months because I hated the tutorial with a passion. The voices are much to be desired I don't play one of the races because the voices are irritating. Frankly, I am surprised this game got high ratings and had buyers remorse after being duped by the ratings. Back to the game play, yes, I know I can edit the options and change how everything interacts but the game simply comes off as an eye sore. The pirates are just annoying as you can bribe them to attack the other player, but there are no real warnings if the other player raises the bribe and moments before the pirates begin their raid you have to babysit the Pirates menu to watch for an increase. I don't touch multiplayer as a casual gamer and since there is little to be enjoyed from single play. This game reminded me of those Nintendo games that were ridiculously hard or annoying just to make you angry... yeah I'm not interested. I intend on ejecting this game into space, I'll go back to playing Freelancer. 3 points for pretty graphics.… Expand
  7. DanB
    Oct 15, 2008
    3
    Fun, but the game's take way too much time. I played a multiplayer game with a friend of mine. We picked a decent medium sized map, and it still took just over 7 hours to complete. We saved halfway and started back up on another day so it was not all in one session, but still, a game should be fun. This game is just too boring to keep playing when the games get too long.
  8. ThinkGamer
    Mar 4, 2008
    4
    No single player campaigns. Playing vs AI on random maps is predictable and easy. So the game is meant for mostly online play, however its poor online designs hold back the game. If you want to play online, you have to either reconfigure your network or find someone else willing to do so. The online experience for players seems to be waiting in the lobby and complain they can't join No single player campaigns. Playing vs AI on random maps is predictable and easy. So the game is meant for mostly online play, however its poor online designs hold back the game. If you want to play online, you have to either reconfigure your network or find someone else willing to do so. The online experience for players seems to be waiting in the lobby and complain they can't join games. Even if you get into an online game, it crashes or drops, which is a severe problem for this game because each game takes a long time, up to 4 hours. After building up slowly for an hour then the host player drops, the game is dead for everyone. So you just wasted an hour for nothing and it happens frequently.… Expand
  9. Lars
    Feb 11, 2008
    2
    It's definitely not Homeworld nor is it C&C. Best to wait for the demo before making the mistake and buying this one.
  10. Rizak
    Feb 16, 2008
    1
    It's overly complicated UI and gameplay is sadly Sins greatest weakness. But if your still a fan of PC games, love games that are overly complicated and have pretty particle FX, Sins should feel like comfort food.
  11. Rylos
    Feb 5, 2008
    4
    Meh.. Empire at War space battles are better and more epic.
  12. TheGreatCow
    Feb 8, 2008
    2
    Great looking game, but nothing more. Typical generic strategy game. There are much better games out there to spend your money on.
  13. JohnnyBadhair
    Dec 18, 2008
    0
    Crippling DRM. I mean even worse than Spore's. There's really nothing else that needs to be said about this game.
  14. Jeff
    Feb 12, 2008
    2
    Command and conquer this game is not. If your're a fan of games like C&C, WIC, or UAW you'll find SOSE to be overly complex and the action in spurts. The game looks great so its no wonder the press like it. Could have been a better game if the turn based aspect was removed for more traditional RTS gameplay.
  15. Johan008
    Jun 23, 2011
    1
    No story line. Battles are all the same, playing few or many planets. No strategy is needed as the player with the most and biggest ships wins. Diplomacy or culture influence is not needed. For young and mentally less develop player. More a first person shooting than strategy game. Does not even come close to Homeworld, Nexus and other space strategy games.
  16. edgil215
    Oct 17, 2013
    1
    I don't understand at all why anyone likes these games from Stardock entertainment sins of a solar empire and galactic civilizations both included. They feel like a student project and not a polished retail product, the gameplay and interfaces are so ridiculously clunky and there is never any synergy or flow to the commands. There are way too many extra wasted units and features thatI don't understand at all why anyone likes these games from Stardock entertainment sins of a solar empire and galactic civilizations both included. They feel like a student project and not a polished retail product, the gameplay and interfaces are so ridiculously clunky and there is never any synergy or flow to the commands. There are way too many extra wasted units and features that don't even feel like they have any use because of the abundance. More content is not always a good thing when the content is piss poor. You can't even land on any of the planets that you encounter even once you have taken them over an "settled" them. The only thing you can do is move along an unrealistic 2-Dimensional plane fixated in space. WHICH ISN"T EVEN HOW SPACETIME LOOKS!!?!?!...it curves more intensely at points of greater mass. This game is a crappy version in "Space" of all it's Strategy/RTS predecessors that brings absolutely nothing new to the table and has a completely bland feel with no characters, story line or anything of any importance that is tangible to relate to.

    If you think these ridiculously terrible games are good then please look at all of the Wing Commander games and Homeworld and the years that they came out. Games that still today are even more entertaining than this completely waste of time hunk of crap. AVOID at all costs!    … Expand
  17. Rednuts85
    Dec 28, 2013
    2
    Horrible effects like shots passing through ships and ships exploding, but you can see the ship just disappears into thin air, repettetive micro managing and then just sending your ships in to an orb with something in the middle asteroids, planets etc... They fight someone wins and repeat. There IS a lot to do, always something to upgrade or keep an eye on. But it doesn´t ever getHorrible effects like shots passing through ships and ships exploding, but you can see the ship just disappears into thin air, repettetive micro managing and then just sending your ships in to an orb with something in the middle asteroids, planets etc... They fight someone wins and repeat. There IS a lot to do, always something to upgrade or keep an eye on. But it doesn´t ever get exciting, its just a matter of how many ships and how good they are. Pour them in and wait, the graphics could have made me stick with it a lot longer but it agonizes me to watch a flak frigate with bullets flying at a 90 degree angle out of a barrel! At least make the barrels point at the targets! Worse even with big ships, beams shooting straight through the hull of the ship firing to hit something to the sides, look stupid and breaks emmersion....… Expand

Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best PC Game of 2008
22
#22 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
16
#16 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 52
  3. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. GameDaily
    80
    Sins of a Solar Empire combines the depth of traditional turn-based games like Civilization with the action of real-time strategy (RTS) games like Command & Conquer. The result is a rich and highly detailed game that pleases fans of both types of strategy.
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  2. Game Almighty
    90
    Sins of a Solar Empire makes no apologies for being ambitiously massive and deep.
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  3. GamesRadar+
    90
    With most RTS games shifting towards fast action at the expense of real strategy, it would be an unforgivable sin for a strategy fan to pass by this game on the shelf and not pick it up.
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