Reviewed: October 15, 2001
Reviewed by: Richard Cross
Publisher
Strategy First
Developer
Microids
Released: July 10, 2001
Genre: Strategy
Players: 8
ESRB: Everyone
6
7
8
9
6.8
System Requirements
I truly enjoy playing real-time strategy games. I have been playing them for as long as I can remember. I have played the entire series of Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, and many, many more. When I saw an RTS game that had ants as the main character, I just had to have it. Ants are a truly amazing species, and I was curious to see what an ant's life entails.
The installation of Empire of the Ants went as expected without any errors. The game's starting interface caught my attention with a menu display that doesn't take up the full screen. The game includes two basic tutorials, one for inside the anthill, and one for outside. These are very basic tutorials, but they do include enough for you to get really confused!
The first thing that blatantly stood out was the fact that this game doesn't control like the rest of the RTS games that I've played. Normally, in most other games, you can select each and every unit and micro-manage until your heart's content. This is not the case in Empire of the Ants. The worker ants are not separately controlled; instead, they are controlled on the basis of task priorities.
For example, most of the time you would want your workers to collect food first, and the anthill's upkeep would be a bit lower on the list. Well, when your queen quits laying eggs because the walls of the anthill are falling in around her, then it's time to put maintenance at the top of the priority list! I really didn't care too much for this feature during the first few games that I played, but after a few failed missions I learned the power of the priority list. This priority system really allows the player to become much more involved in the game without having to worry about micro-managing each and every unit.
Overall, the gameplay isn't as bad as I had initially suspected. The most difficult part of the game is learning the new control interface and getting used to the priority list system. One of the features that did prove to be very helpful while playing the game was the ability to rotate and zoom the camera view. Most of the RTS games that are available on the market today don't include the view features that this game offers.
The insects, friend or foe, also add quite a bit of realism to this game. I found the Red Ants to be quite challenging during my first few forays into the game. The Red Ants can overpower and kill your workers quite easily. Even the Russet Soldier Ants are beaten quite easily by the Red Ants. After experimenting a bit more in my later games I discovered that the Jaw-Busters and the Gunner Ants can really take care of the Red Ants in close combat. Keep an eye out for Red Ants during your game, they will infiltrate your anthill and go straight for your Queen Ant. If this happens, your game will be over quite quickly and you will be loading a saved game or starting your mission over.
One of the most ominous enemies that you will encounter during your game is the Praying Mantis. This enemy can wreak havoc on your workers, your soldiers, and your anthill in no time at all. One of the best ways to combat this beast is to place your soldiers into organized armies. Soldiers are created in groups of three to sixteen ants. If you have two or more groups of soldiers, they can be placed into armies. When facing an enemy as ruthless as the Praying Mantis, you should make sure that you have a very large army of soldiers and that you have reinforcements ready for when the Praying Mantis makes ant stew out of your initial wave of soldiers.
Flying enemies are another one that can take quite a toll on your ant population. If you are not prepared to combat these flying menaces they will make short work of your worker ants. The best way to defend yourself against the flying enemies is to create a few groups of Gunner Ants. Be sure to have them stay near your anthill until the time comes that you need them.
The graphics and animations within Empire of the Ants can definitely hold their own. The beautifully rendered graphics for the over sixty insects in this game really add to the overall experience of the game. The insect species are all very well detailed and the animations really make you feel as if you can reach out and touch each and every insect. The graphics do become somewhat blocky and less defined as you use the zoom-in feature included in the interface.
One of the features that I would have liked to have seen included would be the ability to adjust the brightness level of the game. The inside of the anthill seemed very dark to me and I had trouble locating some of my population. The inside of the anthill is very bland and the only real graphical talent has been applied to the Queen and the other ant units. The tunnels all look alike and if it wasn't for the special room icons, I would never know where I was.
Overall, I believe that some of the graphics could have been a bit better. It would be nice to see a future patch that would dress up the bland internal graphics of the anthill a bit and the addition of a brightness adjustment would be a nice feature as well.
The sounds of the great outdoors in this game really help you feel as if you are in the back forty. The sounds of the crickets chirping, the bees buzzing, and the ants scurrying really add to the realism of the game. You will notice that all of the sounds that I mentioned are coming from outside the anthill.
Once you move into the inside of the anthill the sounds become that of the ants scurrying through the tunnels and not much more. After all, how many sounds can ants make when they are in their anthill? Ants don't talk and they don't play in music bands, so the only noises that I can think of would be eating and walking. The good news is that you don't really spend too much time inside the anthill. When you are inside you are so busy building new tunnels and changing your ants' priorities that you don't really notice the change in the sound effects.
If you enjoy a challenge and really love the RTS genre, then this game will be right up your alley. Be forewarned that you may or may not like the interface of the game and that it will take you some time to adjust to it. The game does tend to get repetitive after the first few missions.
The differences you will see in the later levels are the insect enemies and the challenge in making it through the winter without losing all of your troops and your workers. Your food and material resources are limited as well, and you may find your workers traveling great distances to find these necessities. Once these resources are gone, they won't reappear until the next spring.
The multiplayer option in this game is a great feature. Most of the RTS style games that I have played require you to manage resources and also battle the enemy's troops at the same time. The joy of playing real human opponents on the Internet comes from the excitement of the battles and the strategy that is used to confront the enemy during these battles.
The lack of resource management in the multiplayer mode of this game is a welcomed feature. You can now do battle and not have to worry about stockpiling food for the winter. Gone are the days of losing because you didn't have enough food or other resources.
Empire of the Ants allows up to eight players for a network game. A few of the Strategy First games allow you to play on the GameSpy Arcade network. For those of you that don't know, GameSpy Arcade is a free service that allows players to meet in online chat rooms and challenge each other to a round of intense gaming. This game has not yet been added to the list of games supported by GameSpy Arcade, but hopefully it will be in the near future. You can find more information on GameSpy Arcade at www.gamespyarcade.com.
To sum up my experience with Empire of the Ants, I would have to say that it was interesting, different, and even entertaining. Microids, the game's developer, actually put quite a bit of thought into this game. The interface will take a bit of time to learn, especially for those seasoned veterans. The use of the priority task system is an interesting twist to the design of the game. It has been implemented well, but sometimes it is still very difficult to balance the collection of resources with the everyday maintenance of the anthill.
The ability to adjust the brightness of the game would be a great addition. Larger internal tunnels and some more detail to make the tunnels and the inside of the anthill a bit more exciting would also add to the overall gaming experience.
Strategy First is gaining steam in the industry and they have a very respectable gaming lineup. I am excited to see what they have in store for the future.