Research in the game has been streamlined to a single global menu for each race. There are several different research tiers for each race and each tier is divided into a few levels, so you can go for the lower level bonuses across the board or specialize in one tier and concentrate on boosting attack or production capabilities. It's not just the research menu that's been streamlined; the entire interface has been as well. If you're used to playing strategy games then you'll be surprised at the minimalist interface presented by the game. The good thing is that it leaves more of your screen's real estate to the action, but it also has the downside of making control a little awkward in some cases. This is especially true of the walker upgrades, where a long series of clicks is required to get you to the point when you can add a component to a walker.

Graphically the walkers are the stars of the show. The walkers are very detailed and move with an amazing amount of articulation. The rest of the units and the game's graphics in general are less impressive, although they are still on par with those of other games in the genre. One thing about the game's graphics is downright annoying, though. The game's 3D camera's maximum view is restrictively small - single walker fills about a quarter of the screen. The camera can zoom down to a useless ground level angle, but you can never seem to see all that you need to on the screen with it pulled back all of the way. You'll spend a lot of time simply scrolling the screen back and forth just to get a look at all of the units involved in a large skirmish.

The game features both a single player campaign and a skirmish mode. The single player campaign is fairly typical for a strategy game with missions such as escorts and base assaults. The story is interesting enough although the characters are clichéd. As with most strategy game campaigns you'll take your turn running each faction, although things will change a bit when you finally get your hand at playing the Masari. At this point you'll move to a view of the globe divided into territories to conquer ala Rise of Nations. Win the battle in the territory and you capture it.

Online play is pretty enjoyable and both ranked and unranked play is supported. You'll need a Games for Windows Live Gold account to play the Conquer the World mode. In this mode you have your own personal globe and the goal is to capture all of its territories. When you try to capture a territory you'll be matched with another player and you'll have to beat him or her to claim the territory on your globe. As you play online you'll unlock game medals which can be activated before a game to give you a certain bonus. You can bring up to five medals into a game and you start with five available, with more to be unlocked as you play. It's a nice way to customize the game a little to suit your play style, but remember that your opponent can do the same thing.

Overall Universe at War can be a lot of fun for strategy fans. However, some annoyances and the lack of any real innovation may be enough to turn off the more casual player or those who are burned out on the standard strategy game paradigm.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 86%. Three very different but well-balanced factions make Universe at War a compelling game for strategy fans.

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