Empire Earth II
Encyclopedia
Empire Earth II, also called EE2, is a real-time strategy
computer game
developed
by Mad Doc Software and published
by Vivendi Universal Games
on April 26, 2005. It is a sequel to the 2001 bestselling game Empire Earth
, which was developed by the now-defunct Stainless Steel Studios
. The game features 15 epochs and 14 different civilizations.
The game has three playable campaigns: a Korean, German, and American one, as well as several other playable scenarios. The game received a positive reaction, earning a 79% average rating on GameRankings. An expansion pack, which was released by Mad Doc Software called Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
, was released on 14 February 2006.
Besides campaigns and special scenarios, there is also a skirmish mode where the player can play against a computer player. The player can also play against other human players, however, the common EULA clause that each player needs his own copy of the game is actually enforced, even for LAN games. Unlike campaigns or scenarios, the winning conditions never change. There are eight different game modes in skirmish mode, which can also be played in Multiplayer. The multiplayer servers were taken offline on 1 November 2008, after which players can only play through local area network
.
There are 15 epochs in the game, each representing a part of history. As the player advances through the epochs, new and improved units and structures become available. Some of the epochs in EE2 are identical to their counterparts in the original Empire Earth—one exception is that EE2 does not allow players to expand their empires into space. The epochs are the Stone Age
, Copper Age
, Bronze Age
, Iron Age
, Dark Ages, Middle Ages
, Renaissance
, Imperial Age
, Enlightenment Age
, Industrial Age
, Modern Age
, Atomic Age
, Digital Age
, Genetic Age
and Synthetic Age.
Before buildings and units can be made or created, resources must be gathered. There are two kinds of resources: main resources and special resources. The main resources are available in all epochs and they are food
, wood
, gold
, and stone
. To collect resources, a citizen (or a band of citizens) is selected, and are directed to a resource. The citizens thus begin harvesting it.
The special resources are available in only some epochs. These special resources are tin
—available until epoch 6, iron
—first available in epoch 4 and is no longer used after epoch 9, saltpeter
—first available in epoch 7 and is used until epoch 12, oil
—first available in epoch 10, and uranium
—first available epoch 13.
EE2 has technologies to improve each player's civilization. Technologies are divided into three groups. The first is Military, which provides benefits mostly to military units. The next is Economic technologies, which increases resource gathering rate, decreases cost and building time for units and buildings and decreases tribute tax amount. The final group is Imperial, which provides benefits mostly to special units and increases the health of units and buildings.
There are four technologies of each group for each epoch. Technologies can be researched by spending tech points. To get tech points, an appropriate number of citizens must be garrisoned in a university and/or an appropriate number of priests must be garrisoned in a temple. Technologies are researched through the main interface (no longer through a building) by clicking the Technology Tree button. When the correct amount of tech points are available, the tech tree button will light up and a new technology to research can be chosen. However, when research is no longer used (at the highest epoch specified before starting a game), the garrisoned units will become idle.
In EE2, each civilization belongs to a particular world region, each having its own regional powers. These can be activated on the game interface by clicking on a special button. All of the regional powers are timed; once the time is up to use it, it takes a long time for the regional powers to be recharged to use again. Each regional power can only be used in a respective group of epochs. For example, the regional power of Overtime can only be used by a player using a Far Eastern civilization in epochs 11-15.
Like many games before it in the same genre, EE2 has civilizations for players to lead to greatness. Each civilization has a unique power, giving it an advantage in a particular field. Each civilization also has a unique unit, which is a more powerful version of a given unit type. The Greek Hoplite
, for instance, is a more effective heavy infantry than other tribes counterparts. The western civilizations are the Americans
, British
, Germans
, Greeks
, and the Romans
. The Middle Eastern civilizations are the Babylonia
ns, Egypt
ians, and the Turks
. The Far Eastern civilizations are China
, Japan
, and Korea
. Finally, the Meso-American civilizations are the Aztec
s, Incas
, and the Mayans
.
campaign. The tutorial campaign features the Aztec
s, featuring four scenarios to allow players to learn the gameplay. The first scenario is about the founding of the city of Tenochtitlan, followed by a scenario about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which ends with the Aztecs driving out Hernán Cortés
and his Conquistador
s. These scenarios are followed by ones about an Aztec alliance with the United States and a war with the Incas, occurring before World War II.
The Korean campaign is about early Korean history, from 2333 BC to 676 AD, divided into eight scenarios. The first two scenarios are about the founding of the state of Gojoseon
and its first contacts with other Korean states and China, followed by scenarios about Korea's first wars with the Chinese and other Korean states. The next scenarios follow the Korean civil war and the state of Silla
's decision to ally with China, and its eventual conquest over the other Korean states. The last scenario for this campaign is the final war with China.
The German Campaign deals with the years between 1220-1871 in central Europe. The first four scenarios are about the struggles of the Teutonic Order
and the knight
s' eventual downfall. The next two scenarios are about the rise of Prussia
and the Seven Years' War
. The next scenario is about the war with Napoleon I of France
. The final scenario is about the war with Denmark, Austria and France and the reunification of Germany under Otto von Bismarck
.
The American Campaign is part-fact and part-fiction, set between 1898 and 2070. The first scenario is about the Spanish–American War in Cuba
, followed by one about the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
in World War I
. The scenarios are about World War II
, featuring the North African Campaign
and a fictionalized version of the Ardennes Offensive
. These are followed by Cold War
spy missions against the Soviet Union
. The next scenarios are fictionalised, about an attempted coup led by a disillusioned General Charles Blackworth against the US government; the player is charged with stopping this coup, eventually engaging Blackworth and his followers in the Amazon Rainforest
. When the player wins the last scenario in this campaign, there is a short film about mankind and the Earth
. When that film ends, the credits for the game are shown.
There are four special scenarios in Empire Earth II called turning points. These scenarios can be played from either side of a battle or war which changed the course of history. The Normandy
scenario takes place during the D-Day invasion, where the player can play as the Americans to repeat the success of Operation Overlord
, or play as the Germans to stop the Allied invasion force from breaching the Atlantic Wall
. The Three Kingdoms
recreates the period after the end of the Han Dynasty
, where the player can play as the Kingdom of Wei
or the Wu Kingdom
, either winning historically as the Wei or changing history as the Wu.
, and 8.0 by GameSpot
. Shortly after the game's release, it was generally complimented for good gameplay and the options players had to customize the game." Criticisms of the game included high system requirements, issues with unit pathfinding, modest graphics, a poor unit counter system, a clunky, complicated, almost non-existent mission editor, and the increased complexity caused by the new game features." Others included poor in-game music and few terrain types.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Mad Doc Software and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Vivendi Universal Games
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
on April 26, 2005. It is a sequel to the 2001 bestselling game Empire Earth
Empire Earth
Empire Earth, also known as EE, is a real-time strategy computer game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 23, 2001. It is the first game in the Empire Earth series...
, which was developed by the now-defunct Stainless Steel Studios
Stainless Steel Studios
Stainless Steel Studios was a computer game development company, started in 1997 by Rick Goodman and Dara-Lynn Pelechatz. The company was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and focused on the development of real-time strategy software titles.-History:...
. The game features 15 epochs and 14 different civilizations.
The game has three playable campaigns: a Korean, German, and American one, as well as several other playable scenarios. The game received a positive reaction, earning a 79% average rating on GameRankings. An expansion pack, which was released by Mad Doc Software called Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy, abbreviated to EE II:AoS or AoS for short, is the official expansion pack for the 2005 game, Empire Earth II. Released on 15 February 2006, and developed by Mad Doc Software, Art of Supremacy presents new features for Empire Earth II...
, was released on 14 February 2006.
Gameplay
Empire Earth II has several new gameplay features from the original gameplay of Empire Earth, such as the Picture-in-Picture window, a small window within the game interface which allows the player to control activities such as unit and building construction. The Citizen Manager can be configured to tell a citizen what to do if they have no set task, and the Diplomacy System allows the player to make tributes and manage alliances and wars with other players. The War Planner is another new addition, which is a map of the game that the player can display and use to coordinate attacks with allies. The crown system grants strategic bonuses to players who are first to master an epoch's military, economic, or imperial paths at the cost of losing a faster age progression. Weather, another new feature, changes over time on the map and affects the look of the map and performance of units and, in the case of airplanes in thunderstorms, hit points.Besides campaigns and special scenarios, there is also a skirmish mode where the player can play against a computer player. The player can also play against other human players, however, the common EULA clause that each player needs his own copy of the game is actually enforced, even for LAN games. Unlike campaigns or scenarios, the winning conditions never change. There are eight different game modes in skirmish mode, which can also be played in Multiplayer. The multiplayer servers were taken offline on 1 November 2008, after which players can only play through local area network
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
.
There are 15 epochs in the game, each representing a part of history. As the player advances through the epochs, new and improved units and structures become available. Some of the epochs in EE2 are identical to their counterparts in the original Empire Earth—one exception is that EE2 does not allow players to expand their empires into space. The epochs are the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
, Copper Age
Copper Age
The Chalcolithic |stone]]") period or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic/Æneolithic , is a phase of the Bronze Age in which the addition of tin to copper to form bronze during smelting remained yet unknown by the metallurgists of the times...
, Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, Dark Ages, Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, Imperial Age
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, Enlightenment Age
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, Industrial Age
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, Modern Age
Modern history
Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...
, Atomic Age
Atomic Age
The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb Trinity on July 16, 1945...
, Digital Age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
, Genetic Age
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and Synthetic Age.
Before buildings and units can be made or created, resources must be gathered. There are two kinds of resources: main resources and special resources. The main resources are available in all epochs and they are food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, and stone
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
. To collect resources, a citizen (or a band of citizens) is selected, and are directed to a resource. The citizens thus begin harvesting it.
The special resources are available in only some epochs. These special resources are tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
—available until epoch 6, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
—first available in epoch 4 and is no longer used after epoch 9, saltpeter
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
—first available in epoch 7 and is used until epoch 12, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
—first available in epoch 10, and uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
—first available epoch 13.
EE2 has technologies to improve each player's civilization. Technologies are divided into three groups. The first is Military, which provides benefits mostly to military units. The next is Economic technologies, which increases resource gathering rate, decreases cost and building time for units and buildings and decreases tribute tax amount. The final group is Imperial, which provides benefits mostly to special units and increases the health of units and buildings.
There are four technologies of each group for each epoch. Technologies can be researched by spending tech points. To get tech points, an appropriate number of citizens must be garrisoned in a university and/or an appropriate number of priests must be garrisoned in a temple. Technologies are researched through the main interface (no longer through a building) by clicking the Technology Tree button. When the correct amount of tech points are available, the tech tree button will light up and a new technology to research can be chosen. However, when research is no longer used (at the highest epoch specified before starting a game), the garrisoned units will become idle.
In EE2, each civilization belongs to a particular world region, each having its own regional powers. These can be activated on the game interface by clicking on a special button. All of the regional powers are timed; once the time is up to use it, it takes a long time for the regional powers to be recharged to use again. Each regional power can only be used in a respective group of epochs. For example, the regional power of Overtime can only be used by a player using a Far Eastern civilization in epochs 11-15.
Like many games before it in the same genre, EE2 has civilizations for players to lead to greatness. Each civilization has a unique power, giving it an advantage in a particular field. Each civilization also has a unique unit, which is a more powerful version of a given unit type. The Greek Hoplite
Hoplite
A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. Hoplites were primarily armed as spearmen and fought in a phalanx formation. The word "hoplite" derives from "hoplon" , the type of the shield used by the soldiers, although, as a word, "hopla" could also denote weapons held or even...
, for instance, is a more effective heavy infantry than other tribes counterparts. The western civilizations are the Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Greeks
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The Middle Eastern civilizations are the Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
ns, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ians, and the Turks
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The Far Eastern civilizations are China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. Finally, the Meso-American civilizations are the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s, Incas
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...
, and the Mayans
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
.
Campaigns
Empire Earth II contains three single player campaigns, a collection of scenarios called "turning points" and a tutorialTutorial
A tutorial is one method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture; a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task....
campaign. The tutorial campaign features the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s, featuring four scenarios to allow players to learn the gameplay. The first scenario is about the founding of the city of Tenochtitlan, followed by a scenario about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which ends with the Aztecs driving out Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
and his Conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
s. These scenarios are followed by ones about an Aztec alliance with the United States and a war with the Incas, occurring before World War II.
The Korean campaign is about early Korean history, from 2333 BC to 676 AD, divided into eight scenarios. The first two scenarios are about the founding of the state of Gojoseon
Gojoseon
Gojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom. Go , meaning "ancient," distinguishes it from the later Joseon Dynasty; Joseon, as it is called in contemporaneous writings, is also romanized as Chosŏn....
and its first contacts with other Korean states and China, followed by scenarios about Korea's first wars with the Chinese and other Korean states. The next scenarios follow the Korean civil war and the state of Silla
Silla
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...
's decision to ally with China, and its eventual conquest over the other Korean states. The last scenario for this campaign is the final war with China.
The German Campaign deals with the years between 1220-1871 in central Europe. The first four scenarios are about the struggles of the Teutonic Order
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
and the knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s' eventual downfall. The next two scenarios are about the rise of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
. The next scenario is about the war with Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
. The final scenario is about the war with Denmark, Austria and France and the reunification of Germany under Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
.
The American Campaign is part-fact and part-fiction, set between 1898 and 2070. The first scenario is about the Spanish–American War in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, followed by one about the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, or Maas-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front.-Overview:...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The scenarios are about World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, featuring the North African Campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
and a fictionalized version of the Ardennes Offensive
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
. These are followed by Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
spy missions against the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The next scenarios are fictionalised, about an attempted coup led by a disillusioned General Charles Blackworth against the US government; the player is charged with stopping this coup, eventually engaging Blackworth and his followers in the Amazon Rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
. When the player wins the last scenario in this campaign, there is a short film about mankind and the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. When that film ends, the credits for the game are shown.
There are four special scenarios in Empire Earth II called turning points. These scenarios can be played from either side of a battle or war which changed the course of history. The Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
scenario takes place during the D-Day invasion, where the player can play as the Americans to repeat the success of Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
, or play as the Germans to stop the Allied invasion force from breaching the Atlantic Wall
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
. The Three Kingdoms
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms period was a period in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty rulers. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 and the...
recreates the period after the end of the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, where the player can play as the Kingdom of Wei
Cao Wei
Cao Wei was one of the states that competed for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period. With the capital at Luoyang, the state was established by Cao Pi in 220, based upon the foundations that his father Cao Cao laid...
or the Wu Kingdom
Eastern Wu
Eastern Wu, also known as Sun Wu, was one the three states competing for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period after the fall of the Han Dynasty. It was based in the Jiangnan region of China...
, either winning historically as the Wei or changing history as the Wu.
Reception
Empire Earth was generally well received scoring 8.9 out of 10 by IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, and 8.0 by GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
. Shortly after the game's release, it was generally complimented for good gameplay and the options players had to customize the game." Criticisms of the game included high system requirements, issues with unit pathfinding, modest graphics, a poor unit counter system, a clunky, complicated, almost non-existent mission editor, and the increased complexity caused by the new game features." Others included poor in-game music and few terrain types.
Official
- Official website (archive.org - the original redirects to Activision's website)
- Empire Earth II at Mad Doc Software - (archive.org - original domain expired)