Sins is a thinking person’s game, and not for the impatient. Because battles play out over minutes, not seconds, so you have plenty of time to consider how to tactically turn the tide in your favor. For example, massive capital ships, the workhorses of your fleet, level up with experience and gain power and new abilities. Keep them alive, and you’ll defeat a player who treats them as disposable. Other 4X elements, like trade and culture, can enhance your economy and allow you to build enough ships to overwhelm your enemies.

It’s not easy to manage a vast territory, but the zooming interface, which allows you to smoothly scroll from a single fighter all the way out to a multi-solar system view, enables you to easily navigate.

One thing you do need to be prepared for when starting a round of Sins is the extreme length of the games. While there is a game speed adjustor, don’t expect any game to last less than one hour—and with 10 players, you will be extremely grateful that the save game system allows you to come back to a multiplayer game after you’ve gotten some sleep.

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.

Feb 8, 2008