Rating: 
Summary: Impressive
Review: All right, I've heard all the complaints I ever want to about how Westwood never does anything new with its C&C franchise. But hey, it works, doesn't it? Time and again, experiments have shown that changing a tried-and-true formula usually ends in disaster. Just look at Force Commander if you don't believe me. Additionally, with Emperor, they really have done something new. Obvious things first- the graphics. You'll immediately notice this, unless you are blind. They are more than impressive, but utterly astonishing in detail and workmanship. You can zoom, pan, and rotate to see the different vehicle models, all done in gorgeous 3-D. Aside from the structures and units, combat looks fantastic. I was almost tempted to blast my own base after missions, just to see the fireworks. The single player campaigns are far more interesting, since you can ally yourself with any of five different sub-houses, each offering tempting units. You can also attack and defend at will, and when you defend, your old bases will be reactivated. It's an interesting touch, and one that makes the campaigns much more fun than any previous Dune or C&C-type game. You'll also get various secondary objectives, some of which can be pretty fun to carry out. The balance is excellent. Each house has its strengths and weaknesses, as do the sub-houses. I don't think the debate will ever end as to which combination works best, since it's really just a matter of favorites. Of course, no game is without it's problems, and Emperor is no exception. I found that defending in the campaigns is laughably easy if you just attack your intruder right away. You'll also probably know the map, so you can exploit its advantages to better destroy them. Path-finding can be a pain at times. Although it does work, it seems they tried to make units have realistic 'space' to take up, which means they don't bump into each other. This is cool to a certain extent, and that limit is when you can't move something from point A to point B. The acting is a bit forced. I'm not one to complain too much about cinematics and actors, since they're only there to augment the game, but at times it was really quite bad. The Atreides mentat in particular struck me as an evil person, which just doesn't fit the House. The plot is weird. I can't really explain it otherwise, other than to recommend you read the books (they're great, anyway). I know the folks at Westwood are leaning more towards the movie version of Dune, not the novel. However, the way they have taken the story seems an amalgamation of elements from God Emperor of Dune, the movie, and... well... something. For example, they never really explained how the Atreides recovered from being handily slaughtered by the Harkonnen and Sardaukar. This will probably be of concern only to a Dune purist, though, and should not deter you from playing the game. All in all, Emperor was a pretty riveting experience. If you were disappointed by Dune 2000 (basically just a remake of Dune 2), then you will want to check this one out. It surely won't disappoint.
Rating: 
Summary: Unplayable
Review: The manual does not provide enough information on unit costs, strengths, and weaknesses. The UI is badly designed and does not allow you to build, deploy units, and manage operations at the pace required by the game. The units move and act stupidly; when I order a group to move to an area of the map they seem to take random circuitous routes, and when they encounter enemies they will not shoot unless specifically ordered to do so, even if they are fired upon. Stay away from this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Low artificial intelligence drags it down.
Review: I like a lot of Westwood's work (especially Dune-themed stuff), but I wish they'd focus a bit more on A.I for once. With decent A.I., this game could easily have been worth 4 or 5 stars. A.I. in RTS games in general really needs a breakthrough soon, but in Emperor, it's just too lacking. Come on...it's 2001. Let's start seeing some intelligent computer opposition, Westwood.
A decent game, but could and should have been so much more.
Rating:
Summary: Missing something
Review: Don't let the title fool you. Yes, I liked this game. It just seemed like it was missing something. It doesn't have a very good story to go with it. Also, the battles seem somehow detatched. No real emotion to them. Before, you seemed to be a part of it. Now you can scroll out to see more of the battlefield, but it's more like scrolling away from drama. I just didn't feel like part of the game anymore. Would I still buy it again? Yes. I still love all of these types of games. The graphics are great, but I am usually looking at the map from so high up just so I can see the battlefield, that I don't really get the benift of them. Could have used some more types of units. You play on the same maps again and again. That gets a little annoying. I can't wait until more come out.
Rating: 
Summary: Too slow and clunky
Review: Being a hard-core C&C/RE fan, I was excited to pick up Emperor this weekend. But after installing and playing it, I found it to be way too slow and clunky. I have a decent PC - PIII 750 128 megs etc. but I found the interface slow to use, the screen very slow to scroll, and the missions took forever to load. I found myself wanting to load up RE2 and play it. Maybe the upgrades will speed up the game to be playable, until then I am back on RE2.
Rating:
Summary: is this game fun
Review: please answere my question is this game fun or no
Rating:
Summary: Sorely disappointed
Review: For a start, the game is incredibly demanding on hardware, even if you turn down all the graphics settings. My computer's about a year old, and has good sound/video cards as well as up-to-date drivers, but the game keeps freezing whenever it gets busy. Secondly, with the 3D graphics it's really hard to tell the units apart, unless you zoom right in. Thirdly, your own units are incredibly stupid: They're magnetically attracted to the enemy's guns, even when you specifically select a safer route. And finally, everything happens so fast that you never get a chance to defend - either you've put up enough defences in the first place, or when the enemy attacks, it's all over in a few seconds.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad rehash
Review: Emporer is a well done 3D rehash of all the other Westwood Studios real time strategy games. This time however, most combat turns into a battle of attrition forcing even more unit buliding than in the C&C and RA games. They spent a lot of time/money on full motion video that could have been better spent on new, innovative units and gameplay tweaking.
Rating: 
Summary: RTS has a bad rap.
Review: RTS games have developed this bad rap of all of them basically being the same game. I think this is why some reviewers are so hard on RTS games, even great ones like Dune. The Graphics are beautiful, the game is not linear and has an amazing RISK style structure. You don't feel like your playing out a story, but controlling a storyline yourself. Plus with 50+ missions per side you are bound to have enough replay value to justify the price.
Rating:
Summary: Be carefull of what you ask for.
Review: Bummer. Couldn't even install this game on our computer. At first, we thought we'd received a bad version and reordered a replacement. Then, after hours on-line with tech support, Westwood decided our Celeron processor doesn't meet the requirements. Boo hoo.
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