There are literally hundreds of sci-fi empire-building strategy games for browsers, so it can be quite a chore to find one that will keep you coming back for more. Empire Universe 2 is a veritable giant of the genre and one of the most popular browser real-time strategy titles out there. Throughout its three year existence it has been continually refining its look and gameplay, and the outcome is an engaging, rich and gorgeous RTS experience.

If you have ever played any other game in the empire-building genre, you will already be familiar with the basics of how Empire Universe 2 works. Your aim is to expand the small colony that you start the game with into a territory that spans the galaxy. This is generally achieved by mining for different natural resources, exploring space and waging war against other players. But that’s just a basic summary of Empire Universe 2's very deep gameplay.

Beginning with a small amount of the game's 11 different resources, along with some credits, you are tasked with constructing several buildings that will serve as the foundation of your empire. The effective tutorial explains what the purpose of each building is and leads you through the process of construction and research. You need to have your scientists researching new technologies and methods to be able to construct specific buildings. For example, researching long-distance interstellar communication allows you to build a communications centre. The gameplay is deceptively simple and each building and research theme is explained in great detail, particularly in terms of what they are used for. One of the coolest aspects of the game is the research progression. You don’t just start with the ability to fly ships, trade and communicate – you must research each of these things in turn, like interstellar trade and space exploration.

Yet there is far more to EU2 than just growing your empire. There’s no mistaking that this game is huge, containing 10,000 galaxies with upwards of 120,000 planets residing within them! The dizzying scope allows for a great amount of player interaction and a focus on multiplayer empires, which means that space will be anything but lonely. Ships can be customised up to the eyeballs. Seriously, your options here are pretty staggering. You can upgrade different shields, cargo space, weapons and other components on a wide range of ships types – from scouts to giant freighters. This amount of control over ship construction makes for fun strategic gameplay. Real-time war, bounty hunting and missions are also present, adding to what is a vastly superior game. While many other games settle for just text, which is all well and good, EU2 sports impressive 2.5d isometric visuals with slick, user-friendly presentation. This is definitely one of the better looking empire building games on the web.
 
It’s hard to find many negatives here. For some reason the screenshots in the tutorial windows are in German for the English version, which is slightly odd. Building and research times can get a little steep, so this isn’t really a game that you can play over a long period of time, and the 3D character avatars are just awful. But other than those minor quibbles, EU2 is the game you should be playing if you’re a browser RTS fan, or even if you’re not.

Game Features

• Real time ground and space combat.
• Interactive combat reports
• World first 3D graphic engine in JavaScript

Screenshots

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Videos

Yet to be released.