Nearly a year and four months has passed since we were reunited with the crowbar on that chilly November winter's day. Since the release of Half-Life 2, we've been treated to modifications a plenty to keep us happy, with Plan of Attack and Dystopia to name two. But I've often cried with despair and wondered why there has been no "First Person Shooter/Real Time Strategy Hybrid set in the future on some distant planet!"... well actually that may be slightly exaggerated.

And so it was that the Empires Mod inspired untold delight as we heard the announcement that such a mod was to be released in its beta stages this March. But with a four-hundred plus megabyte file size, is it worth the download? Or is such an amalgamation of two gaming genres just a mess?

The Prelude
The events that lead up to the conflict in this mod are, as always, the typical story of blood and war. Two empires control a planet and its population in what seems to be a more or less equal share. One half is controlled by the Brenodi Empire, whose population relies on Nanotechnology in their daily lives. The other is controlled by the Jekotian Empire who rely on the apparent wonders of genetic manipulation.

The peace is broken when an ancient city of a previous united empire is found. Battle lines are drawn under the hysteria of a brand new united empire under the control of one of the two empires. The Jekotians strike first but are pushed back to their capital which is brutally sacked and annexed.

Typical oppression by the victorious Brenodi Empire leads to remnants of the Jekotian's military to form a resistance movement called the "Northern Faction". The players' choice is between these two enemies. The strong military of the Brenodi Empire (with a symbol looking suspiciously like a WWI-style German Empire Iron Cross), or the resourceful underground movement of the Northern Faction.

A Game of Two Halves

The two different sides to this game make the FPS and RTS aspects almost completely different experiences. Natural Selection players will know this dichotomy well. The RTS side is controlled by the "Commander" residing in the command vehicle spawned at the start of the game. As Commander, it's your task to formulate cunning plans for where the mod's impressive buildings are to be located so engineers can set your genius ideas into stone.

This could be compared with similar systems in any Age of Empires game where you zone out what needs to be built, and underpaid citizens come and do the hard yards.

Other tasks include researching the technology tree, ordering units to attack enemy locations and units, and overseeing vehicle production. Although the developers are keen to promote the idea that you should only be the Commander if you know the tech tree like the back of your hand, anyone who's played any normal RTS game, especially Command and Conquer: Generals will be reasonably comfortable in the role after a few minutes getting to grips with the tidy and easy-to-use interface. Just don't expect to be able to build a Nuclear Missile Silo or a Tesla Coil.

Soldiering On
On the ground with the troops, the experience can definitely be an entertaining one, with four classes of trooper to choose from.

• A Scout, armed with a scoped rifle and binoculars for those hit-and-run sniping attacks
  
• A Rifleman, with a top of the range assault rifle for those all purpose needs
  
• A Grenadier, armed with Rocket Propelled Grenades, booby traps and mortars for those tricky situations
  
• And finally, we have the most popular choice: the Engineer. As an Engineer you can build some minor defences and not much else on your own, but you can build anything else, such as a vehicle factory at the locations outlined on the battle map by the Commander

Engineers are by far the most popular because they can rack up the most points in the shortest amount of time: especially at the start of the game when the base is built up rapidly. However, continually being a battle dodging, nappy-wearing engineer is boring and tedious. Riflemen can easily take out scores of enemy engineers and infantry if they're properly equipped with ammo. Grenadiers are especially underrated, and can create enough scrap metal late in the game to build several suspension bridges.

A recurring criticism of Empires is the amount of starting ammunition. The amount dispensed after spawning is, frankly, pitiful. Although you can go to the armoury or an ammo pack to get more, this normally in practice means a long walk, while the enemy team practices their aiming skills at you (providing they, too, have found enough bullets).

The weapon modelling for the Northern faction is above average, but the Brenodi Empire's could do with some fine tuning. The player skins and models are of a good quality and stand up visually to any those featured in other currently released HL2 mods. One does wonder whether the Brenodi designs are heavily influenced by those of the historic Germany, with distinct black uniforms not too dissimilar from Hitler's SS. This choice instantly gives the impression to any players with historical awareness that the Brenodi military are feared oppressors. With the Empires mod team having its roots in the Battlefield 1942 engine, the possible link is unsurprising.

Vehicles and Einstein

Vehicles, especially tanks, are great fun to drive around, with ramming other vehicles a favourite manoeuvre. As vehicles are upgraded by the Commander throughout the game, you can get access to some of the best armaments available, with missile and armour upgrades being welcome additions to any armoured division. Unfortunately, aeroplanes do not currently appear in Empires, though they are apparently planned for later versions.

If simple fun-factor isn't your only criteria, Empires' vehicles do look great and add a big tactical edge to the RTS portion of the game. With large tank engagements, Commanders can use their Birdseye view to order units to move around into pincer movements, and punch gaps through the enemy's lines. The result on the ground can be carnage and a situation that portrays the "no love lost" affair between the Brenodi and the Northern Faction well.

The vehicles aren't without their problems, though. You can go at top speed towards a rock in Empires, and then suddenly press the action button to see the vehicle defeat the forces of physics by stopping immediately. Another minor qualm is the potholes in the maps, especially Canyon. They're particularly difficult for drivers to navigate, with vehicles getting stuck in them at the drop of a hat, despite their apparently being designed to cope with such war torn battlefields.

Music
The music in Empires deserves its own mention: it is that superb. The theme to the modification is easily some of the best and most professional musical work in a Source mod so far. It undeniably hits the player with the raw emotion and power that and augments the overall game experience to great effect.

Server Snags

As happy as I am to throw as many superlatives as possible at the music, I'm not willing to extend that to server owners. The amount of poor servers set up by people on their home computers isn't good, but there is a reason for it. The pool of normal servers is unfortunately small at this stage and it can be very difficult to get connected. This leads to impatient people setting up their own, which in turn leads to a queues waiting to join the "home-made" servers. This has been at the root of many of the comments blaming "netcode" for lag problems.

However, if you can get on a decent server and have a reasonable rig, you can have a good game almost lag free. The Empires team are promising (http://www.empiresmod.com/) that "to finish a Linux server and to optimize vehicles to reduce the lag" is a priority for the next release.

However, just like with the Empires team's attempts with the Battlefield 1942 engine, there are of course stability and lag issues, but by no means as serious. Having so many vehicles on the map as the game progresses will cause problems with any engine not specifically designed to hold that many vehicles. But the Empires team have made good progress with the Source engine and there are rarely any serious problems. It will be interesting to see how the introduction of aircraft to the later versions of the mod will affect the gameplay.

Judgement Time
Empires is a mod that has a lot going for it even though it is now only in an early Beta stage. Like any unfinished product, it has its obvious problems, but by no means do these issues destroy all the fun. Of course, the good thing about such an early release is that things can only improve and expand from this point forward. Even at this early stage, Empires already has a lot to offer the player.

It is definitely worth the download (http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2990), even if to only try something different and truly unique in the Source engine. Empires is a modification that manages to juggle the demands of a First Person Shooter and an RTS to produce a mostly solid experience... certainly a first in the growing world of HL2 mods.

Related links

• Empires Mod Official Site (http://www.empiresmod.com/)
  
• Download Empires Mod Beta 1 (http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2990)