Lost Empire: Immortals: Wow! Space is Really Big! Company: Paradox Interactive Everyone knows that it is hard out there for a Beta, especially when you are trying to do something as huge as the scale they are attempting in Lost Empire: Immortals. I have played some huge games before, and usually by huge it has to do with the number of options in ship building, or cities, or for whatever reason really involved. I like to refer to these types of games on a scale of thickness. No matter how involved an FPS is, they are never thicker than an essay book. This game has thousands and thousands of stars and planetary systems to explore and conquer in a single campaign. The graphics for the HUD and the interface are not going to win any awards, but they do their job and you can navigate the very simply laid out sections. With all of that being said, they have made sure to tell me that there are some filler graphics, so take all of what was said with a grain of salt. I am assuming that even though some graphical representations may change, the overall HUD will remain as simple and clean as it is. I can only imagine the already great looking ships will get better. I am really hoping that the seventies synth music soundtrack is a filler. After hearing it in the opening section, I was fully expecting all of the spacecraft to be wire guided. We will have to wait and see there. In Lost Empire: Immortals, you start off with the simple task of deciding your race. Choose between 6 different classes with various bonuses. Each class is awarded a bonus. You choose between four unique gifts and select the one that suits your game style the best. Now it is on to the big decision. How big is your Universe? Is it as small as only 2500 systems? 3000? Up to 5000? You cannot truly respect this scale until you are zoomed all of the way out looking down on them and then zooming all of the way back in. Very cool indeed. You know who and what you are and the galaxy you exist in; now lastly is how you win. You decided your victory conditions, be it scientific endeavors, conquest, economic or by classic domination. Lost Empire: Immortals is a turn-based strategy game. I would say it has to be given all of the sociopolitical, military and economic balls you must juggle. There would be no time for that if it were indeed real time. Set your ships out to travel the universe. As you build your fleet, you are responsible for designing and building ships that can get the job done. From the engines to the gun, your fleet and its design are in your control. Depending on distances, it will often take several turns to reach a new system. As you expand, you will find that so do your enemies. There is a decent, if yet need to be balanced alliance system that will allow you to inhabit the political battlefield and not just space. But let us just talk about the space battles, as you can watch them from a close up perspective giving a very cool and unique view. Watching two fleets go at it can be a spectacle to watch. You must adapt and overcome, as well as evolve, so do not neglect the science needs for pure military ambition. Lost Empire: Immortals has a really good start. It has a nice look while in-game; it is immense and involved. This is a fairly big undertaking, and I think they are going to be rewarded when they get all of the obvious newborn game kinks out. I hope to see at least one or two more iterations as they get more of the features active before their full launch. It is not a quick game to play and I really like that it gives you a real sense of accomplishment when you have held out for several hours in a game to hang on and prove your strategy can withstand constant barrage. It will obviously have a multiplayer element, and I look forward to going head to head with other players. Until then, it is a great start. I will get you more info when I see more. -WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd Related Links: Lost Empire: Immortals Paradox Interactive