The original Empire is one of the most influential games ever made and almost every turn based 4X game can trace its origins back to it. Its sway over the original Civilization is obvious. Empire Deluxe was the apex of the series and its sequel, Empire II, thoroughly failed to live up to it.
I first ran to into the game when I worked at Babbage’s. We were allowed to check out software and games so we could offer informed opinions to our customers.
Being a war gamer of long standing, one of the first games I had to pick up was Empire Deluxe. Though the game suffered even then in the graphics category, the game play was outstanding. After checking the game out over a couple consecutive months, my manager finally told me I needed to buy it. I did as well as a surprisingly thick strategy guide (which I still have somewhere in storage) that was available. Even though I had access to the latest console and computer games, I spent the lion’s share of time with Empire Deluxe. I tried out other games as I felt was my duty as an employee, but for about six months Empire Deluxe was an obsession
of mine.
The play is at simple as it gets. You start with at least one city and try to conquer other cities. Each city has a production value that determines what units you can build. I think the rest is fairly self explanatory. Empire Deluxe is not what you would call deep, but it is the best “beer and pretzels” type war game that I have ever found on the PC.
