Pax Imperia, on first impression, reminded me of the game Ascendancy. I didn't like Ascendancy very much because it was very slow and confusing. Pax, on the other hand, is a thrill to play. The game-play is in RTS, which many people of 4X games don't like. But, I find that this game plays very well. The tech tree is great. The ship customization is superb. The combat with the ships and planetary installations is a blast!
The graphics for this game is on par with games from the era.
I enjoyed how the planets actually rotate around the central star for the system. The overall feel of the game is very dark. Animations are decent when ships and planetary installations blow up. Weapons are done okay at best. When you see a barrage of missiles heading towards an enemy ship and they knock down their HP by half, you almost feel unstoppable when their weapons don't scathe you.
The menus are well-thought out. I didn't feel over-whelmed with a myriad of confusing menus. An example is the research menu. You have all your different research options, including weapons and construction upgrades. When you finish researching something it will automatically start on something else, but, with a double click, you can easily start something else.
Ship design is pretty
cool. You start off with only a Scout, Destroyer, and Transport hull. But, through researching different techs, you can eventually build cruisers and carriers. You can outfit your ships with a ton of different options. You can even add "little" independent fighters and such to be deployed while you're taking on the opposing force. In my opinion, that's a pretty good idea. It makes you feel like you're actually building an empire instead of just building bases and ships and fighting the enemy.
Overall, this game was well worth the download. I am 100% positive that I will be playing this game for quite some time.
