Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock, the same company that created Sins,<\/em> wanted to recreate some of that mystical, grand-scale RTS goodness with (another killer title alert) Ashes of the Singularity.<\/em> The original Ashes<\/em> debuted some seven months ago, and although it received high praise with regards to its capability to conduct massive battles, it was critiqued (rather harshly) for its lackluster campaign as well as its generic, ho-hum environments.<\/p>\n Having followed Mr. Wardell and company for many years now, when he says that he listens to his fans out there, it\u2019s not just lip service. Stardock is a highly responsive and adaptive enterprise, and so sure enough, we have the stand alone follow up to Ashes,<\/em> this one titled Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation.<\/em> Escalation <\/em>features a much more fleshed out campaign, allowing you to get a better idea of the game\u2019s backstory, and shores up many of the nagging issues which plagued the original entry.<\/p>\n Escalation<\/em> tells the tale of the Post Human Coalition AKA PHC, who have evolved to the point to where they can control matter through neural nets over vast distances. As they began to set out and harvest materials on distant planets, a new threat emerges in the AI controlled Substrate. The two sides are soon locked in an epic struggle for dominance and territorial control, and you the player take the role of a humble servant within the PHC. Escalation\u2019s<\/em> campaign is head and shoulders above the original game\u2019s offering, story-wise, and does a great deal to immerse players in its highly developed universe.<\/p>\n Gameplay-wise, Escalation<\/em> sports many new features that also enhance the core gaming experience. One of the main complaints about the original Ashes <\/em>was that there weren\u2019t enough defensive structures for players to build in order to protect their bases. Since I am much more of a turtler myself, I tended to agree with this sentiment, as instead of being able to independently build up a huge assault force, I always had to field a defensive force which stuck close to home. Escalation<\/em> takes care of that by offering new defensive structures which are even upgradable. This allows more defensive-minded players to build up their bases and likewise protect them from early rushes more effectively.<\/p>\n There are a total of nine new units to play with, including a brand new strategic bomber and a unit that heals nearby friendlies. The new units are a nice addition, but Escalation<\/em> also went the extra mile by re-designing old units, making them much more distinctive looking than they previously were. Admittedly, when you are zoomed out past a certain level, you still can\u2019t really distinguish many of the units from one another. But the added stylistic touches do come in handy when you\u2019re engaged in smaller scale conflicts.<\/p>\n There are also new ambush units for each faction which can be teleported across the map for bushwhacking parties. This adds an element of surprise and can turn the tables of any pitched battle, especially ones that are deadlocked. Thankfully, Escalation<\/em> also bumps up the game\u2019s map sizes, which many (including myself) thought were a little too small before. The new maps are a welcome addition, and suit the grand scale that the game strives for. But they\u2019re not just bigger\u2014they\u2019re much more detailed as well, and feature more in the way of varying levels of elevation, as well as terrain types.<\/p>\n In Escalation,<\/em> you really get the sense that you are engaging in massive battles across sprawling alien planets, which not only look fantastic, but are much easier to manage this time around. One thing that really helps the increased sense of scale is the new strategic zoom (yes!). Well, new at least within this series. Stardock went back into their tool chest and borrowed this excellent feature from their Sins franchise, and it works so well in Escalation <\/em>that I seriously wonder why it wasn\u2019t included in the original Ashes.<\/em><\/p>\n In all, Escalation<\/em> not only increased the scale of the original game, it gives everything a once-over cosmetically as well. From the retooled units, gussied up new environments, new effects, and bolstered defenses, Escalation<\/em> is a must have for any fan of strategy games, and lovers of science fiction in particular. It impressed me so much that I\u2019d seriously consider it a dark horse contender for strategy or RTS game of the year.<\/p>\n SCORE: 88%<\/p>\n Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation <\/em>offers some excellent visuals. However, you have to have an equally fast gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:<\/p>\n Visit CyberpowerPC\u2019s website<\/a> to check out all of the other great deals as well!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation Stardock Sins of a Solar Empire wasn\u2019t just a super-cool title, it was a game that absorbed a large portion of my life. Sins single-handedly reinvented the RTS wheel by offering gamers a real time experience which featured a seriously effective strategic zoom component. Zooming all the way out made… Read More »Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation Review \u2013 This Year\u2019s Strategy Behemoth Just Got Grander<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":5827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2732],"tags":[2520,2615,741,2488,67,2486,2607,2530,2556,2616],"class_list":["post-5826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games","tag-4k-gaming","tag-ashes-of-the-singularity-escalation","tag-cyberpower-pc","tag-game-review","tag-gaming-pc","tag-ian-kane","tag-reviews-2","tag-rts-games","tag-science-fiction-games","tag-stardock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5826"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5837,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5826\/revisions\/5837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"ash1\"](\"http:\/\/www.cpgaming.gg\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/ash1-915x571.jpg\")
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