Empire Earth II (EEII) was met with a mixed response upon its release last year. Since then many innovative real-time strategy (RTS) games have arrived that have made the genre one of the most competitive and thrilling around. However, it's also made EEII look a little out of its depth.

The Art of Supremacy (AoS) expansion pack (you need the original to play) adds some new civilisations, some minor gameplay tweaks and little else.

And while there isn’t much to knock, it’s also difficult to completely recommend to anyone but true fans.

There are three new single-player campaigns. One, set in Africa, is both original and inspired, with two new races (the Zulu and the Masai).

There are some evocative scenarios featuring formidable tribes and some well-conceived (and probably highly probable) future-based campaigns as civilisations battle for control of the continent’s energy resources. The other two aren’t quite as great but fans will no doubt battle through them nonetheless.

There are also two new turning-point battles (one-off conflicts with you siding up in some of history's turning points), which are both decent but a little seen-it-all-before.

So as you might have guessed from our slight cynicism, AoS isn’t much of a revelation, merely more of the same solid and ultimately satisfying melee action.

However, that’s not to say that it’s completely free of new gameplay tricks. The introduction of the tug-of-war mode is a neat idea. This places you against your enemies in a multi-mapped zone with you occupying territories while a neutral ground sits ready as a battleground in the middle.

The idea is to force yourself on them, while they are trying to do the same to you. Naturally battles get more intense the closer to an opponent’s land you get, and it allows for some excellent skirmishes.

Visually, it’s still competent but lacking a little flair, although the new African missions have a look that’s not been captured before in the RTS genre. Some of the new character units look nice as well, and it’s definitely an improvement from the original.

However, we wonder how dated it might all look in a few weeks when Rise Of Nations: Rise of Legends arrives on the scene, which looks mightily impressive so far.

Perhaps we’ve been a little harsh on AoS, as we did have plenty of fun playing it. It’s just that the RTS genre is evolving at such a pace and we were hoping for a little more from this expansion pack.

For £20, though, it’s not so overpriced that it shouldn’t be investigated, and those that still find much to relish in Empire Earth 2’s resource management system will be satisfied.

Also consider
Rise Of Nations: Rise of Legends
Release date: 28 May 2006
Price: £20