I’ll have a full preview up soon, but I do want to keep the buzz going for Sins of a Solar Empire. For the uninitiated, it’s a real time 4X sci-fi game. Sort of a real time Galactic Civilizations, which makes sense since Stardock is publishing it.

I wasn’t quite sure how you could keep the careful planning of your typical 4x game in a real time environment, but Ironclad Games seems to have done it. There is a lot to manage, and until you get into the rhythm of things, Sins can be a little bit frantic, especially on the larger maps. But the developer makes good use of whatever space he has on screen for blinking alerts and flashing messages.

It has some of the usual RTS stuff to fuss over. How do you balance income and military expansion? Do you rush for the crystals or the metal? Should I fill the population cap with builders or soldiers?

But it has standard turn based stuff, too. Where are the map’s choke points? Can I use diplomacy to quiet a tense front? Do I invest in research or exploration?

Just like Civilization, it’s easy for a newcomer to just get wrapped up in the building stuff. And, just like Age of Empires, there’s a lot of combat to watch with little bits of micromanagement. And, like Supreme Commander and GalCiv, you can zoom way out to get the grand view.

More gameplay impressions when the preview gets published. But this is a game worth getting excited about.