Total irrevocable world domination; the utter obliteration of any powers standing in your way as you seize control of every corner of the globe, from Ohio to Olso and Japan to Gibraltar - if this prospect doesn't stir fiendishly malevolent and gleeful hand-rubbing within you then you're either Mahatma Gandi or Michael Moore. It's a home truth: there's a little bit of Pinky and the Brain in us all, and without it our lives would be much more stagnant. After all, it is the fundamental, primeval driving force behind our sprawling metropolitan cities, nuclear programs and space exploration schemes. So if Empire Earth III provides the means to an end we're all secretly looking for then I'm embracing it with arms outstretched!

And I'm relieved to say that it undoubtedly does. There are games out there that give us world-scale destructive powers, like the recently released DEFCON, the genre-defining Civilization series and Total War - but I have to admit that developers Mad Doc have given us a fantastically alluring scene upon which to commit a full world takeover. Our campaign screen is literally a huge, well-rendered planet Earth, complete with lovely, shimmering oceans out of which contoured continents rise majestically. You are given a choice of three different civilisations to play as, roughly translating into the British Empire, the Ming Dynasty and the Greeks; and each race balances out its combat strengths and technology advantages accordingly, so there's something here for everyone.

The game begins with a very impressive scene-setting FMV (I'm a sucker for decent CGI and so should you be!) and then you're placed into the 'world view', with command of your sovereign nation and several options revolving around attacking, building armies, defending or being all diplomatic and sending adjacent countries baskets of fruit. This is the screen upon which you also upgrade which age of history you are in. Everything costs certain varieties of points to perform, which you accrue as you play and also obtain from your strategic decisions on the world map. Each province can be aligned to a certain cause, such as military or defensive, and depending on the 'natural resources' of each location you gain more or less of the necessary advancement points. It seems odd that some regions would be worth pre-assigned values of diplomacy points though, as it seems this should be down to the relative position of the rest of your provinces - but the available resources are balanced out across the globe.

So, after marching a few armies around, I reached the Australian mainland and cheekily waltzed in with my assembled forces, challenging the superiority of the resident ruler. This is where we zoom down to the battlefield to sort the men from the boys in true RTS fashion. The action is presented in a full controllable isometric viewpoint and I immediately found myself drawing comparisons with Age of Mythology, expect there was a frustrating amount of clutter on the screen; the obligatory mini-map is hard to coordinate with camera control and it felt cumbersome getting what I wanted on the screen. This is an obvious hindrance but accordingly the building/exploration/combat cycle doesn't move too fast and things flow quite well once you're accustomed to everything. The details in the battles are very impressive and I have to give it to Mad Docs' animation crew, as the units are really something special; just sitting there and watching their comical idle animations is a true joy and it's nice to see that some developers are still aware that gamers appreciate extra subtlety, especially in titles where there is so much going on - it's nice to be reminded that your units are indeed little people and not just a certain amount of resources converted into an attacking troop. Building construction is excellent too, with tiny wheelbarrows that have buckets of cement swinging to and fro. Each race advances its base in exactly the same fashion, which is a disappointment though as there was an opportunity to create differences other than unit cost or strength - but the enemy of all RTS developers rears its head here, the issue of balance.

Reaching the right level of playability and cohesion really is a field unto itself in the RTS genre and the Empire Earth games have always had their own way of doing things - but with the level of experience the developers have had, as well as a plethora of fresh-approach titles with bold new features and intricacies recently hitting the shelves, ready to be exploited and taken advantage of, a bit more imagination or variety wouldn't have done any harm. Sure, it's true that games don't necessarily need bold new combinations and concepts to be appealing, but rather to simply present themselves with a bit of originality and direction. True fans of the RTS genre will acknowledge Total Annihilation as one of the greatest titles ever conceived and its recent re-iteration in Supreme Commander is actually being outplayed online by a third party true recreation of the original game called TA Spring - not a single thing has been changed other than a graphical overhaul. I think this speaks volumes for the formula for the game design process, which developers should take note of: if a ten year old RTS can become more popular that a game that claims to be a total evolution of its predecessor then is there really much need to revamp an unbroken concept?

Something almost uniformly annoying across the RTS board (aside from regimented unit games such as Total War, but these don't really count, as troops are not technically individual) is the way in which units move. I'm not talking about animation: if the enemies in Far Cry or Doom 3 charged blindly at you in a straight line one after the other then would you be wholly engrossed in the atmosphere? Unlikely - and the same goes for unit after unit following their leader in true Lemmings style only to be torn into scrap by a death valley of enemy laser fire. So I was pleasantly surprised (to the point of really relishing any imminent skirmishes) to find my troops neatly and efficiently forming up into battle groups; my archers string arrows behind my halberd men, ranged artillery pieces flank for support and cavalry tightly coerce in their relevant roles. This stays true throughout your technological evolution, as huge mythological beasts, musketeers, mortars, cannons and later snipers, laser troopers and advanced energy weapon vehicles join the fray. There is little to differentiate between tech levels other than 'bigger is better'; tactics are thrown out of the window when it comes to pitting anything from a previous age against its superior. Combat feels just a little too clunky though, as units' life bars slowly chip, away resulting in the outcome of battles being obvious way before the end, regardless of quick-witted micro-management.

Certain additions to the requisite 'destroy all monsters' approach do show up in various forms however. To gain advantage over enemy factions, native tribes can be exploited by completing tasks for them such as rescuing a kidnapped princess or saving a pillaged tribe from their aggressors. It's nice to have these extra missions on hand to mix things up while you advance your army, which also holds a few surprises. EE III definitely lives up to its claim of taking you through the history of warfare and beyond; delightful new units pop up as you advance through time, beginning with little tomahawks and arrows before building up to cannons and rifles, then machine guns and tanks, then laser beams and gravity hole turrets. The effort put into the animation is evident in all these little treasures and there's a lot of technology holed into one game. It could theoretically be a nightmare to learn and master each type of unit and its accompanying strategy, but the game holds true to the methods of its predecessors and the learning curve ensures similarities between each tech level that ease you into the next stage without any hassle or re-thinking of strategies required. This is a commendable achievement if you look at the hideously complex tech trees of Civ IV, which need considerable efforts to merely comprehend, let alone implement effectively, yet instead of feeling like a cut down version of a game like Civ IV it feels more like an alternative narration of history by Tony Robinson instead of that Adam Hart-Davis who presents What The Romans Did For Us - it's basically the same thing, albeit a lot more enjoyable but unfortunately not as rewarding overall.

Undertaking such a vast venture as it does, Earth Empire III requires plenty of the very element it is emulating: time. You need lots of it (particularly if you are not accustomed to the previous titles in the series) to truly engage yourself with the style and flow of the game. The learning curve is more a cryptic scattergram of wondrous discoveries, satisfying conquests and moments of frustrating tedium leading you on somewhat hesitantly as you battle tentatively onwards through what should feel like a triumph - and it certainly sometimes does, notwithstanding gameplay continuity casualties on the battlefield. It's a mixed experience, but then so is our illustrious past (and indeed will be our future) so there is room for forgiveness. There is earth-shattering fun to be had and if, like Napolean, you are prepared to march on when the odds seem stacked up then they'll be erecting statues of your image for centuries to come!

Reviewed by Chris Davies for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).