People often refer to Empire Earth as an overly ambitious real-time strategy game that covers the span of human civilization from the Stone Age to the far future. Mad Doc software took over development of the series starting with part II, but they were stuck using the framework set up by their predecessor, Stainless Steel Studios. With part III, Mad Doc was free to redesign the game the way they envisioned Empire Earth to be, with a faster pace and more simplified gameplay. Unfortunately, the new and improved version doesn't prove to be any better than the original.

The idea behind part three held a lot of promise. Instead of using a boatload of nations, with only slight differences and benefits between all of them, everything was scaled back to three region-based factions. The West focuses on technology, and although their units cost the most resources, they provide the most bang for the buck. The Middle East specializes in mobility and hit-and-run tactics. Lastly, the East uses its superior numbers to its advantage by swarming enemies with relatively weak but cheaply produced units.

Empire Earth III also has fewer epochs. Players only need to work through five different eras to jump from the ancient age to the future, so they'll have a chance to see late technologies before either getting wiped out or defeating other players. Finally, players see the world through a Global Domination map, which breaks the world down into Risk-like territories. Borrowing a great deal from games like Medieval II: Total War, players manage military movements, infrastructure, technology and diplomacy from this screen before deciding on which territories to invade.

So far, so good, but everything falls apart once combat gets underway. The first clue that all is not right with the world comes from discovering that gamers need to place buildings along some kind of invisible grid instead of wherever they want. It's a minor nuisance, but it sets things up for things to come, specifically the awful unit responses. The cartoon-like graphics and humorous command responses are reminiscent of games like Warcraft III, but without the charm. The units try to be funny, but end up sounding cheesy and annoying. For example, workers have tired lines like, "It's hammer time..."

The path finding is worse than the one-liners. Units moving in a group have a habit of getting bunched together and stuck, causing them to trickle into battles and slaughtered instead of fighting as a unified force. That's assuming they don't get stuck on the terrain and get lost somewhere in transit. Some areas that appear passable aren't, and players don't discover this until their armies walk halfway across the map instead of crossing a nearby bridge. It's sad when archers successfully outrun cavalry, and boats move slowly down narrow rivers with seizure-inducing choppiness.

Non-combative religious units like Shamans have the power to influence and convert enemy units, however all friendly units will stop attacking the unit being converted (players can't even force an attack). However, the potential convert is still free to fight, killing the swordsman staring blankly at him, and even the Shaman trying to change his mind. The game clearly wants to mirror other era-based strategy games like Rise of Nations, which kills any sense of identity Empire Earth had, but worse because it can't measure up.

Empire Earth III plays as though Rise of Nations met Total War and they had a child neither wanted. Unfortunately, not even Empire Earth fans are likely to give this game much love either.