Most of the graphics are fairly serviceable (the stars, the planets, the nebulas, and many of the starships look good), but some of them, like the splash screens or the alien faces, are a few years behind the curve, to put it kindly. Of course this bare bones approach does have a down side - the multimedia glitz here is essentially nil. Certainly makes you think about the way they do some things in this industry, doesn't it? Flipping through the credits you can see there's a couple others that helped out with some art and programming, and about thirty (!) people credited for playtesting, with nary an executive producer in sight. Even more remarkably, the "developer" of this game, Malfador Machinations, is essentially one guy (Aaron Hall), programming the game in his spare time, after his regular job. The publisher, Shrapnel Games, is a small little outfit that sells quality niche strategy and wargames exclusively online. So yeah, Space Empires IV has a lot going for it, not the least of which is its underdog status.
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