change gamespot in IGN and I agree.

nah, we europeans are all too stupid for this game. most people just dont know they are.

I forgot about IGN, but i think they are both popular amongst gamers as far as being a trusted sources about various aspects of gaming. PC gamer in one of their latest issues, in a response to one of the letters sent to them regarding whether they play a game throughly before penning a review, they said yes, unless it is a MMO, in which case they play it until they have a good feeling for the game.

Gamespot doesnt have any reliable reviewers left after Jeff G. and Alex Navarro left. Hell even Ryan Davis just left. They have nobody left except that Van Ord guy who gives everythign a good review (read yes man).

Allen Rausch is no ordinary reviewer. I've met him and saw him reviewing a game. He gets into the innards of a game.  There ain't many reviewers like him which is why (on a personal note) I always consult his reviews before buying a strategy game.

Thanks AragFore03.  Which areas of the interface do you find 'Clunky'. Can you give an example of an RTS that you would consider less clunky?

Compared to other games the interface and buttons are really smooth.

Yet another feather in the SD/IC hat from a "tech oriented" viewer. Not bad at all.

With regards to to comments about IGN, PCG & GS and company, I really discount that vast majority of reviews on those site unless I know the reviewer. Sad but true. Sites where I think a notable impact could easily be felt with trusted (at least by me) reviews are: Wired Game Life, Ars Opposable Thumbs, Tom's Games, Joystiq, The Strategy Gamer & The War Gamer.

I didn't see this anywhere on the main page and wasn't sure where to post it, but since this is talking about reviews:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/sins_of_a_solar_empire_and_me_a_story_of_addiction_heartache_and_true_love

It's written by Will Smith, editor of Maximum PC, declaring his love for SoaSE.

Getting back to this topic, after reading many reviews the biggest digs against SoaSE after the new patch seem to be:

*No single-player campaign
*High learning curve
*User interface, while innovative and helpful, could still provide additional info and be updated visually
*Tutorials could be improved and more expansive (to help with learning)

Maybe through upcoming patches the user interface could provide more info (or customized info), look better, and help increase understanding of game mechanics. This would address the majority of dings against this game. I could see the single-player campaign being an expansion, as that's a bit much for a patch.

To follow up on my previous and, it should be noted, hastily written, post about the interface...

The overall interface could use a bit of an overhaul. I recall commenting on it during the Beta as well. The look and feel of the icons don't look very sharp and are larger than necessary. There is a lot of information on the main screen. Especially on the left hand side. It would be nice if we could simply hotkey or toggle through different types of information for that section versus having to pin or unpin items. The different technology tree screens could be consolidated into one or two screens versus having four. The Black Market and Pirates screens could also be consolidated. The Diplomacy section also needs work. A lot of wasted space without a lot of meaning.

Those are just a few things but I think those are the ones that are at the top of my gripe list for the interface. Once again, I think the game is great and I know a lot of hard work into it. I wouldn't even bother commenting if I didn't think this game had great potential. It kind of feels like the first part of Galactic Civilizations. Great game but with some obvious flaws.

It may seem superficial, but a different UI skin for each race would add a lot to the experience of being that race. I just started playing and to get familiar with everything I always go random (liking Advent so far), but to begin with I could never tell which race I was; the UI being the same, and there doesn't seem to even be any text on screen with your race in it. When I came here to look up tips I had to correlate ship names to work out who I was playing.

Related question: can you pin ships to the left panel? It seems like you can, but they never appear in the list... I mean having your fleet appear as collapsible panel; like the planets, but as it's own entity (icon being the capital in charge)