It is much better than WOM but it is still in beta and the replay factor is not there yet. I would recommend holding off until later beta phases or the release. My friend tried this beta and he did not like it.
This is what he had to say:
1. Even though FE is better than WOM that was not saying much.
2. The art style was still the same ugly style (which I do agree with but this is not as important in a TBS game as it would be in a MMO or RPG/Shooter) However it does look better than WOM.
3. TC is still boring
4. The UI was ok but not very user friendly in the sense that you can find what is doing what in the city managment. (Now he played in Beta 1 I for get the version. But this has improved since then)
5. Creatures were not aggressive enough (They are more aggressive in the current version but still will not attack cities very often)
6. The quest are much better than in WOM (He did really like the quest)
7. Spells arte Meh. (And they still are not very exciting)
8. Does not like the Tech trees to be divided into 3 trees. He perfers one tree ala CIV. However if your going to have multipule trees then they should be independant of each other (This last part , the trees being independant of each other I whole heartily agree. If I'm focussing on the War tree then nothing in that tree should have a Preq that belongs in another tree, very irritating.
9. The custom Faction and Soverign are 100 times better than in WOM he liked this.
Basically he has decided to wait until release before passing judgment on the game. He has no confidence in SD to make a good game because of the WOM debacle. He has not played GC2 or any other SD game so he does not know (even though I told him) that they can make a good game. He is not into space TBS games which is why he has not played GC2.
Anyway these things will (hopefully be improved as beta goes on. But if you play beta remember this is not a finished product so if this will bother you then STOP right now and wait until the Fall when it is released.
