Star Wars: Empire at War Review

Introduction.

Star Wars: Empire at War is the latest Star Wars RTS. Admittedly, it is 3 years of age as of 2009. However, it was a huge leap from it's predecessor Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, using a completely new "Alamo" 3D game engine and adding new features never seen before in an RTS.

Star Wars: Empire at War is designed to let you take command of the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, in both galactic strategy scale and in tactical land and space battles.

Notable Features.

• Strategic scale.
• Star Wars branded.
• Innovations in RTS gameplay.
• Huge leap over the previous Star Wars RTS.

Plot.

"The mighty Galactic Empire is on the verge of complete galactic domination, the Rebel Alliance makes a desperate move to save themselves and reclaim the galaxy. Which side will you join? Who will you lead to victory?"

Star Wars: Empire at War takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The campaign allows you to play missions which lead to the Battle of Yavin.

Gameplay.

For those who are new to the game there are a series of tutorials that help you learn the basics of gameplay, they are quite useful.

Star Wars: Empire at War has 3 different modes of gameplay:

• Singleplayer or Multiplayer Skirmish (Land or Space): This the straight forward usual RTS mode; collect resources, research tech, build units and kill the enemy (either human or AI). 
• Campaign: Basically lets you follow the story of the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance leading up to the Battle of Yavin.
• Galactic Conquest: A mode which is similar to the campaign, but there are no missions, the objective is to defeat the enemy. You can choose from many galactic maps, which are scenarios that may give the advantage to the Rebels or the Empire.

The graphical detail and sound design are excellent, I was certainly impressed by the quality of explosions and sandstorms.

The gameplay is split up into 2 parts; a strategic galactic map, which allows you to build facilities and armies on planets. And secondly, a tactical map of the space or land of the planet that you are defending or invading. You use ships to transfer your space fleet or ground forces from planet to planet. Hyperspace lanes, indicated by pulsating lines reduce the time needed for travel between planets.

Planets are invaded by taking control of the space above the planet and then landing a ground force to destroy all enemy units. The Rebel Alliance has an advantage over the Galactic Empire, they can execute raids, which completely bypass the space battle. However, there is a catch: you can only land a limited amount of units per raid.

The emphasis on resource management has taken a back seat in this RTS, which allows the player to focus on strategy and combat. The only resource is galactic credits. To accumulate credits, one has to take over planets or build more mining facilities, you could also hire smugglers to steal from enemy planets. In addition to this, each planet under your control adds more building slots and adds to the galactic population cap. This is essential if you want to build a large military force. Each planet also provides it's own unique bonus such as, increased build speed for certain units, etc.

The campaign is excellent for those who want to re-live the battles of Star Wars. However, it is sometimes tedious in gameplay. Galactic Conquest is quite good if you want to have an open ended game, strategic and tactical planning are absolutely essential to be victorious. The Galactic Empire excels in using large units and overwhelming firepower to completely destroy the enemy, while the Rebel Alliance is good for hit and run strikes and using smaller units.

The game engine allows you to target specific systems of capital ships in space battles, for instance you could disable weapons or the engines without completely destroying the target. Which brings an added aspect of gameplay. Some units also have unique abilities that they can use in combat to provide bonuses such as increased firepower, speed or reduced damage. While hero units usually have more powerful and useful abilities, some which don't need to be activated, for example fleet commanders increase the sight and health of all units in the tactical battle.

If you don't like the tactical battles, you can use an auto-resolve feature (expect for campaign missions). I would not recommend this, as the outcome is determined by the size of each force, as well as some other factors. Sometimes you can lose a ground battle to a bunch of troops even if you have a couple of AT-ATs.

The A.I. could use a bit more polishing, yes it does offer a challenge at first, but it is easy to notice the patterns and tendencies of the A.I.

The Expansion Pack.

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is an expansion pack that adds a third faction: the Zann Consortium, as well as more planets, bigger maps and more units to the existing factions. The campaign allows you to play as the Zann Consortium, which relies on black market technology and corruption to gain control of the galaxy.

Recommended System Requirements.

These are not the official system requirements, they are based on my and other's experiences:

• 1.5GHz CPU or better
• 512MB of RAM
• 3GB of Hard Drive space.
• 128MB graphics card with Hardware T&L and DirectX 9.0c
• Cable or DSL for Internet play.

Pros and Cons.

Pros.

• Good Story.
• Very Good Graphics.
• Strategic gameplay.
• Large galactic scale.
• Excellent provisions for easy modding and customisation (as demonstrated by the large number of Star Wars: Empire at War mods available).

Cons.

• Can lag, even with a high spec computer. Especially with a large amount of units.
• Random Bugs, Glitches and Crashes. Even with the latest patch.
• Somewhat repetitive gameplay.
• A.I. is not at full potential.
• Multiplayer can be laggy.

Conclusion.

Star Wars: Empire at War is a very good addition to the Star Wars games library. It's innovative features and gameplay make it a good RTS to play. Forces of Corruption is a welcome addition to Empire at War, as it adds more depth to the game. However, the questionable A.I., random bugs and fairly repetitive gameplay may make it difficult to like for some.