Product Description

Star Wars Empire at War is the first game ever that gives you the power to command an entire war for the Star Wars Galaxy at your finger tips and the freedom to decide how to do it. The game is set between Episode III and Episode IV of the Star Wars series. This real-time strategy takes place in the wake of the Jedi slaughter that has disrupted the balance of the force. Players wage ground and space battles all in an effort to gain control of the galaxy. All of the gameplay and action within Empire at War is persistent, meaning that strategic and tactical elements from previous events will have a permanent effect on the galaxy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2349 in Video Games
• Brand: Lucas Arts
• Model: 2186094
• Released on: 2006-02-16
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows 2000
• Dimensions: 7.50" h x 1.00" w x 5.40" l, 2.00 pounds

Features

• Real-time strategy game takes place between the two trilogies through "A New Hope"
• Play with a multitude of heroes for each side, each with their own abilities
• Control the battle between Rebel and Empire forces on both land and in space
• Dual-layered game play requires you to manage both strategic and tactical levels
• Play campaign across more than 40 planets, or play multiplayer with up to 8 players

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable Lucasarts product
I was looking forward to playing this for awhile. I pre-ordered a copy and when it arrived I leaped into it. It is a decent game overall. The graphics won't wow you. They aren't top of the line, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing because it will play on a majority of computers out there today. There are little things they did add in like when ships explode and the men and pieces of metal will come tumbling out into space...nice touch.

I think I was expecting a bit more...there isn't a whole lot of tactics/strategy to the game that can't be solved by a quick mouse hand. If you excel at Warcraft/Starcraft type games then you will be right in your element. The space/land battle maps are very small and claustrophobic where there is no room for manuevering or flanking. It's basically move in and slug it out clicking all over the map to ensure victory. It's not completly dull, but it's awful close. In it's entirety however, they play pretty well and enjoyable.

One misperception I had was that the space battles were in 3-D similar to Homeworld or Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. They are very 2-D, but will appear 3-D if you switch to the cinematic camera which is pretty cool when you are in a big space battle and you have everything under control and can watch the battle unfold other than from a isometric top-down perspective.

The gameplay itself is entertaining, but I really did not like where time continued to advance on the strategic map. You can slow the time down a lot and of course there is pause, but time continues to advance and you need to stop and really slow things down immensly on the Galactic Conquest games. Speaking of pause there is no hotkey for it which makes pausing the game during land/space battles annoying especially when the battle is very busy and costs me a few units. I really would have prefered a turn-based strategic level similiar to Star Wars: Rebellion. On the massive Galactic Conquest map it's almost unplayable on a normal speed because it is so daunting managing 30ish planets. I highly recommend putting the speed to lowest and then just hitting the fast forward key if you need time to speed up a bit.

The tutorial and voice acting are very good. They explain the game pretty much without having to crack open the manual with a few omissions. I wasn't sure how to build Imperial Star Destroyers until I realized i needed to upgrade my Space Station as well (To build these big boys anyway you need to be on a specific planet as well.)

The game is fairly balanced between the Rebels and Empire. The Star Destroyers are definately the kings of the skies and tough to beat. The rebels have a lot of little tricks though to help them out like the annoyingly frustrating Raid tactic where the Rebels can bypass your defending fleet and land directly on the planet with a army to wreck havok. This forces you to overfortify a lot leaving little for offense at times if your borders cover many worlds. However, the AI isn't outstanding so you can bend a bit. For example, there seems to be a definate lack of building the big Mon Calamari cruisers or Imperial Star Destroyers on Galactic Conquest. I give the other side breathing space to get a big battle but the AI seems to only like to build average frigates and waaay too many missile boats which have the armor plating of a Pinto.

There is a cap on how many units can be on a Land/Space battle at one time. For space battles it is 25 points for the Rebels and 20 points for the Empire. Big capital ships like the Mon Calamari Cruisers and Imperial Star Destroyers fill up 4 points each with most frigate types taking up 3 points and your corvetters will fill up 2 points. Fighters like the X-Wing and Y-wing take up one point. The empire never has to build fighters because they auto-launch from Star Destroyers with the exception of the TIE scout (which sucks).

It's almost impossible to lose as the Empire. You can setup your fleet with five Imperial Star Destroyers (which puts you at a cap of 20 units out of 20 units) and fight a Rebel fleet 10 times your size and you will win everytime because the AI does not concentrate all their big capital ships and instead brings in lesser missile boats and corvettes which get chewed up by a few salvos from your Star Destroyers and you can focus on their Nebulan and Assault frigates one by one. The AI won't wait and concentrate, but send them in piecemeal to get smushed. One of the good parts of the AI is that it is very choosy where to attack. If you have fortified all your border planets with Level 5 space stations and a decent fleet the computer won't attack unless it has a big force. It will go on the defensive mostly and wait for you. It's not that much more challenging playing as the rebels either when I built up a large invasion fleet to combat Coruscant which was heavily defended and when the two Fleets engage I see the AI has decided in it's wisdom to build 39 TIE Scouts. Errr?

The heroes and villians are on a spawn timer with the exception of the Emperor and Mon Motha in most Galactic Conquest maps and campaigns. For example, that grrrr Han Solo you can kill with a Bounty Hunter or in battle but Shazam! in no time at all he's back up and kicking leading more forces past your fleets.

System stability. Well, I really don't have much to comment on this other than Lucasarts is definately paying attention to this release and there have been TWO updates i've downloaded from their site via their auto-updater when the game is launched. I guess the widespread negative reaction to their abysmal failure of a MMORPG prompted a lot more pampering to the latest Star Wars products.

Is it worth your time and money? Sure..why not. It's fun and there is nothing bad about it, but it's not going to knock your socks off. It's not the Total War engine (which honestly I was hoping for). You will enjoy the battles if nothing else. Just note there is nothing turn-based about this at all. Overall a 4 star game.

Pros
- Fun
- Cinematic camera angles are immersive
- Addicting gameplay
- Good voice acting
- Good tutorial

Cons
- Sub-standard AI
- Too easy even on Advanced.
- Cramped Land/Space battle maps.

Building a Better Empire / Rebellion
Building a Better Empire / Rebellion

Well I recently purchased and tried Star Wars: Empire at War. It's a bit like Rome: Total War I'm told. Just in space, without centurions, nor chariots, and the Emperor shoots lightning bolts from his hands.

Hey at least you can't say it's a boring change.

If I were to compare this game to something it would have to be Star Wars: Rebellion or maybe even Master of Orion II. But don't get excited about the second comparison, its missing some of the things that make MOO2 great. It is a however marked improvement on SW: Rebellion.

Firstly, there are different styles of play in the game. In fact the game is really a set of sub games all kind of rolled together. The first element is to play a campaign for either the Empire of the Rebellion much like the StarCraft games. You run missions that have a large scope in an evolving story and have set forces available for each new mission.

The best style of play in my opinion is on the full fledged galactic map where you pick a side and a scenario. What I mean is, you have the map (or at least part of it depending on the scenario) and the game starts with each side having certain assets. The Empire always gets more, the Rebellion always less. The victory conditions depend on, and largely define, the scenario.

In any style of play you will be taking on both space and ground battles. The space battles are played on a space map that is largely open, but does contain hazards like asteroid fields and energy storms that you have to watch out for. The scenario is always one side attacking and one defending. As is the case in real life, the defending side usually has the advantage because they have more prepared defenses. This is especially true if you are defending and have a large space station.

The ground battles are a little like Command and Conquer, without all of the unit building. Before the battle you have time to build the buildings you need to defend the planet but during the battle itself you just have to be a better tactician. The main difference from the space battles is the presence of terrain and build pads. In strategic locations on the map there are build pads where whichever sides captures them can place a turret or bacta (healing) station or some other useful item. This is handy for defending players but clever attackers can use them as well.

Some defenders structures occasionally spawn extra units but you cannot really build units during a battle. So again, the defender has a slight advantage but BOTH sides must use their available units well. A good tactician will dominate both ground and space battles. Also, maps are different for different planets. So the frozen fields of Hoth will be different than fighting on Coruscant.

Generally speaking, the Rebellion has better Starfighters and ground units. The Empire has better Capital Ships and Armor Ground Units. Troops are vital in the game and you can't take over a planet with AT-ATs alone. Also, starfighters (especially bombers) can savage larger ships quickly by destroying their hanger decks, cannons, or shield generators. The Alliance Corellian Corvettes can destroy starfighter wings en masse and even threaten larger ships when in packs. Then again, the larger classes of Star Destroyers can unleash HUGE amounts of firepower and their hangers spew out TIE fighters and bombers like a fire hose. Also, Imperial Repulsor Tanks are fast, shielded, hit hard and likely to destroy any Rebel player who doesn't have a small legion of missile troopers handy (their main weakness).

One thing I didn't mention yet is the special units. If you are an imperial player and Han Solo is running around on the planet, get ready to be frustrated. He will show up at the weakest point, blow away a turret or a few stormtrooper squads and then run off the moment he starts taking real damage. He will then show up at the reinforcement points (places that judge the amount of troops you can have on the battlefield) and take it over reducing the amount of troop you can have in the battle. Oh and Chewbacca is never far behind and he has the ability to take over armored vehicles and turn them on your own troops (like a certain AT-ST in Return of the Jedi).

Special units add a LOT of the star wars feel to the game. Each side has different special units with most of them as you would expect. Han, Luke, etc for the Rebellion and the Emperor, Darth Vader etc for the Empire. Many of these special units have special ships or vehicles that they fight in during a battle. So while Han may be sporting his pistol and guile on the planet, expect to be chasing the Millennium Falcon through asteroid fields on the space map. Admiral Ackbar only leaves home in his Mon Calamari star cruiser Home One and the Imperial Captain Palleon has a Star Destroyer that is VERY handy in the early game for the Empire. General Veers' AT-AT tends to stomp the enemy pretty easily as long as there are no airspeeders around.

I haven't mentioned the sounds, but it's probably the most star wars part of the game. It's really the little things that make the difference here. For example, when Boba Fett is fighting in space the cannons on his ship sound just like when Jango Fett went after Obi Wan over Geonosis in Episode II. Or when Darth Vader is being controlled on the map he is wheezing as normal and when he speaks it is usually a quote from the movie. ("All too easy") Expect to hear a lot of familiar "Star Wars" sounds in the game.

You are probably getting a feel for the game by now, but let me give you an overview of what it's like. First, it's not turn based, its real time and while you can pause everything is happening as you are deciding what to do next. You have the galactic map and as you might expect the more planets you have the more credits you get and the more units your forces can support. Some planets are connected by trade routes and if you control both planets then you control that trade route and your credits come even faster. If you are the Empire and you have 3 or 4 trade routes under your control, expect to start dominating the field in a hurry.

Each planet has space for ground units, a certain number of building slots (different number for each planet), and space overhead for fleets. The normal combat sequence is to send in a fleet and gain space superiority (on the space map) and then launch a ground invasion (on the ground map). That means that two battles must be fought for each planet (at least two). Bespin is an exception as there is no planet to stand on. On each map you can only have a certain number of units active at any one time. This is a very large number on the space map so usually every ship you have is fighting. On the ground map attackers take control of a reinforcement point on the map and can drop only the number of units equal to the reinforcement point. (So if the one you have is 5 then you only can drop 5 units) Taking additional reinforcement points is important to the invader so he can get more troops onto the planet at once instead of simply replacing his losses. The defender must counter this strategy but has all his units available (though often spread out).

That would be the game except for one small point. The Rebellion and the Empire are HUGELY different both in their units and their abilities but also their style of play. For example, while both sides can control planets it's not a good idea for the Rebellion to have large numbers of worlds under their control. Instead they steal resources from the Empire and don't have to control as many planets. Additionally while the Rebels can clearly see what the Empire are usually up to, the Empire can only guess where the Rebels are and what they are up to. And while the Empire is researching tech levels, the Rebellion must steal specific technologies (units or ships) from the Empire to gain new capabilities.

One of the biggest differences is the Rebels use of "Raid Fleets" that can bypass the space battle and directly attack the surface of a planet. This means that the Empire needs to keep Garrisons on most of its worlds or it will be constantly disrupted by Rebel attacks. A good Rebel tactic is to raid a planet and destroy something valuable and retreat offworld quickly.

Did I mention retreat? In both space and ground battles both sides can retreat if it looks like a lost cause or if their objective is completed. When you retreat it takes a few seconds to "make the calculations for hyperspace" and ships are sitting ducks for about 8 to 10 seconds before they zip away to safety. On the ground it is similar but units often fight up until the last second. Obviously, this tactic benefits the Rebels the most as the Imperials tend to group into fleets which are very powerful (though only in a few systems) so they are rarely outclassed. Many are the times that a Rebel hero has escaped from the tromping boots of my stormtroopers.

Oh and yes you can build the Death Star and yes it can be destroyed. ("You will now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battlestation.")

Check it out if you like, it's not the best Strategy game I've seen, but it's the best Star Wars Strategy game that's currently available.

Just plain fun
I've always loved strategy games, real time and turn based. Warcraft, Age of Empires and Civilization. But I'm not going get into whether Empire at War is better or worse than any of these. Because this game is just so much fun, period.

If you're strapped for budget, don't agonize over this one. Buy it and be glad. If money's not a concern, you've probably already got it. And if you don't, get it for gosh sakes. What are you waiting for, Richy Rich?

Elements I particularly enjoy.

- No time consuming micromanagement of resources. Build a mine and you're done. No creating villagers to gather from it.

- Unique units and abilities. Same concept as other games, but more intuitive and easy to use. Darth Vader has an effective attack for both machines and humans, Boba Fett's ship can drop bombs, bounty hunters counter smugglers. Etc.

- Skirmishes are challenging. You build up your land and space forces beforehand, which means once you start the battle, you have to win with what you have. Can't be careless with what forces you send in. If you're successful, you get a great feeling of accomplishment.

- Best of all, everything Star Wars. Sound effects, units, story line. Haven't you ever wanted to control a platoon of AT-ATs to take out a rebel shield generator? It's all familiar territory, but the experience of that territory is unique.

Lots of fun. Hope you enjoy.