ic-games Review - Star Wars: Empire at War - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

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Star Wars: Empire at War

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Petroglyph
Publisher: Atari
Reviewed: PC
Genre: Strategy/RPG
UK Release: 17th Feb 2006
Article Date: 17th Feb 2006
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: 34.99
Price Comparison:
Star Wars: Empire at War

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 90%

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Pros

Great atmosphere

Hero units

Great soundtrack

Cons

Overbearing for some

Screenshots

4 of 13

Featuring three distinctive styles of gameplay, Star Wars: Empire at War apparently has it all. Ground based RTS action, ‘Homeworld II’ style space action and even a little management thrown in for good measure. It came as no surprise then, that Petroglyph had huge expectations placed on their shoulders from the outset, with many wondering if they could pull it all off.

We have already mentioned that the Star Wars franchise seems to be going through a renaissance period at the moment, what with the excellent Lego Star Wars and Star Wars Battlefront II both receiving Editor Choice awards here at IC-Games. In fact of late, the only disappointing game to be released was the dud Revenge of the Sith which really did little for the franchise. Star Wars: Empire at War hopes to address that balance, with developers Petroglyph hopping to finally put to bed the statement that the Star Wars universe has never had a decent strategy game to its name.

The main area of the game, the sprawling ground battles, are the most intensive (and fun) areas of the gameplay, and it comes as no surprise when you delve into the history of the developers Petroglyph. A quick look at their website reveals they were actually formed from the remains of Westwood Studios who were responsible for the award winning Command and Conquer series.

During these Command and Conquer style battles you’ll occasionally be given access to actual heroes from the Star Wars franchise, and depending on which side you choose, you could find yourself controlling Han Solo, R2D2 or even the dreaded Darth Vader. Either way you look at it, adding these heroes is certainly a tantalising prospect for Star War fans wanting even more control.

If you want the best weapons and ships the Star Wars universe has to offer you’ll eventually have to upgrade your technological level. Technological levels increases will open up the tech tree further and offer up new units and structures. How the Rebel Alliance and Empire climb the tech tree does differ significantly though. The Empire does the researching and the Rebels steal the technology. Where the Empire builds research stations on planets, the Rebels send R2D2 and C-3PO in an attempt to steal what they can. Successful stealing is not linked to how much the Empire has researched to keep things fair and both Tech Tree’s play pretty fairly.

Of course to have a successful ground battle it helps if you control the areas surrounding the planet, and that’s where the space battles fit in nicely. Using the similar point and click interface as before, you simply guide your ships, attacking anything hostile. It’s just as enjoyable as the ground battles, just not as graphically pleasing. Comparing the space battles to the mammoth Homeword would, to be fair, be over hyping things; however it’s worth nothing that Empire at war is no slouch in this area either. The space spats might be totally different to the ground battles in Empire at War as well, but the point and click battles are every bit as enjoyable. One area we particularly enjoyed was the ability to hit certain week points on larger ships and space stations, thus crippling them in that particular area. For example when near space stations, disabling lasers would prove useful, even when being attacked by protective ships, to avoid heavy causalities. Furthermore concentrating fire on hangers would seriously impair the enemy’s ability to send in their crucial reinforcements. As mentioned larger ships are also prone to these hotspots and depending on the situation, making every shot count could be the difference between success and defeat.

The roll call of space vehicles will please any Star Wars buff, and the ability to control them is even more exciting. Tie Fighters, Bombers and Scouts make the list as do X-Wings, Y-Wings and rebel cruisers to name just a few. Each of these units also has special abilities to help out in sticky situations. For example for the Rebel Alliance the X-Wing can lock wings to increase speed although this will reduce firepower. The Tie Bomber can not only hold its own during a space fight, but can also bomb areas during a ground battle, often turning the tide when doing so. You won’t actually be able to control the bombing runs itself, but the option to call one during a ground battle, and select a target for it, is always going to be a useful option.

The graphics are as good as your system can handle. The attention to detail is simply stunning, and this becomes more apparent when you zoom close into the action. There are some particular nice heat haze effects for graphic cards capable of running Direct 9 features, and it doesn’t matter if your battle is in space or on the ground, Empire at War looks as good as we hoped from whatever angle you play. It might not be the most graphical intensive game on the market today but the developers have reached their goal of making the game feel like Star Wars.

Empire at War comes bolted with quite a few gameplay options and modes of play. Single player is catered for quite nicely with Rebellion and Empire campaign modes as well as a few special ‘Galactic Conquest modes’, which although are similar in gameplay to normal campaign modes, more individual tweaking is allowed before you start the game. There’s also a skirmish mode thrown in for good measure which allows you to play single battles in land or space. The multiplayer modes, which hopefully will take off, also work surprisingly well and the usual LAN and online matchups are available. Of special interest is the ability to play a multiplayer head to head campaign against another friend, with the ability to save progress as and when desired.

Star Wars: Empire at War is a colossal game from the geniuses that brought us all Command and Conquer. This one is a no brainer really, if you like the idea of directing your own version of ‘A New Hope’ this one is for you.

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