Introduction

There used to be a time when every game released by Lucasarts was a classic but recently we’ve had many games attempting to cash in on the hype of the Star Wars movies. Games like Clone Wars, Bounty Hunter and Starfighter (on consoles) didn’t leave a lasting impression on anyone and many would say were only released knowing the star wars fanatic would have to add them to their collection. Sure, there have been a few diamonds in the dirt like the Knights of the Old Republic series, the Jedi Knight series or even Republic Commando which all captured the essence of the movies.

These few games really made you feel like you had the Force and that you were actually in the Star Wars Universe. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the RTS sector since only a few games dared venture into this genre (mostly Force Commander and Battlegrounds) and to be honest, neither of them stirred more than a passing interest. But today, Pertoglyph and Lucasarts will be hoping to change that with Star Wars Empire at War.

Newcomers?

You might have noticed that Lucasarts don’t make their games anymore and hire other developers instead, which isn’t such a bad thing. The experience of Raven and Bioware are two examples that have really paid off but for Star Wars Empire at War, Lucasarts hired Petroglyph who haven’t made a game before. That’s always very risky but if you search and poke around, you’ll soon discover that most of the guys at Petroglyph have lots of experience under their belt, especially in the RTS genre since many of them are ex-Westwood employees … they’ve worked on Command & Conquer, one of the greatest RTSs ever. This game was starting to really look like the first Star Wars strategy title which wasn’t going to disappoint and finally we had something to get excited about. Interestingly, Empire at War was set between Episodes III and IV, an era rarely explored by most Star Wars games, meaning the game didn’t have to strictly follow any of the movies storylines allowing for a bit more freedom. This was turning out to be a very promising title…

Requirements
For this game, Petroglyph made a brand new 3D engine which has, surprisingly, very modest minimum requirements by today’s standards:

• Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 or faster
• Memory 256MB RAM
• Hard Drive 2.5 GB
• CD Drive 8 Speed
• Video Card 32MB - DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Sound Card - DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Windows XP/2000

I don’t really think many systems will find themselves overwhelmed by the requirements of the game and to test my theory out, I let my younger brother install the game on his weaker machine (Athlon XP 2800+, 2 x 512 PC3200 RAM, 9600 XT, etc.) and I watched as he booted up the game. Once Empire at War had configured itself for his machine, the game ran very well at a good and steady frame rate. In addition, the video settings were pretty high so I must say; Petroglyph did an amazing job making a solid, yet easy-to-run 3D engine. Of course, this meant that I wasn’t going to have any problems at all running Empire at War with all the bells and whistles:

• Intel Pentium 4 3.0C GHz
• ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
• 4 x 512 PC3200 RAM in Dual Channel
• 200 GB IDE Western Digital
• Antec 480 TrueBlue PSU
• HIS X850 XT PE
• 17” Dell TFT
• 5.1 Altec Lansing Sound System
• Windows XP Professional 2 (SP2)

With the resolution maxed out at 1280x960, I was very pleased to see that Petroglyph had really worked on this game and didn’t release it half finished. The 3D engine is excellent and I didn’t experience any bugs or random slowdowns at all … so far so good. The ex-Westwood guys really thought of everything and even give you the option to have widescreen resolutions which is a rarity in the RTS genre. The only slight reservation I have is that when there are many troops at a given scene, you do start to see your frames slow down (especially on land battles), but this can be expected and I can only blame my weak CPU for not keeping up with the action.

Beauty of Star Wars

Now that we know that the engine is robust and not too demanding are the graphics lets talk about the graphical detail and polish. Well to be completely honest with you, I was sort of expecting more from a current generation RTS game, especially when others like Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II or even Age of Empires have a higher level of detail and texture information. This is especially true for the land battles because the troops are actually quite blocky with low texture information and are quite badly animated. Not only that, but the levels are just bland, lifeless, flat and this really ruins the entire feeling of the game. If only Petroglyph had worked a bit more and polished up these aspects the game they would have been a perfect compliment to the smooth running engine.

Strangely this is exactly what they did for the space scenes and it really does pay dividends since the battles are much more fluid than their land based counterparts and the ships are extremely detailed and impressive. Actually, the space scenes do exactly what this game should do; make you feel a part of the movies. Seeing an Imperial Star Destroyer pummeling a Rebel Mon Calamari cruiser or watching squads of Tie Fighters and X-Wings flying around, dodging and shooting at each other is simply awe-inspiring. A really fun part of the space scenes is watching the enemies ships get destroyed because not only do they explode extremely convincingly, but the larger ships slowly disintegrate into many smaller pieces, creating tiny debris fields which look simply gorgeous. Of course, numerous graphical effects like heat distortion, blooming and soft shadows make everything even prettier. Now we get onto my favourite aspect of the game… the 3D mode called “Cinematic Camera” which is basically a free roaming camera that follows the action on the map in real time. Sure, it seems quite useless but to be honest, this tiny button on the game’s control panel is what I love most about Empire at War.

In every strategy game, there is always a moment when you just know that nobody can stand in your armies way – after all you have spent the last 2 hours building until the unit cap comes into play. Usually, this is towards the end of the skirmish and after your hard work, all you feel like doing is witnessing your foe’s complete and utter destruction. Watching the annihilation of your enemy is fun from the normal camera perspective and if the game allows it, you might even zoom in to observe the obliteration on a more “personal” level. However, in Empire at War, the entire point of view is different from the norm and the camera automatically follows all the action, giving you a great movie-like experience! All the screenshots and movies were made using this and as you can see, the results are rather stunning since it really brings a new perspective to all your battles. Sure, the system isn’t perfect and sometimes the camera bugs up or just shows a rock instead of your troops but on the whole, I must say it’s a welcome addition.

Symphony

This is one domain that no Star Wars game has ever failed at and Empire at War passed with flying colors in this department. The music is from all six movies, as you’d expect, and really does help you submerge yourself into the game. Hearing the Imperial March theme as you declare victory with the Empire is just majestic and the same can be said about any of the other scores for the Rebellion. Of course, this being a modern RTS, the music changes automatically depending on your given situation, meaning that if you are just scouting some unknown area, you’ll be listening to eerie Star Wars tunes but if ever that unexpected fight begins, the music will pick up and perfectly contribute to the atmosphere.

Not only that, but all sound effects are also straight out of the movies and match perfectly with the music, giving you the perfect Star Wars experience. Hearing the roar of the Millennium Falcon or the waves of blaster fire being shot is just awesome and again, really helps you get absorbed into the game. One last aspect to take into account is the voice acting, which if done badly, can completely ruin all the good work done by the music and sound effects. Luckily though, all is well in Empire at War! To begin with, it’s important to note that the voices of all the heroes are very similar to that of the movies, even though they weren’t obviously recorded by the real actors but instead, people who sound just like them. In addition, all the troops have voices that feel right at home with what you would expect to hear in a Star Wars title.

Empire vs. Rebellion

As I mentioned before the story isn’t from any of the movies and actually bridges the gaps in between Star Wars Episodes III and IV. For example, with the Empire you shall witness the creation of the All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) and with the Rebellion; you’ll see the birth of the famous X-Wing with the help of Captain Antilles. These are actually quite interesting and the campaign mode will be a joy for any Star Wars fanatic (me included) since you discover intriguing bits of information about the famous movies. The only strange thing is that this game could have perfectly followed the entire saga from III to VII but instead chooses to stop at the first Death Star … which is understandable to a certain degree but a pity since the game could have gone so much further and thus, been that more valuable to every Star Wars fan. Oh, since we are talking about the campaign, let’s go into details shall we?

The interesting thing about the campaign of Empire at War is that it actually spans over the entire Star Wars galaxy, meaning you have over forty planets to conquer and control. It is very open based and this is quite rare for any single player campaign, especially in the RTS genre. For example, in Age of Empires III or Warcraft III, you do prescripted levels which are narrated and slowly unveil a nice story to justify your gaming. This isn’t the case in Empire at War since you actually are free to do what you want on the map. Feel like obtaining a new planet before continuing the story? Feel like fortifying your armies before attacking the next mission? Then just do it, because this game is as open as any RTS game can be (in the campaign department) and a great breath of fresh air! Sure, there are a few scripted missions that help the story continue but the simple fact that you can do what you want before tackling these missions was very welcome indeed.

The trend continues in the Galactic Conquest mode which is a real blast to play as well. It is more or less just like the campaign mode except that there are no forced missions and it must be the most addictive singleplayer experience in Empire at War. Being the Rebellion and slowly building up your forces, while trying to rid the galaxy of the Empire is not only great fun but immensely satisfying since you feel immersed into the wonderful Star Wars universe. The beauty of this mode (and the campaign) is that you never need to gather resources and all the game is lent towards being a real military leader. Each planet under your control gives you a certain amount of credits per day which you manage how you want. It can’t be simpler and yet, still leaves a huge amount of strategy for you to have fun with, which is a good thing for Empire at War.

So, what about the fights? Well they are usually split up into two sections; space and land. The first part of any planetary conquest is to be able to reach the planet and thus, destroy its space defenses which can either be large battle stations, huge fleets or both.

Personally, I find that the space fights are a great part of the game because firstly, they recreate perfectly what stunned everyone who ever saw Star Wars and secondly, because they are the most fun to play. At a small scale, there isn’t much strategy at all since you just tell your fighters to attack enemy craft but at a slightly larger scale (space stations and frigates), your options quickly open up and let you decide much more specifically how you’re going to lead your troops into battle. All the large ships or structures have key points on them (shield generators, hangars, turbo lasers, engines, etc.) and you can order your fighters to concentrate fire on these and therefore, destroy them first as a priority. It sounds useless but in practice is very satisfying. For example, if an enemy Nebula Frigate is damaged but trying to leave the battlefield, you can simply order your troops to destroy its engines and render it helpless as you pummel it with everything you have. Or, if a large Imperial Star Destroyer is using its tractor beam to hold your ships captive, you can simply order your fleet to destroy the generator powering the beam and break free. These small gameplay elements really spice things up and help the space fights have a deeper dimension to them.

Speaking of dimension, it is important to note that none of these space fights are in real 3D like in Homeworld but actually on a 2D plane just like in any other RTS game. Nevertheless, what the developers have done to make the space fights a bit more interesting is introduce tiny asteroid fields or tiny nebula clouds that larger ships must fly around. That way, the levels aren’t just a flat plane but do have some obstacles. I agree, it isn’t very true to the movies but it doesn’t really ever become that bothersome since whenever you are fighting, it’s usually in empty space, far from the obstructions.

Consequently, once you finished your space fight, you reach the land invasion. Unlike traditional RTS games where you take your entire army to the enemy base and kill him, here, you start off at a tiny landing zone and with barely any units. The point of the land invasions is to capture as many landing zones as possible and bring in reinforcements to destroy your enemy. This means that there are no bases and no resources to collect and you must just be smart and tactfully lead the battle. However, this does have its downsides and one thing is that the battles, whether in space or on land do become repetitive since you’re always just fighting and never taking the time to do something else like base building which, to be honest, is part of what an RTS is.

Another let down is just how lousy the land fights feel compared to the space fights. Whereas the space battles are epic and on a huge scale, the land battles just don’t seem as majestic and are just too long and never end without having dedicated hours of your time. Sure, you can use the game’s “auto-resolve” to avoid the fights but if you do this you lose most of your army as the system makes you pay a penalty for choosing this option. There are other problems in the game which ruin the fun aspect like the fact that the skirmish mode has barely any maps and you can never choose how to build your bases. Also, the amount of troops is a bit sparse and Petroglyph could have added a few more troops for each of the factions than the default two. I do understand that the game must stay true to the movies and as a result, they couldn’t have added any more factions but then why not add more troops to compensate? To be frank, there were things I loved about this game’s gameplay and some that I really didn’t appreciate at all, sadly.

Is the Force is strong with this One?

If you are a serious, hardcore and expert RTS veteran, I can assuredly say that this isn’t the game for you. If you are a gamer who ventures occasionally into the RTS genre, well then if after reading this review you feel it may hold interest for you, go pick it up, otherwise it is not a must have title, for a few good reasons. First of all, even though it is innovative and interesting on paper, after a little while, the game does get quite repetitive which is a real pity. Secondly, the fact that you only have the Empire and the Rebellion to play with, you really do get bored rapidly and even though this could have been easily resolved by Petroglyph by giving you many new troops, this just isn’t the case.

However, if you are a Star Wars fan and have always wanted to enjoy the epic battles, either on land or in space, then I can say that you will enjoy the overall experience since it immerses you into the unique universe created by George Lucas. For my part I have fallen in love with this game since I find it offers everything that I’ve been looking for: immersion and fun (the two most important things in a game or any other mode of entertainment). Sure Empire at War has its faults and it could have been better but what it already offers is extremely enjoyable. It might not be a classic game that will be remembered for being the greatest RTS ever made but it will be remembered for being the best Star Wars RTS ever made.

So yes, a mixed conclusion since I do find Empire at War a good game but it all depends on the person who buys it. Compared to some of the recently released RTS titles it does seem slightly simplistic and short lived thanks to its poor lasting appeal, but trust me, you won’t go wrong if you buy it and might even be pleasantly surprised!