Star Wars is without a doubt, one of the most lucrative franchises known to mankind. You can walk down the street in almost any country and say the word Star Wars and find someone who knows exactly what that is. Since this is the case, there as been a flood of games for this franchise in various genres. The problem with this is that even though some of the games are good, a vast majority of them are not so good. One of the biggest genres that the Star Wars franchise has not successfully broken into is the Real-time Strategy genre. Some might cite Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds as a really good RTS game, but that was a game that used the same engine (and same look and feel) as Age of Empires II, so it never really had the Star Wars flare to it. The developers at Petroglyph are about to squash that feeling as they have created one of the best Star Wars-related RTS games I have ever played.

Since this is a Star Wars game I will assume that you know what is going on and if you don’t there are plenty of movies and books to get you up to date on the situation. This game takes place right after the events of Episode III just to give you a timeline on what is happening. The game offers various game modes to keep players occupied for many months on end. The first mode is the campaign which allows you to play as either the empire, which wants to control the Galaxy, or as the rebels who want to liberate it. Next up is the Galactic Conquest which allows you to conquer the Galaxy the way you want to do it. This is a very open-ended gameplay mode that players will find themselves dabbling in a long time after they defeat the Campaign mode. Skirmish Battles allow you to go into a single battlefield with the purpose of trying to win; you can play against humans or the CPU.

Speaking of multiplayer there are various modes that you can play here. First is a Campaign mode where one player is the Rebel Alliance and the other is the Empire, your goal is to take over the complete Galactic Map, and these maps are customizable and can range in size. The following game modes can be played with up to eight (human or computer AI controller) characters. The first is the Land Skirmish mode, which is just like a regular RTS game where you try to wipe out the enemy's territory first. Space skirmish players are trying to defeat the enemy’s space station first. Land Control is the last one, and even though it plays like Land Skirmish the goal here is to take over all the reinforcement points in order to win.

There are several interesting things in this game that in the way that it works. First of all you have to realize that when you create a building (such as a barracks), units do not automatically come out of that building like every other RTS on the planet. Instead players can only call upon those forces at predefined reinforcement points. I really liked this idea because you can create units from any planet that you own, and then call them down at these points. The only confusing thing is why these points on the map are the only place where you can call the reinforcements. While I am just being nitpicky about that, it does make you wonder why. Other than that I really liked the idea of this new innovation because it makes players be more strategic when they are about to go into battle.

I really liked playing as both the Empire and the Rebels in this game as they both have very unique ways of going about doing things. For instance the only way the Rebels can get new technology is by stealing it from the Empire, and this is made abundantly clear the first few missions of the Rebel Alliance campaign mode. One of the advantages to the Empire is since they have such a vast network of resources they have no problems putting together a huge army in relatively no time flat. What I am getting at each side has a very different ways of getting things done, and it is a blast to play each side to figure out how to do that.

The graphics for Star Wars: Empire at War has its high points and its low points. The best thing about this game is the space battles. The space battles are always large with tons of lasers shooting each other, star ships being destroyed, Tie fighters and X-Wings going at it, and so much more that it boggles the mind. The game looks really good from this point of view, and is worth watching it in the cinematic view point. The point where this game falters is when you go to do the ground missions. For some reason the art crew created really poor models of highly recognizable vehicles and other things that inhabit these planets. The models and textures used while on the ground are not ugly; it is not something that is acceptable in this day and age with games such as Age of Empires III and Earth 2160 already released.

One of the best things about having the Star Wars licensed game is that you will have access to the huge library of sound effects and music that fans of the series will instantly recognize. This is the case with Star Wars: Empire at War. Fans will feel right at home as they hear the various laser blasts, light saber swings, and various other sound effects that they have enjoyed for nearly 30 years now. But wait there’s more, the music that accompanies that is used in this game has its roots in the movies as well, such as the Imperial March and other tunes that will make your day as you hear it come out of your speakers.

The thing that is decent is the voiceovers, and this is a mixed bag. First of all you have the “hero” units which are popular Star Wars characters, such as Han Solo, Darth Vader, and the list goes on. Since the original characters didn’t reprise their role for this game, there are people who try their best to stand in, but it just doesn’t cut it. Don’t get me wrong, they do a good job, but once you hear Darth Vader one way it is hard to hear him sound a little different. The other voice acting for the lesser known characters is really good and gets the job done.

Star Wars: Empire at War is rated Teen for fantasy violence.

The system requirements are as follows:
Windows XP or 2000
1.0 GHz or greater processor
256 MB of RAM
8X or faster CD/DVD drive
2.5 GB of disk space
32 MB Video Card
Direct X 9.0c

Gameplay: 7.9
This game is a really good game that is bogged down by some tedious missions and not enough variety in the units. What I did like is that you can play as each side with the campaign and get different stories for each side.

Graphics: 8.5
The space battles for this game are really something to look at, and really gives players a good reason to put the cinematic view to good use. The thing that does not look as good is the Planetary Battles. The textures used and various character and vehicle models are just not up to snuff as with the rest of the game.

Sound: 8.4
Since this is an official Star Wars licensed game, the developers had access to everything - all of the music and sound effects from the movies. The only downer about the game is that the voiceovers are not the original actors, while the sound-alikes do a decent job; there are certain voices that just don’t work, such as Darth Vader and some of the more recognizable ones.

Difficulty: Medium
The game can get really hard for even the most experienced RTS gamers, just because there is so many things going on that you have to take care of, especially in later missions. I really liked how smart the AI was because many times I thought I was winning a mission and the enemy found my one weak spot and slaughtered me. Other times they outflanked me. This game really forces you to use your wits to win in certain missions.

Concept: 9.0
There are many features in this game that are really outstanding but the one that I really liked is that you can take forces from each mission and use them for future missions. It is such a pain when you create a huge army and you can only use them for one mission. Also I really like how every mission relates to each other in this game.

Multiplayer: 8.2
Even though playing against smart AI is a good thing, nothing beats playing a game against your friends. Now you each can take a side in the galaxy and see who is the best around.

Overall: 8.4
While Star Wars: Empire at War is one of the best Star Wars real-time strategy games around. The only problem with this game is that it could have been so much better. The game's land battles tend to get repetitive but thanks to the wide variety of missions and options, this game will be playing in your PC for a very long time.