Xythan
02-07-2006, 09:52 PM
Immerse yourself in the Star Wars galaxy again with Empire at War by taking a side in the struggle between the militaristic behemoth of the Galactic Empire and the guerilla insurgency of the Rebellion.
Set somewhere between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope”, it sets up the player to try and re-enact the true history of Star Wars (if you have the skills) or write a whole new account yourself. Didn’t like the outcome of the movies? Then go decimate that annoying planet of Tatooine early off. Wipe the “rebel scum” from the universe. Or try and save Alderaan from destruction.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/1/0/8/5/4/13.jpg
This game captures the Star Wars universe in an overall manner, allowing the player to control the production of space fleets, land vehicles and space stations on an interstellar scale. Construct fleets and armies to fight above planet before launching a full-scale ground assault, include heroes to up the ante on your opponent. Nothing is quite as impressive as pulling into orbit of a planet with 4 or 5 Star Destroyers and a few smaller capital ships (which don’t even have to face battle as they release squadron after squadron of TIE fighters and bombers to do the dirty work) and then dropping a few AT-AT’s planet side to annihilate some rebel base. Don’t forget to slap on the Cinematic Mode for extra juicy visuals!
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/1/0/8/5/4/925180_20050119_screen003.jpg
Well, OK, maybe there is something more impressive...much, much, much more impressive, (cue the Theme of the Empire) pulling into orbit with the Death Star and wiping that planet off the galactic phone exchange. No more rebel presence, well at least not on the ground…just a light meteor shower there.
Predominantly an RTS game, there is a bit more than the average RTS. The whole game is real time, money is a constant flow not a mission by mission resource and if you lose a fleet or army, it’s gone for good. It gives a glimpse of possible games to come, more in-depth spanning wars rather than single missions between FMV’s or briefings.
The multiplayer is a whole experience in itself, I personally prefer the space battles over the land ones but that is just from too much C&C back in the day. It could be made even more awesome through a true 3D battle field, but hey maybe next time. We had a blast playing 2(humans) vs. 3(AI’s) on hard, took a few hours of tide-like battles (sweeping back and forth across the play area). All in all, a satisfying experience with lots of improvements possible for the future but nothing really lacking from this remarkable title.
XYTHAN
Graphics get a 9 because they're sweet but could be better...
Controls get 8 because there is so many, so it takes a while...but I guess it was unavoidable...
Sound/Music gets a 10 because Star Wars always had rockin' sound and this doesn't fail it...
(Re)Playability gets 8 because it can get repeditive, not too fast though...
Multiplay gets a 9 because it was awesome fun, the space battles start hard and fast and grow to a crawl with the bigger capital ships...pity however that it wasn't bigger in map size and there was no continual play just single skirmish...
Co-Op gets a 9 because it was interesting and fun, but it was pity it was limited to two players on opposing teams only...
Set somewhere between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope”, it sets up the player to try and re-enact the true history of Star Wars (if you have the skills) or write a whole new account yourself. Didn’t like the outcome of the movies? Then go decimate that annoying planet of Tatooine early off. Wipe the “rebel scum” from the universe. Or try and save Alderaan from destruction.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/1/0/8/5/4/13.jpg
This game captures the Star Wars universe in an overall manner, allowing the player to control the production of space fleets, land vehicles and space stations on an interstellar scale. Construct fleets and armies to fight above planet before launching a full-scale ground assault, include heroes to up the ante on your opponent. Nothing is quite as impressive as pulling into orbit of a planet with 4 or 5 Star Destroyers and a few smaller capital ships (which don’t even have to face battle as they release squadron after squadron of TIE fighters and bombers to do the dirty work) and then dropping a few AT-AT’s planet side to annihilate some rebel base. Don’t forget to slap on the Cinematic Mode for extra juicy visuals!
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/1/0/8/5/4/925180_20050119_screen003.jpg
Well, OK, maybe there is something more impressive...much, much, much more impressive, (cue the Theme of the Empire) pulling into orbit with the Death Star and wiping that planet off the galactic phone exchange. No more rebel presence, well at least not on the ground…just a light meteor shower there.
Predominantly an RTS game, there is a bit more than the average RTS. The whole game is real time, money is a constant flow not a mission by mission resource and if you lose a fleet or army, it’s gone for good. It gives a glimpse of possible games to come, more in-depth spanning wars rather than single missions between FMV’s or briefings.
The multiplayer is a whole experience in itself, I personally prefer the space battles over the land ones but that is just from too much C&C back in the day. It could be made even more awesome through a true 3D battle field, but hey maybe next time. We had a blast playing 2(humans) vs. 3(AI’s) on hard, took a few hours of tide-like battles (sweeping back and forth across the play area). All in all, a satisfying experience with lots of improvements possible for the future but nothing really lacking from this remarkable title.
XYTHAN
Graphics get a 9 because they're sweet but could be better...
Controls get 8 because there is so many, so it takes a while...but I guess it was unavoidable...
Sound/Music gets a 10 because Star Wars always had rockin' sound and this doesn't fail it...
(Re)Playability gets 8 because it can get repeditive, not too fast though...
Multiplay gets a 9 because it was awesome fun, the space battles start hard and fast and grow to a crawl with the bigger capital ships...pity however that it wasn't bigger in map size and there was no continual play just single skirmish...
Co-Op gets a 9 because it was interesting and fun, but it was pity it was limited to two players on opposing teams only...