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Star Wars: Empire at War
Play as either the Empire or the Rebellion in a conflict spanning the entire galaxy, lead your forces in battles on space and land, and unleash hero units against your enemies.
Overview
Star Wars: Empire at War is the 2006 Real Time Strategy game developed by Petroglyph Studios (a company made up of former Westwood employees, who were responsible for the critically acclaimed Command andamp;amp;amp; Conquer series). The game allows the player to take part in the Galactic Civil War, both in planetary combat and space combat.
There have been a series of patches released for the game, the current version is 1.05.
Story
As the empire, the main ground unit is the stormtrooper...duh?
Empire at War is set during the galactic civil war, some time before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. Players must complete mission objectives that tie in with the chronology of the mythos; the rebel players must, for instance, steal the plans for the X-Wing fighter before they are allowed access to the unit. The game closes with the final events of Episode Four, specifically the Battle of Yavin, resulting in the destruction of the Death Star.
Gameplay
The space battles are unique as you'll have to destroy the enemy space station by destroying it piece by piece.
The game is separated into two different layers. One is where the economy is managed and whole armies and fleets are moved around, know as the galaxy map. The other is where the battles take place, which is where the game resembles traditional RTS games. The battles take place both in outer space and on the surface of planets. All action takes place in real time, even on the galactic map. Players can choose to command either the Empire or the Rebellion. The two sides differ from each other in both types of units and play style. They have unique advantages, limitations and hero units. Hero units (IE: Han Solo, Darth Vader) are generally very powerful unit, and have abilities that can be used in battles and on the galaxy map.
The core gameplay consists of amassing fleets of starships and large planetary assault forces, destroying the enemies defending a planet in orbit, and then raiding the planet with ground troops to gain control of it. If an enemy owns a planet, their space forces needs to be defeated before troops can be sent down to the ground to take control of the planet itself. The planet is defended by whatever units were in place there when the invasion began. The invading force is ferried down unit by unit at pre-selected reinforcement points. Each reinforcement point entitles a certain number of troops on the battlefield. Once the limit is reached, players will have to wait until an existing unit dies or another reinforcement point is captured.
The most inventive part of the game is the planet screen. In it you upgrade, transport, and start battles.
All planets the player controls add to the daily credit income, which allows purchases of improvements for planets and units, and in addition, planets may offer unique bonuses granted to the player for possessing them.
Modes of Play
There are three modes of play: Single player campaign, Galactic Conquest, and Skirmish mode.
- Story mode is a lot like Galactic Conquest except it follows specific plotlines and moments instead of being an open sandbox style galactic war.
- Galactic Conquest is a single player sandbox version of the campaign mode where it is your job to eliminate the other faction through the capture of numerous planets and asteroid clusters.
- Skirmish mode allows for custom battles on either land or in space.
Critical Reception
Empire at War was released to critical acclaim, garnering scores in the 80% range on GameRankings and MetaCritic. It was praised for its original take on both the Star Wars Universe and Real Time Strategy gameplay. It was criticized for a very poorly coded online multiplayer component (which often completely failed to work) and weak ground based combat in contrast with the rest of the game.
Collector's Edition
- 3D Cover
- 5 Bonus campaign maps
- Concept Art
- Screensavers
- Wallpapers
System Requirements
PC
| PC Minimum | PC Recommended |
|---|---|
* Processor: Intel Pentium III 1.0GHz or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
|
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- Name
- Star Wars: Empire at War
- Release Date
- February 16, 2006
- Platform
- PC (Platform)
Mac (Platform) - Developer
- Publisher
- Genre
- Strategy (Genre)
Real-Time Strategy (Genre) - Theme
- Sci-Fi (Theme)
- Franchise
- Star Wars (Franchise)