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Star Wars: Empire At War Review

Obi-Jon Wilcox

18/02/2006

The creators of Command & Conquer return to finally do justice with a Star Wars RTS...

Being a bit of a self-confessed Star Wars geek, the prospect of any Star Wars game is enough to have me swinging around my imaginary lightsabre and humming the "Imperial March". The fact remains however that Star Wars RTS titles range from the mediocre to the absolutely awful, so there's always a sense of trepidation when a new one arrives, even if it is the debut title from many of the team who originally put the genre on the map with the Command & Conquer series. Given there's a little more expectation surrounding the first title to come from a new developer with such pedigree, Petroglyph find themselves in the unfortunate situation of not only having to fulfil gamers expectations for a credible RTS, but also appease Star Wars fanatics much like myself.

Set in the good ol' days of the Empire, before CGI and blinding love overwhelmed the galaxy (Nooooooooooooooooooooo!), Empire at War is the first real attempt to inject a bit of "Jedi" into the RTS genre. Several game modes are available to play through including a story-driven Campaign for both Rebel and Imperial points of view, and a freeform Galactic Conquest mode featuring several preset scenarios. With over forty different planets from the length and breadth of the Star Wars galaxy (both the movies and the 'Extended Universe') including Tattooine, Coruscant and Naboo, there's certainly a lot of invading and liberating to do.

The true innovation in Empire at War is the distinct separation between resource gathering, building, micro-management and the battles themselves, divided between the galactic map and space/planetary conquests. Traditionally a very delicate line to balance, Petroglyph's decision to make a clean break between the two staple components of the traditional RTS gameplay has made Empire at War feel like a true innovating addition to the genre - at times. No longer are players cutting back and forth between the front line of battle to the harvester rummaging around the base; in Star Wars: Empire at War players use a Tactical View of the galaxy to build up both space and land forces before entering the fight. Allowing players to see the 'whole board' during the tactical stages also means that there's a great emphasis on strategically situating adequate resources at vulnerable planets, whilst at the same time making sure that their invading fleets are powerful enough to conquer further worlds.

Emperor at War also succeeds at removing the chore of resource collection, with points rewarded at the end of each day based upon planets owned, the mining operations established on them and the trade routes created between planets. This is certainly one of the game's biggest strengths and helps to place the emphasis on the strategies and tactics needed to take control of the galaxy, which let's admit it is all you really want from a Star Wars title.

Taking over a planet typically involves gaining control of its orbital space, before launching an attack on the ground below. Sections above the planet allow the player to organise units into different fleets, with certain types creating true Star Wars scenarios such as bombing runs and ultimately the Death Star.

On the ground below Star Wars: Empire at War presents a handful of clever touches, such as handling the population-cap/tank rush mentalities by limiting the number of units on the battlefield. Reinforcements placed in outer orbit can be drawn down onto the surface at these points, with each point increasing the total number of units that can be placed on the map. Ultimately these become very important to the outcome of the battle and encourage players to explore the map in light of traditional RTS aspects such as resource harvesting and base management. Dependant on the tech level and units available capturing these points takes on more or less emphasis, however ultimately the land-based conflicts still appear to rely heavily on capturing these and building the biggest army.

Despite the implementation of some pretty nifty ideas, it does get to the stage where the land battles also get a tad repetitive, with far too much emphasis placed on the age-old "wipe everything from the map" objective. In an attempt to spice up the land-based conflicts Petroglyph has introduced weather conditions, which have a slight impact on the gameplay rather than just looking pretty, with some of the more extremes such as Heavy Rain reducing the accuracy of laser fire. Ultimately it's a shame that Petroglyph couldn't have been a little more adventurous with the land-based scenarios and that they suffer in comparison, feeling distinctly "inside the box" in contrast to the galactic and space sections of the game.

Whilst the same can be said of the space battles in parts, they somehow feel more exciting and closer to Star Wars than the land battles - though this might be down to the simple fact that space combat in a Star Wars RTS title is still a remarkably novel feature! Thankfully Empire at War has them in bucket-loads. Building space stations in a planet's outer orbit allows for the construction of everything from battle cruisers through to eventually the mighty Death Star, however the stations are a useful defensive tool in themselves with the ability to deploy TIE-fighters and TIE-Bombers when under attack (or X-Wings/Y-Wings is your allegiance lies with the Rebels.)

The implementation of Hero characters may not be the most original idea of the game, but the role they play is of exceptional importance; often providing perhaps too much of a deciding factor in the outcome of the battle. This 'turn-the-tide' ability bestowed on such characters means that they need to be looked after at all costs, if they are killed in battle there's a cool down period before they re-appear back in the Tactical View. Each of the Heroes have their own special abilities that can help turn the tide of battle - whether that's Vader's Force powers, or R2-D2's skill in hacking enemy turrets or stealing Imperial technology. In some ways even the planets act as heroes, with every world providing an extra bonus to the cause. Not only do planets increase the income for the player to buy new units, but special abilities such as like Endor's skill in increasing the chance of certain Imperial units reflecting back laser fire when controlled by the Empire. Again adding another level of strategy, these ideas also continue to make Empire at War stand out from the bulging RTS crowd in terms of originality.

Initially progress through the campaign mode appears to be a very linear affair, with Darth on the Empire's side at the beck and call of the Emperor and Grand Moff Tarkin, providing little scope for you to conquer the galaxy as you see fit. However the game opens up with progress and particularly becomes more engrossing when you're playing on both attack and defense.

A crucial factor in modern RTS titles is the ability to capture the carnage occurring on the battlefield, whilst also maintaining a scale sufficient to dictate the flow of the battle. Empire at War provides two major innovations in this field; one of which plays a dramatic role within the game, whilst the other blows up like a Death Star attack on Alderaan. The first is a simple but effective trick, which provides two larger scale views from the main camera, each hiding the HUD and providing a much improved vantage of the battlefield. The scaled viewpoints make it much easier to plan out and perform more elaborate strategies. Unfortunately the second camera feature fails miserably despite its best intentions. In an attempt to lend a Star Wars view on the conflicts, a cinematic cam watches events from a variety of close-up fixed place points that surround the units. Unfortunately the camera often misses when trying to target key areas of the battle, whilst also highlighting the occasionally iffy path-finding and ropey animations - it seems such a feature is a little way off yet.

As you'd expect the style of Empire at War is distinctly Star Wars in nature with everything from the HUD, which projects holograms of characters in the tactical mode, down to Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison voicing clone son Boba. Of course players don't get most of the movie's actors reprising their roles for the game, but the stand-ins do a valiant effort - including the iconic voice of Lord Vader himself. The Campaign sits in the interesting period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, chronicling events such as the creation of the Death Star on Geonosis which help to keep your interest sustained if you're a fellow fanatic.