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Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
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Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns Review
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
The Clone Campaigns is an expansion pack to last years hit RTS, Galactic Battlegrounds.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds answered the prayers of every Star Wars loving RTS fan when it was released last year. Powered by Ensembleās Ages of Empires technology, the game proved to be a solid and strong title, thatās only misgiving was that it was a little too much like Ensembleās title. With the recently released Star Wars: Episode 2 ā“ Attack of the Clones out in cinemas now, LucasArts snapped up the chance to develop an extension pack based on the movie.
Clone Campaigns adds a number of new features to the original, firstly are the inclusion of the new civilisations; The Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, both introduced in the new movie. Both of these are focussed on mechs and the use of troopers, however there is sufficient difference between the two to warrant playing through the two new campaigns with them.
Each of the two sides has a new campaign, seven missions for the Confederacy and six for the Galactic Republic. Because of the over-running story youāve got to play through the Confederacy first - which sees you take on the role of General SevāRance Tann under the direct control of Count Dooku ā“ and then play through the Galactic Republic taking control of the Jedi Echuu Shen-Jon. As with Galactic Battlegrounds, the story runs concurrently with the events of the movie, so you wonāt see actual scenes from the movie but rather it focuses on some of the side stories, itās a nice approach and will please Star Wars fans as it compliments the movie nicely.
There are a number of new units and modifications to existing ones. First up are two new units that have been added to every civilisation, firstly is the ever-handy Power Droid, which functions as a mobile Power Core, allowing you to set-up remote bases in key locations. At first these may sound a little trivial, however youāll soon realise that they key to success lies in using these wisely. Next up is the powerful Air Cruiser, which doesnāt appear in the game until youāve reached Tech Level 4. These have very strong long-ranged attacks, however they move and attack slowly, are expensive and vulnerable to quick attacks.
Other new civilisation centric units include the A-Wing, a hit-and-fade fighter available exclusively for the Rebel Alliance, these little nippers are ideal for the quick hit attacks necessary to take out the powerful Air Cruisers. The Confederacy has the ability to raise controllable Predators featured in the movie, remember the huge creatures that Obi-Wan, Anakin and Amadala have to fight. Whilst the Galatic Republic have access to the new Jedi Starfighters, primarily used for spying and sneak missions.
Modifications to existing units has helped to balance out a few of the problems associated with the first game. Turrets have become more expensive and take longer to construct, however a defensive player with carefully placed turrets will still be a strong opponent to beat. To combat the increased cost of turrets, Anti-Air Troopers have now been made cheaper and more effective.
Realising that the Jediās were perhaps a little under-strength in Galactic Battlegrounds, LucasArts have reduced the cost of research and the units now automatically regenerate their health at a steady rate. There are numerous other changes that have produced a better balanced title then last yearās effort, including upping the total population to 250 from 200, which allows for larger battles, however due to the problems with managing large amounts of units at any one time, youāll rarely see such epic confrontations.
There are a number of new locations to visit, such as the resource-rich moon Aereen, snowy Eredenn, the inhospitable Geonosis, Tatooineās trade city Mos Espa and the volcanic world of Sarapin. The game also includes an excellent scenario editor, which features a full set of editing tools so you can create pretty much any location you want.
Visually the Ages of Empires engine is beginning to show its age, the graphics have been tidied up and feature more detail and variety, however with Command & Conquer: Generals stunning everyone with its 3D engine, how can isometric 2D visuals keep up. To its credit, the engine is still strong and essentially capable, it just lacks the shine that weāve all gotten use to. We held an interview with the Director Gary Gaber, who told TVG that they will have to move to 3D if they decide to do another title (look for the transcript of that interview next week).
