Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

"A fantastic strategy game for Star Wars fans."

After playing the awesome, Age of Empires II - The Conquerors to death, I decided that my favourite strategy game needed updating.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is like a wolf, in sheep's clothing. It uses the same engine as Age of Empires II except it's set in a familiar Star Wars setting. This is one beast of a game.

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is a strategy game, and quite a simple strategy game at that. There are six civilisations to choose from, each has one unique unit, a few unique technologies and several bonuses that affect the player, such as stronger units, or faster aircraft. The six civilisations are: Royal Naboo, Wookies, Gungans, Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire.

Like the Age of Empires series, Galactic Battlegrounds revolves around collecting four resources. The resources are
Food: Mainly used for making troops and workers.
Carbon: Mainly used for buildings and creating 'Mech' and 'Heavy Weapons' units.
Nova: This is used in creating Jedi, and creating some of the more expensive units. This is also used in researching most technologies.
Ore: This is used in defensive buildings, such as walls or turrets.

This game requires you to use your brain to plan your moves. You can attack by land, sea and air, which allows for infinite possibilities for attacking. For example, if you just send in an army of aircraft, they would be picked off by Anti-Air turrets, or other ships. To have a successful attack, you must think ahead - send in a few Jedi to wipe out the air defenses, before you send bombers in.

Graphics: 8/10
You should never rely on graphics alone to make a good game. The graphics are quite bland, although some of the units, such and the Jedi and Mech units look brilliant. The game is viewed in an isometric view, and there are no zoom buttons, camera-rotate buttons or anything. This game is purely 2D. Of course, this allows for huge, 200-unit-a side battles, without much slowdown at all.
Each unit, for each different civilisation looks different, ie. The Empire's Mech units look different to the Gungan Mech units. This is a great addition to the game, compared to Age of Empires II's units, which look the same all around. How I enjoyed marching my Imperial AT-ATs around the map, taking out fleeing Rebels, who couldn't avoid my onslaught. Then, how I cried because my AT-ATs were taken out by the Rebel Snowspeeders, all due to poor tactical planning.

Sound: 10/10
Only one word can describe the sound in this game - BRILLIANT!
The background music consists of every single Star Wars music I can remember, from Episode I's 'Duel of the Fates' to the music at the end of 'A New Hope'. Whenever I play this game, the music tells me that I am playing a great Star Wars game.
Similar to the way each unit looks different, each unit also sounds different. The Imperial Stormtroopers greet you with a 'Stormtrooper reporting', and the Trade Federation's Battle Droids will say 'Rodger Rodger'. Each unit has about 5 different sound bytes for greeting, and five for attacking. Also, if you play through the single-player missions you will see familiar faces from the films, who also greet you with over 10 sound bytes. Yoda and old Obi-Wan are my favourites. The voice acting is crystal clear, and apart from one exception, Anakin Skywalker, they all sound just like they do in the films.

Longlivity: 10/10
You can't get bored with this game - it's impossible to even think about it. Every time you play, a random map is generated. You can choose from loads of styles of maps from desert to sea, and even some Star Wars favourites, such as Hoth, or Dagobah. If you want a break from random maps, do one of the thousands of campaigns available, what focus on the main stories in Star Wars. Some have bonus missions too, for those that are good enough to unlock them.
If you've finished all the missions (It'll take you a long time.), you could always try making your own, with a fully customizable map-maker. The scenario editor is the best feature in the game, and allows you to make whatever maps you want. You can use triggers, and make a proper story line, or you could just do an amusing 'Jar Jar Binks vs AT-AT' scenario. The possibilities are endless.
After this, why don't you try popping online, and playing with people all over the world with it's brilliant multi-player. Beware though, this isn't for beginners, you will need to train a bit before you fight the masters.

Buy or Rent?
You can't really rent this game, by the time you need to hand it back, you will barely have scratched the surface of what the game has to offer. You need to buy this game. If you are a Star Wars fan, this is the game for you. I have had it for 3 months now, and still can't go for more than three days without picking it up again, with the thought of terrorizing the Naboo with my 150 Stormtroopers, and full TIE Interceptor squadron. It takes practice to beat the people online, but you'll get a lot of fun out of this. It should be reasonably cheap now, too.
An expansion for the game - Clone Campaigns - is out now. This adds two new civilisations and loads more. I say that you buy the game soon...ah heck, buy it now! Empty your wallet, and take a trip down the shops, and get this game, and with it, you will be buying many hours of fun, all packed into two disks.

PLUS POINTS:
+ Great sound
+ The game lasts months
+ Multiplayer will keep you challenged, as well as five difficulty levels to try.
+ It's cheap-ish now.
+ It's Star Wars!

MINUS POINTS:
- Graphics are questionable.
- I real time sucker - I have missed out on doing many pieces or homework, just to play this game. Another review that I read said that the guy nearly missed his wedding. I don't believe it, but it IS possible.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/02, Updated 06/29/02