Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

"Star Wars RTS... finally done right!"

Real time strategy games are the type of games that keep us from failing in school (well, that's me, I don't know about you). They keep IQs up and brains working full-time as you attempt to keep a civilization in line. A few years back, an ok Star Wars RTS was released, and it wasn't wonderful. Now, at last, we have a SW RTS game to be proud of!

To those not in the know, Star Wars is a wonderful science fiction adventure created by George Lucas. His idea, while simple, has spawned numerous books, action figures, and video games. It is about a war in space in galaxies far away. The first movie concentrates on two Jedi and their quest is to save a small planet called Naboo from oppression which started from Senate arguments. Their names are Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They attempt to save Naboo from their oppresors, and many adventures take place. One of them, on Naboo, introduces us to who would soon be Darth Vadar, Anakin Skywalker. It is he who finally saves the day in the end. The second movie focueses on how he's starting to lose himself in his anger when he returns to his home planet of Tatooine to find his mother dead. He is deeply in love with Naboo's former queen, Amidala, but his anger would soon lead him away from this. Meanwhile, the Clone Wars begin, and the Trade Federation, the oppresors of the previous movie, have doubled efforts of a large army, of which only a Clone Army (an army of clones of one bounty hunter Jango Fett) can stop. Most people are against this, however, and so another argument in the Senate. Whatever happens during the Clone War is currently unknown now, but it is clear that Anakin Skywalker will become Darth Vadar in that time. In the 4th movie of the series, Anakin's son, Luke, joins a team of rebellious people striving against the Imperial Army that arose from the Senate and Naboo during the Clone Wars. He makes a friend in the smuggler Han Solo and his co-pilot, Chewbacca, and receives help both mentally, physically, and spiritually, from the now-aging Obi-Wan Kenobi and the near-death former Jedi Council member, Yoda. Several battles take place throughout the rest of the movies, but in the end, ultimately, the Rebels win, defeating 2 Death Stars the Imperials created (Death Star = Large circular structure with firepower capable of destroying an entire planet).

Now that you have a bit of history with Star Wars, let's get to the game. The game follows movie 1 and 4,5,6, but its expansion, Clone Wars, obviously gets new units from Episode 2. In it, you can choose to control any of the 6 main armies that appeared in the movies: Rebels, Imperials, Wookies, Gungans, Trade Federation, and Naboo. Each one has unique traits and abilities to help it win battles against the other civilizations. The storyline included mostly follows the movies, with little in-between missions included. Quite an interesting take, IMHO.

The gameplay is very familiar to those who play Age of Empires 2. You use your workers to harvest 4 kinds of minerals: Carbon from trees, Food from bushes, lakes, etc., Ore from Ore plants, and Nova from Nova plants. Each one provides you with the supplies to build buildings so that you may create your armies for battle. 5 of the 6 civilizations require you to build ''houses'' so that you may build more units; without housing for a unit, you cannot build the unit. The way you advance in technology is via Tech Levels. You start yourself at Tech Level 1. As you gain enough of the 4 aforementioned minerals (and build enough buildings as you can on the level you are currently on) you may go to your startup building, or command center, and upgrade to Tech Level 2. Your buildings get new doohickeies added to them, you are allowed to upgrade your troopers and seacraft, and you can build more buildings. As you advance through the 4 tech levels, you garner more units to use for your pleasure; they all range from Aircraft to Seacraft to even Jedi, which you can use to convert enemy units to your cause. The battle system is easy to understand, yet difficult to master (sort of like Tetris, if you think about it): When you select one or more units, you right click a spot and they begin to move there. When they get there, any enemy units around them they will attack. This is where the game differs from Starcraft (because most of this game reminded me of Starcraft); the units do not attack anyone on the way to their destination point. Unless you give them a specific target, they will ignore their current enemey surroundings until they reach the destination. This gives the game an added difficulty boost for those who love Starcraft (like me). One small but very good change from Starcraft as well was the worker idle command; if any of your workers are idle, the game lets you know. This is very important for RTS games, because if any of your workers are idle at any time, you're almost destined to lose.

Visually, everything is delightful. Every unit and building has been detailed very closely, as well as the surroundings on which you are commanding your army. There's even small terrain changes in the landscape; one minute you're on plain land and the next you're walking up a small hill! Even the menu screen looks awesome, with vivid, colorful items and clear texts so that you know what everything is. Sounds and music are also well done. Those who love Star Wars will recognize the classic Imperial music and most music from Episode 1. The sounds are incredible; everything from blasters firing to troops marching forth to the sounds of animals being slaughtered is loud and clear, and makes you feel like you're a part of the game. Controls will not keep you guessing; the instruction booklet tells you how to do everything with clear, visual examples to help you along. If you know how to play other RTS games, controls won't keep you that long. Replayabilty is wonderful; you have the mission mode, which takes you forever, and then you can just hone your skillz in the scenario mode, where you can make all the settings and adjustments you want. As if that weren't enough, but if the computer AI is too dull for you, go digital! You can get online and play against other humans in more than one way, including using MSN's Gaming Zone! THEN... then, my friend, there's the scenario Editor, where you can recreate your own missions! Everything is a little confusing in that, but that's OK; you'll soon get used to it! The difficulty of this game will not throw you off, either; it's just simple enough so newbies don't go bald, yet hard enough so experts of RTS games can enjoy it.

There you have it, a review of one of the greatest RTS games ever created. With plenty of things to keep you busy, and a slew of Star Wars familiars, there's no telling what you'll do. Have fun, and I thank you for reading this review!

Final Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/02, Updated 08/28/02