Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

"Age of Kings and Star Wars hybrid"

Introduction:
Being a Star Wars fan almost my entire life, I played a lot of Star Wars games. Also, being a real time strategy game fan, how can I not play Age of Kings? What happens when you put these two together? You get an awesome game. I have to admit, LucasArts managed to take the Age of King's engine and create a real fun strategy game that feels like its in the Star Wars universe. Is the game amazing? No, actually its far from anything great, but that doesn't prevent it from being an awesome game. Maybe its because I'm an Age of Kings fan and a Star Wars fan but I enjoyed this game very much but I'm far from praising it.

Gameplay:
The game plays just like Age of Kings with a lot of different features. You still build just as you would in any real time strategy game. You start out with a few droids and a command center, and you build your thriving economy, large city and mighty army. The artificial intelligence in this game seems different than Age of Kings as well. They seem smarter, more aggressive, and deadlier. I don't think there has ever been a Age of Kings game where I struggled in against the computer even up against several enemies, but when it comes to Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, I found myself in a different situation. One of the causes of my struggles is the addition of air units. Unlike Age of Kings and similar to Starcraft, there are air units. A way to defend yourself from the air units is air defense towers. Just like the towers that shoot at land units, these shoot homing missles to any air threats. Another feature that I enjoyed is the unique civilizations. The Empire has AT-ATs and stormtroopers while the rebels have Xwings. There are also many other civilizations and each has a single unique unit , however, they all have unique appearances. The rebel trooper and stormtrooper are pretty much the same with a different graphic to them, but each civilization has its one unique superior unit just like in Age of Kings. Battles can be intense as lasor fire rains on the battlefield. A bunch of troopers battling it out while tie fighters and Xwings fly overhead is every Star Wars fan's dream. Thanks to a scenario maker, you can make all your epic Star Wars battles come true. There is also a campaign mode which isn't the most amazing thing to play but still fun nonetheless. Especially on the Age of King's engine, it is hard to develop a very interesting story mode due to its 2D real time strategy feel.

Story:
There are a few campaigns which aren't very interesting but fun to complete if you really want to. I honestly have more fun with random battles but the campaigns follow the storylines from the movies, just behind the scenes.

Sound:
The sounds in the game are subpar. Units have different sayings when you click them and move them. I'm glad that different civilizations have different sounds to them. The buildings you create make different noises when they are finished being built. I didn't realize this at first but when my one building was finished being built, it created a laser shot and I scrambled to find out where I was being attacked from.. then I realized it was just a building. So I would say that the sounds are a bit annoying and not very.. hmm.. perfect? It would of been nice if they took their time with this more and made the sound effects sound better. Despite the bad sound effects, the music is amazing. It plays all your favorite Star Wars tracks when playing. I give that two thumbs up.

Graphics:
To describe the graphics in this game in one word would have to be "outdated." Still using Age of King's engine, the game is still in a 2D world. Yes, it appears to be 3D but it is actually still 2D. And with that comes all the flaws in the 2D world as well as it not looking very pretty. However, besides it still being 2D, I'm happy with what LucasArts did with it. The units look good and same with the majority of the buildings. The animations are decent too and its not horrendous. The graphics didn't bother me that much due to the fun of the game is all about the gameplay.

Flaws:
I know there is a bunch of them but I doubt all of them would come to mind. I don't know if anything really stands out but I think the greatest flaw of the game is the actual game. It uses the old Age of King's engine and thats a bit outdated. This game could of been a lot better in general if it used a newer engine. Maybe someday there will be another Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds that looks prettier and just a better game all around.

Replayability:
Replayability depends on your tastes in real time strategy games. You could play this game for years and years to come due to multiplayer fun and random battles. You could also play the story mode and never touch it again after that. Or you can just simply hate the game and uninstall it right after you try it. Its all about personal taste. This game is Age of Kings in a Star Wars disguise. Take that into consideration and only you will decide if its worth your time.

Conclusion:
Being a big fan of Star Wars and Age of Kings, I enjoyed this game. I can't guarantee everyone will enjoy it as much as me. What I can assure you is that if you like strategy games and Star Wars, this game is a great idea. If you want to get it, then yes get it. If you are still iffy about it, maybe you should wait for another to come out someday. Its not an amazing game, but I thought it was fun and definitely worth the small amount of money it was priced at.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/01/05