Star Wars: Empire at War

Star Wars just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Fans... get ready for the newest way to be put into the epic battles of Star Wars with the newest game, Star Wars: Empire at War. Here you strive to be the ultimate galactic commander in this real time strategy game.

The game takes place 4 years before the Episode New Hope. It features aspects of the film from Episodes III and IV. You can either play as the formidable and high military power Imperials or as the heroic Rebellion that is always on the move to avoid the evil Empire.

The game takes you to 25 different ground and space locations that are all featured in highly detailed 3D environments. This includes: Yavin IV, Tatooine, Endor, and Dagobah, just to name a few. The graphics are absolutely astounding. It is just like sitting in the theater. Not to mention the excellent sound effects and musical score! The sound of a TIE fighter zipping by and blasting away at a Star Destroyer is the coolest thing to hear along with the memorable Star Wars theme drumming in the background!

Your armies consist of different types of troops, depending on whose side you're on. These include storm troopers, rebel soldiers, Ewoks, Jedi pilots, and more. You can also take control of some of the most popular characters in the Star Wars series such as: Obi Wan, Darth Vadar, Commander Ackbar, the Emperor, and Luke Skywalker. Each person has its own unique abilities. The Emperor can unleash the powers of the Dark Side on your foes. Commander Ackbar can increase your troop's capabilities.

You don't just get to play around with measly ground troops! Take to the sky and space with over 20 vehicles. These include: X-Wings, TIE fighters, Mon Calamari cruisers, Star Destroyers, and many more.

Well now that you know what you play with, I suppose you'd like to know what you play on and how to play! As usual, you are going to be organizing your troops, strategically placing them on the battlefield, order the troops around, attack, defend, and thus hopefully win the battles! How you do so is up to you. The entire game is real time so be careful as to what strategy you use. A 2D map is available to show you where your troops so you can place them in the battlefield.

As you increase your army and defenses, you will notice a need for resources. These resources are needed to build up various structures such as: space stations, cantinas, factories, etc. Be careful what resources you use up and how money is dispersed to keep your army strong!

You will also need to build mines and take over planets to get some nice bonuses! As far as planets go, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. You'll have to see what you think you need the most to benefit your campaign.

This game is almost perfect and truly defines the meaning of Star Wars. There is definitely not another game like it nor is there a game that so closely resembles that of the film. The only downside of the game is that the game can get a bit sluggish at times. This tends to happen in the multiplayer mode. But for what you get out of the game, this is a small price to pay.

Star Wars: Empire at War is now available for your. It has an ESRB rating of T for teen. This is because the game features fantasy violence.