Star Wars: Empire at War Preview

Ever since the words "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." appeared on movie screens worldwide, Star Wars has become an indelible part of the lives of gamers and sci-fi fans everywhere. In the past few decades we've been bombarded with Star Wars material, and we eat it all up with a spoon, and ask for seconds (even if it's crap). Everything, from the Kenner Star Wars Action Figures to the Atari Empire Strikes Back videogame (that game RULED! -Ed), to the ambitious yet, to date, disappointing prequel movies, the series' longevity, and moneymaking potential is staggering. What hasn't been 100% realized in quite some time is a modern videogame that captures the true feel of the Star Wars universe in a manner that sets the gaming world on its ear. (I have only this to say, Knights of the Old Republic. I rest my case. - Ed) Since the days of X-Wing and TIE Fighter, there have been precious few games in which the Star Wars experiance shines brighter than the rest.

We have a hull breach!

Star destroyers... gotta love 'em.

The RTS genre, in particular, is where the Star Wars franchise is an afterthought, instead of a forerunner. The most recent offerings, Force Commander and Galactic Battlegrounds were interesting renderings of the Star Wars universe, but left much to be desired in the gameplay department. However, we hope that with a little hard work, Empire at War will change all that.

We have reason to believe that Empire at War, a SW-based RTS announced for later this year by LucasArts, will offer us quite an impressive way to waste our time. *A lot* of our time. The team behind this title is the celebrated Petroglyph - celebrated mostly because most of its members used to work for Westwood Studios and participated in the creation of several groundbreaking titles that have modernized the RTS genre. They have it in mind to offer innovations that push the RTS envelope, while bringing stunning visuals worthy of being a part of the Star Wars universe. The game runs on a completely new engine dubbed 'Alamo', which will help Petroglyph create a visually perfect and immersive game. Add the fact that the soundtrack is composed by Frank Klepacki, who provided the soundtrack for Emperor: Battle for Dune and it becomes obvious that we are talking about a very promising title, at least when it comes to its audio and visual appeal. Petroglyph explains the engine uses all the modern effects, such as specular lightning, particle effects, and soft shadows. Of course, the surroundings will be rendered with a lot of care and in detail, in order to look authentic and resemble the original settings from the movies as much as possible.

Other aspects of this game promise to be as complex and immersive as its visual side. The thing is, Empire at War is a massive, and very ambitious project that hopes to put you in the middle of the battle for the fate of the galaxy. Other titles have attempted to capture that feeling and they have mostly failed, as they couldn't bring back the fun of the original movies. Empire of War will allow you to be an active part of the great conflict letting you experience first-hand how the epic events in the game are shaping the Star Wars universe.

Gorgeous graphics is only one side to it - the game mechanism is what Petroglyph hopes to be the crucial thing about this title. Empire at War holds on to the main RTS principle of base and army-building, where victory goes to the person in charge of most resources, more advanced technologies, greater number of powerful units and such. Still, it denies this simple strategy by adding a more important strategic approach to it. As you will be allowed to keep the units that manage to survive the final slaughter and take them to your next mission, you will be forced to take more care of them instead of losing them carelessly. Of course, the surviving units will gain some experience in battle, which is one more reason to look after them.

The basic tactics of 'build-gather forces-march-kill' won't be a winning principle in this game, as you will be required to do much more than that. The game features the forces of the Empire and the Rebels, who differ significantly in their (dis)abilities and thus require a completely different approach. The Empire is much more powerful and omnipresent, with more advanced technology, better and more numerous units and resources. On the other hand, the Rebels have the intricate espionage web on their side, so their power lies in stealth, which is (almost) all they've got against their more powerful enemy. The developers plan to allow the capturing of neutral planets in such a way that you claim the planet for your faction after you've dealt with the opposing forces. This would certainly make the gameplay much more realistic and enjoyable and we are looking forward to this feature.

The entire game revolves around a massive battle that holds the entire galaxy in awe and anticipation. This is a dynamic, sometimes furious battle that takes place both on the land and in space, with an interesting implementation of 'air support' - that is, sending your air troops in aid to your ground units engaged in a battle. Both aspects of the battle, the ground and aerial one, will be simultaneous and intertwined. LucasArts' producer Brett Tosti explains: "Space battles have a unique character to them. They're about massive capital ships maneuvering to bring turbo lasers to bear as they blow each other up, one piece at a time. All the while, the more nimble fighters and corvettes dogfight in their own dance of death in a quest to get a clear shot at unleashing proton torpedo attacks on the larger ships."

Your style of playing will have a lot of influence on the way that the battles unfold: all missions stand in a relation to one another and make for a seamless gameplay where the strategy you choose for completing a mission influences the course of the missions to come. This approach makes the game seamless, thus creating a believable living world as a setting for an always-appealing story. The least attention has been dedicated to gathering resources, as the programmers felt the frantic resource gathering sometimes slows and dulls the game dynamics. Therefore, this segment of the game will be kept as simple and logical as possible, featuring the system where every planet will bring different bonuses and a certain amount of resources.