Empire at War

Author's Rating:

Pros: great graphics, gameplay, real Star Wars feel, Cinema mode is cool

Cons: story modes are rather short

The Bottom Line: 
This game is great for the Star Wars and RTS fan. It can be short, but replay value is awesome!

Author's Review
Finally, the chance has now come for gamers and Star Wars fans alike to take control of massive fleets in attempt to conquer the galaxy. In a nutshell, Empire at War is just that. Although Empire at War does contain many similar aspects of present real-time-strategy games, new innovative features make it unique from other games of its kind. With these original ideas mounted on an aesthetically pleasing graphics presentation, Empire at War is sure to satisfy all those that dare attempt to conquer the galaxy.

EAW’s visual presentation does much to heighten one’s opinion of the game. When the graphics settings are set to their highest rating, the beauty of the Star Wars universe is finally realized. The work done on the detail of individual units, make the game come alive. As is common in RTS’s today, EAW makes use of the scroll feature. The scroll feature allows the player to zoom down on his troops to a more personal level. Thankfully, the graphics detail of the troops does not deteriorate into blobs of pixels. Indeed, zooming down toward ones troops gives the gamer a more intimate view of his units and their present situation.

An obvious part of the Star Wars universe is the diversity between battles. By giving the gamer the selection of space and land battles, EAW does much to implement this into the gameplay. For example, to conquer an enemy planet, one must first take out the space defenses. Therefore, it is necessary to build a fleet for the assault. Even after building the fleet, sending the fleet to the planet, and wining the battle, the player is only halfway done. The gamer must then build an army, (tanks, troops, heroes) send that on planet, and defeat the enemy forces allocated there in order to finalize the conquering of that planet.


One of the newest and most innovative features to RTS’s is EAW’s addition of a Cinema mode. When cinema mode is activated the game presents your forces in a film-like fashion: showing your forces from up close, and panning about as a camera would. Going into cinema is most useful in space battles, when one needs to see in all of the different planes, so as to assure the safe use of one’s forces. Cinema mode can be used at any time in the game. It’s especially useful when one seeks to merely gaze at the might of one’s forces.

To conclude, Empire at War’s value as a game relies heavily on its graphics presentation, land and space diversity and innovative addition of Cinema Mode. Indeed, with these features and more, Empire at War satisfies every prospective conqueror.