Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

The Good
Unlike the previous Star Wars based RTSs, (Rebellion & Force Commander) SW:GB is a traditional isometric view; gather resources; build a base; build an army; blow the enemy to scrap game. In short, it doesn't try to be overly ambitious, and focuses instead on making a fun real time strategy game in the Star Wars universe based on the Age of Empires II engine.

One real strength that AOE has passed on to SW:GB is the multitudes of research possibilities. Most combat units have around 5 upgrades, thus your Stormtrooper may be stronger or weaker versus an opponent's depending on the amount of resources and time you've spent on making him all that he can be. Furthermore, each unit has armor that protects it from different types of assault, so a siege unit may be all but impervious to blaster fire, but melee attacks are lethal. This creates battles that aren't comprised of only "Big guns" but instead encourages armies of varied units for maximum efficiency.

My favorite aspect of the game is the bonus missions. After you complete each campaign for a certain race, you are rewarded with a historical recreation of a battle from Star Wars lore. So far my favorite has been the Trade Federation's, which allows you to wage war on the Gungans as in Episode I, but this time the Battle Droid's control-ship wasn't destroyed. Needless to say, chaos and utter destruction ensues as your mechanized armies lay waste to those salmon colored swine.

There is more to say, but nobody wants to read it, so I'll just highlight: Six races to play; Battle of Hoth; you can win by controlling Jedi Holocrons, building and protecting a monument, reaching a specific score, or by destroying the enemy entirely; random multiplayer maps; map/scenario editor included.

The Bad
All six races are very similar, each having their different versions of the same basic unit. It's true that the Empire's basic starfighter is weaker than the Rebellion's, but many of the naval units are exactly the same on each side, just different art. Every RTS doesn't have to be like StarCraft, but they should at least aspire to have the same kind of difference between races.

My real complaint is with the Wookies. I would have expected them to be different than all the other races, yet there they are, with all the same types of buildings and all the same kinds of weapons. Granted they are a civilization similar to any other race, and their home planet is an elusive one, thus little is known about how they fight their wars, but I wasn't expecting to see anything similar to a tank, or airborne fighters.

The Bottom Line
Great Star Wars strategy game. If you like Age of Empires, and you like Star Wars, it'd be hard not to like Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

The Good
Very addicting game with a Warcraft III like feel to it, gathering resources and building an empire that will eventually strike at the enemy. There's a lot of options to choose from, lots of maps and so many different units to research and build. The graphics are pretty good, the character animations are really good. (ex. When the Gungans fish (food gathering) they jump into the water repeatedly until they fill their quota and make a drop off) it was rather amusing the first time i saw that.

The Bad
There seems to be no way to rotate the map, buildings, walls, etc which can make building a bit difficult at times. [If there is a way someone PLEASE let me know]. The game doesn't require much PC resources to run, however when you play a big game (200 characters max per team) the game slows down considerably, even freezes up for a short period too, it's really annoying! [i'm sure of course a better PC would correct that particular annoyance]. The attack units (Turrets mainly) can be really "dumb" at times. (ex. When built close enough to enemy units (buildings) they will fire at will (good thing) however when the enemy attack units become aware of this (foot soldiers, siths, etc) they will attack the turrets now rather than stop firing at the buildings and attack the soldiers they continue to fire at the buildings, in turn they take extensive damage, eventually the turrets will "wise up" and do the right thing, too little too late sometimes. All in all though it's a minor flaw. i still love the damn game!

The Bottom Line
Galactic Battlegrounds is a very addictive game, if you like games of this genre than give this one a shot, you'll love it.

The Good
Well, the idea of a Star Wars RTS is certainly cool. The controls are simple and serve their purpose. Nothing here stands out as amazingly good. The graphic animations are competent. The interface has an appropriate "Star Warsy" feel.

The Bad
The game is essentially a (if you will excuse the expression) clone of Age of Kings. Almost all of the techs are the same, with different names and icons. All the buildings have their AOK clones, most of the units are pretty standard etc.

The engine (which uses the AOK engine) is frankly, outdated and old, even at the time it was released. The game's graphics are ok, but nothing to look at. Sometimes the scale and overall look of the game creates a rather gaudy atmosphere, in contrast to the more laid-back, eye pleasing style of AOK.

The game's strategy element is poor compared to that of AOK. Air units are really the game breaker here. Air units being overpowered and difficult to destroy, it just adds another annoying level to the elegant strategy of AOK.

The sounds are also often overpowering, with blood curdling, melodramatic screams. It's extremely annoying not to mention somewhat tacky.

The campaigns that comes with the game are pathetic compared to the ones in AOK.

The Bottom Line
This game is a cheap Star Wars cash in on Age of Empire 2.