Star Wars: Empire at War hands-on preview

[Everlost_MI]

Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/) has posted their hands-on preview (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/starwarsrts/news.html?sid=6140634) of the upcoming RTS, Star Wars: Empire at War.

Here's a bit from the article:

Empire at War takes place between the two motion picture trilogies; that is, after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and before Episode IV: A New Hope, so the evil Sith lord Darth Vader has just come into his own, while some farm boy named Luke is just starting to grow up on a desert planet. Still, this time frame has given the development team plenty of opportunities to draw upon classic Star Wars lore, characters, and vehicles. Among the hero characters, for instance, you can expect to see Darth Vader, the bounty hunter Boba Fett, Imperial officers Piett and Veers, and Emperor Palpatine; on the Rebel side, you can expect to see Han Solo and Chewbacca (who are treated as one powerful character, even though each has individual abilities), and a promising young Mon Calamari officer named Ackbar (who is destined to warn his Rebel allies of a certain trap in a certain future space battle)
I am bit leary of Star Wars RTS games, I got burned on SW:Rebellion.

[The Iron Weasel]

But its made by ex-westwood people. Do you realise what that means. THE ORIGINAL C&C TEAM IS MAKING THIS GAME, THE MAKERS OF THE GAME THAT GOT ME INTO GAMES! WESTWOOD!

[Tentaro]

I am bit leary of Star Wars RTS games, I got burned on SW:FORCE COMMANDER.
Thats better.
Oh and not to be an ass but WC2 beat the hell out of C&C back in the day imho. :p

[buzzfunk]

Yeah same here. But i agree. I'd give it a shot. Screens look good and its ex westwood guys.

I really want a new xwing game tho!! Come on!! Where are all the space sims??

[Pumped'Up]

Lucas is digging another grave for the Star Wars franchise. Like the mid-80's, we'll have a repeat if they don't stop churning out all this SW crap onto the market. I'd say the majority of people are sick of seeing SW related stuff, like it is with LotR and the Matrix. Time to move on Lucas boy.

[Montgomery_Python]

It's a trap!

[Savok]

I think we all know who Admiral Ackbar is and what he did for the Rebel Alliance, damned idiot writers.

[Draft]

This is not a star wars game.

This is a Westwood game that happens to take place long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

[The Iron Weasel]

Thats better.
Oh and not to be an ass but WC2 beat the hell out of C&C back in the day imho. :p

*faints in rage*

[Morrolan]

Rebellion was actually a pretty good game in multiplayer. Very original, and once you mastered the interface, it was really very strategic in the RTS mode. Even I can't defend that utterly terrible 'battle mode' thing, but whatever, it was optional.

Rebellion fell down on its learning curve and its AI. Once you learned the game, and played against a real person, it was actually quite good.

[Hg-203]

Hey, I like Rebellion, Force Commander on the other hand....

[Frongoid]

Did they know that the Star Trek license has already gone to the well with the "Empires at War" title? I think that was the title of Starfleet Command II.

[The-Cable-Guy]

Agreed. Star Wars rebellion was awesome - Force Commander/Galactic Battlegrounds = crapola.

[Neosho]

I'm going to hit the bandwagon here and note that i really like rebellion. It was fun. I'm waiting, hoping that they make a real new star wars game soon, one that makes me feel like i'm playing the first dark forces again...everyone remember that? Ahh, that was happiness.

[Nintendo Revolution]

Finally, a game that Westwood employees can work on as a whole without getting yelled at or fired by EA. Seriously, I'm really happy for them, and I'm picking this up.

[Grimgrock]

Am I mistaken in saying that having Han Solo/Chewbacca is a continuity error? He doesn't join until Episode IV. I know it (the excerpt) doesn't say what his role is but it would seem to be that having the millenium falcon et. al. is a mistake. Unless he is a neutral smuggler you go to for resources or something.

[Savok]

When Han quit his "job" to free Chewie, they weren't that neutral.

[Atrapas]

I read that comment and thought, "Wait, surely he can't be talking about THAT SW:Rebellion?!?"

Was a truly awesome game.. Sure the learning curve was atrocious, but once I learned that I used to play that damn game for 12 hours straight.. Used to be those "Omg, is that the sun coming through the window?" games.

Besides, in what other game can you ambush a rebel fleet with an Interdictor (to keep them from running), a few Star Destroyers (To keep them busy) 60 squadrons of Tie Defenders and a frickin' Death Star popping a capital ship every few minutes?

[Morratut]

I'm really looking forward to this game. The Westwood guys i'm sure will do a good job. I'd like to see a good kick ass RTS in the star wars universe. I like the idea of a overall galactic map where you can take over planets they will help in getting better resources for later in the campaign.

<slurp>

[Neosho]

Yeah, on the topic of rebellion, damn, that game did take a long time to learn. Stupid C3P0 and R2 were useless. Eventually i ended up telling them to manage everything so i could space battle ftw. Sadly, i sucked at that too. But damn that game was fun.

[Savok]

Guess I better come out of the closet as someone who also enjoyed Rebellion. I always had a fleet of Lancers in every system as the first line of defense while churning out death commandos and sending 20 at a time after a target.

[The-Cable-Guy]

So is Empires at War the new Imperium Galatica 2? :P