|
 - LucasArts does it again!I'm an avid fan of PC strategy games and have been having trouble finding a good game. This changed when I found Star Wars: Empire At War. Although I jumped into it after the expansion came out, I still find the game a blast. It takes the aspects of a turned-based strategy game and puts it in real time. Both space and land combat are simple and straightforward to understand, and the Consotium gives the game added spice. The rollover unit info helps a ton when in the middle of a chaotic skirmish. In addition, the ability to watch sections of battle using theatrical camera angles makes it very a la Lucas. Long story short, this game is definitely worth any strategy gamer's credits, er, dollers. Rating:  - Lucas comes short againI have played many Star Wars games, I guess I buy alot of Star Wars related products. I own Galatic Battlegrounds, many of the SW Shooters, RPGs, and the entire line of Rogue Squadron type games. Empire at War is better than Galatic Battlegrounds, but Lucas still comes up short, the Gameplay isn't excellent, I still prefer Command and Conquer, the Characters that make up the Star Wars galaxy seem to be there just as an afterthought. I bought it beat it and tried to resell this product to a used store but they wouldn't take it. Rating: - AMAZON'S PICTURE IS MISLEADING (thanks JJAV)I like Star Wars as well as your average 30-something red-blooded American male, but I am by no means a fanboy; in fact, I have found that most Star Wars related games in the past decade are kind of 'meh'. With that said, I loved the original Empires at War, it was a great game that combined a strategic game of planet conquering with two types of RTS games in which you fought for control of planets on land and in space - it didn't rest on the Star Wars Franchise to please the user, the Star Wars heroes, vehicles, and troops are just an added bonus. User created mods are freely available on the net, and that expands replayability immensely. I pulled it off the shelf the other day to find some of the new mods use the expansion - the original expansion no longer seems to be available from Amazon, but the gold package has both the original and expansion. The original was a great twist on the basic RTS style of game, and one of my favorites, gameplay-wise. Eye candy isn't as good as more modern titles, but gameplay has held up well. IMHO, the original game is still worth the price, and I'm sure the expansion just sweetens the pot. Note that their cover art for this product is for the original game, not the gold edition; I was waffling on whether to buy it until I saw the customer pic, as it didn't seem the gold edition had the expansion and there is no mention of it in the product description. Per Lucasart's website, the gold edition does indeed have the Forces of Corruption expansion included (and looks like the second picture in the gallery). Thanks to 'JJAV' for the clarifying customer pic. Rating:  - Good Value, Nice Mods, Great for Star War FansPositive Side: This is a very good value. For two games you get them for only $30. I remember the time it was out, it was $39.99 in Bestbuy for only the non-expansion game. This one is a deal although it is a bit old now. Still, it's very fun. There's more to it in the game. If you search on Google for Game Modifications, you can download a few you like and add features and new units to the game for free. In fact, some game modders go all the way to the extent of modifying the whole game. (Note: Many games are also modded.) Very nice, and very fun in multi-player. The game can run at high settings perfectly on my desktop and notebook PC. (My computer can barely run Crysis on medium settings on my desktop (Intel Quad Core Processor, NVIDIA 512 MB GeForce 8600GT) and almost not playable on my notebook PC except on low settings (2.2 GHz NIVIDA 256 MB 8600m GS)). Negative Side: The land battles tend to get a bit boring since they are similar to other strategy-based games (but the heroes were fun to play with). Also the computer tends to be relaxed and not attack you unless it's part of the storyline. This is not really a challenge although you can search around for MODs that make it harder. The graphics are not the best but at least they do not stress a computer like Crysis. Overall, the game is best for its space battles. Go to Youtube to see some of it.
|
