Star Wars: Empire At War

[Jesse James]

A new classic trilogy era RTS is on the way according to reports...  News has been out a little bit now, but the first article on it is coming from Europe I guess.

Not much to say for now other than it seems to include fleet battles as well as ground combat, and the TIE Crawler's making an appearance for the first time.

While I welcome a new RTS with open arms, the idea makes me curious if it will actually be any good. 

Force Commander's a legitimately SOLID game that was built from the ground up by Lucasarts, rather than a knock-off game of a "popular" RTS game that was outdated by the time they basically did a Star Wars version of it.  Battlegrounds had support from casual gamers, but I don't think the game ever appealed to anyone who played RTS's often.

Force Commander's difficult interface ended up being its major downfall then, and we were left without a RTS that appealed to everyone.

If this game doesn't have:

A) Good gameplay
B ) Good interface/controls
C) Good storyline
D) Excellent graphics
E) Epic scale (IE: Lots and LOTS of units on a big map)
F) Scaled playing units (IE: An AT-AT isn't as big as an AT-ST on the field)
G) 3-D gameplay, units, maps, etc.
H) And a continuation of ground units ESTABLISHED in both previous games and EU, as well as the films.

Well then this game isn't going to be a great success.  LA's gotta get their crap together with this.  Force Commander was close to a home run.  Galactic Battlegrounds was nothing more than a mod to an existing ANCIENT gaming engine (It's like playing Doom with Star Wars characters...  It's nothing original whatsoever).

LA better nail this one...  3rd time has to be the charm or RTS is just something they'll never get right, or even try to again I think.

And then they better get off their asses and make a new flight sim, because the X-Wing/TIE Fighter series...  arguably the most profitable series for Lucasarts ever...  Has faded.  Make a new game already...  Finish the damn story for the Azzameen's already...  Move on into the post ROTJ era already...  Just do something!

[Jesse James]

And the front page now has more information on this game with links to a magazine article soon to be on shelves.

Interesting if true...  I truly dislike seeing this game's developers take it upon themselves to "rewrite" EU as they see fit though.  EU's supposed to at least TRY to work together, and they're simply scrapping past RTS designs it appears.

The TIE Crawler looks NOTHING like the craft that appears in numerous EU writings as well.  This is a design as old as EU itself since it came from the old West End Games books, and the game's developers seem to have felt that they could redesign the vehicle as they saw fit.  Not a good move IMO.

Hope the game is as good as they boast, otherwise we'll see more the same opinion about Star Wars RTS gaming.  It's not been good over the years, so let's hope that doesn't happen.

[Vator]

It could be a varient of the TIE Crawler? Yeah, I got nothing.

[Jesse James]

Eh, yeah, but I just hate when they do dumb **** like that.  Take the old design, use it, and just bedone with it.  I'd say they felt it wasn't logically laid out, which I can't say I disagree with, but respect those who "created" it, ya know? 

And the Alliance tanks look to NOT be the Force Commander/G Battlegrounds tanks, which were perfectly designed and quite "Star Wars-ish" I thought.  Again I think they're taking themselves too seriously with bashing the old RTS games and trying to distance themselves from it.

The irony is they took the EU design of the AT-AT barge that Force Commander actually created, and that the ICS books adapted for their own use.  I think they didn't realize that FC came up with that design.

[Jesse James]

Another article...

There appears to be a COMPLETELY new tank of some sort too, which I can bite on but I still dislike them NOT running with the Force Commander tank designs.  Those 2 Rebel tanks were perfect...  All the Rebel tanks were perfect really.  Stick in those ones from the original Rogue Squadron game then,a nd you've got one hell of a diverse armor unit line-up for the Alliance.

I don't even see anything in the screenies for the Empire other than the TIE Crawler I can't stand and the AT-AT and AT-ST.

I see no troop transports, no AT-PT's which have become BIGTIME EU vehicles in a lot of games, etc., etc...

I just wonder if this game's gonna dumb stuff down and try rewriting EU which I can't stand.  I mean, if you're gonna be par tof EU at least try to keep it right and show you get off your ass and research things, but I dunno they're gonna.

I'm happy to get a new RTS, and in the classic era at that (great news), and one that incorporates multiple planet management ala rebellion to an extent, is 3-D terrain and all, is keeping scale relatively well (at least on the groudn missions), but in the end I'm irked at the creators simply disregarding all previous established EU.  That just seems arrogant to me.

It's like trying to rewrite the films (unless you wrote them in the first place) to suit you rather than you conforming to suit the films.

[Matt_Fury]

One thing I do like about this game is that it looks like we'll be able to control large cale space battles.

Good graphics (like FC had), an intuitive control set-up, andnot have the crappy "Command Point" system and the ability to overwelm your enemy, and I think we'll have a winner here.

[Violentfix]

You know, no offense to present company or anyone in the real world for that matter, but I'm really sick of them making games only for PC and then maybe if the games a hit giving it a Mac version a year or two down the road.

Now that I've said that.


I don't think we should be really bickering over the designs of these vehicles, this is a period game and it's supposed to take place in the beginning of the Galactic civil war, I'm open to the idea that a vehicle might look a little different at one time or another.  I was upset when I first saw the game because they were saying that this will bridge the gap between the Emperors rise to power and the Episode IV, so are they saying that as soon as Episode three ended AT-AT's just suddenly appeared in the Imperial arsenal?  I didn't hear any meantion of a technology system in the game either.  Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions.

[Jesse James]

I think it's not so much that the design of the TIE Crawler is bad, but that a design existed...  For EU's sake, use it and don't insist on creating that other "corridor" of vehicle in the EU just for the sake of wanting to make it your own...  To me that's the problem with EU as a whole, it's just an instance to point out in the game specifically...  The EU establishes something early, but yet others who work on a project within it insist on doing "their own thing" rather than working with what's previously established for some better cohesion.  Had I seen a WEG styled Crawler, I'd have been excited rather than thinking it's just another page/dispute in the EU as a whole...

As far as AT-AT's go, EU's claiming they were in the Clone Wars, just a slightly different design...  from what I recall anyway.  I know I saw them in some of the holo-report things in the FC mag, and some other things.  It's design is actually the final conceptual sketches of the AT-AT before the production look was finalized.  Very close to it, just slight differences...  more boxy.  Guess that's AT-AT1.0 and ESB one is AT-AT2.0 or whatever.

And the TE's been carried over then into the Classic era EU as still being in service in multiple roles...  Whatever.  Not that I wish anyone's imagination to be stimied at all, but Lucas sure does open that door and basically say "well, as long as you don't cross me personally, I don't care what you do...  pink bunnies and Fett back to life!  Let's make some $$$ guys!" 

[Violentfix]

rather than thinking it's just another page/dispute in the EU as a whole...

As far as AT-AT's go, EU's claiming they were in the Clone Wars, just a slightly different design...  from what I recall anyway.  I know I saw them in some of the holo-report things in the FC mag, and some other things.  It's design is actually the final conceptual sketches of the AT-AT before the production look was finalized.  Very close to it, just slight differences...  more boxy.  Guess that's AT-AT1.0 and ESB one is AT-AT2.0 or whatever.

I have to kind of eat my words on this one.  I just realized that At-Ats made their first appearence in the Dark Horse "Star Wars"  Clone Wars comics, around issue 54.  Sorry

[Herbert_Ackermans]

rather than thinking it's just another page/dispute in the EU as a whole...

As far as AT-AT's go, EU's claiming they were in the Clone Wars, just a slightly different design...  from what I recall anyway.  I know I saw them in some of the holo-report things in the FC mag, and some other things.  It's design is actually the final conceptual sketches of the AT-AT before the production look was finalized.  Very close to it, just slight differences...  more boxy.  Guess that's AT-AT1.0 and ESB one is AT-AT2.0 or whatever.

I have to kind of eat my words on this one.  I just realized that At-Ats made their first appearence in the Dark Horse "Star Wars"  Clone Wars comics, around issue 54.  Sorry

I'm pretty sure their first appearance was in a movie called "The Empire Strikes Back".

But if you mean first appearance in SW-history, than... yeah.

[dafoo]

Oh I'd love a combination of Rebellion and Force commander, with the improvements.

Rebellion was great having 'tactics' for the space battles would be neat, but I'm not sure how they'd go about that.

Force Commander stunk do to the interface, it is difficult to play and the 3D camera movement can be a pain

[Jesse James]

Empire At War is on pre-order at Lucasarts already.  You get a spiffy mousepad I think if you pre-order...  Yay.



Linky Right Here

The game does look promising...  I'm not sure (after reading some stuff in Game Informer) that this game won't be without flaw though...  To simplify the game (and taking away from realism, subsequently), the fighter and capital ship combat are on different "planes".  I dunno how this plays out really, but I think it's so things aren't so hectic and confusing, yet the fighters and capital ships still interact...  Whatever.

I still hate the look of the tanks.  There seems to only be two types in screenshots, an Imperial TIE Crawler which I've already mentioned why I don't like it (doesn't resemble any currently existing designs of the TIE Crawler), and the Rebel tank which looks awkward and somehow incredibly inefficient.

The tanks don't look like the other pre-established armor in Star Wars...  The angles, the lines...  They're just not there.  So to me they look designed for another genre...

Beyond that, it looks like you can maybe field a LOT of units, and that's a plus.  I think SW games need that huge scale.  Force Commander lacked that with only 60 units on the field for each side...  It looked like **** trying to field infantry really because you couldn't get a big swarm of guys since each dude counted for an individual unit.  I think EaW has infantry in squads or platoons that deplete as they take damage maybe?  Just a guess there, but it's how infantry and people and stuff are formed in games like ME:TW.

Anycrap, there you go...  The game's not due out till next year, like Feb.  Holy moly! 

[dafoo]

I have high hopes, will they be dashed? lol

I loved rebelllions space battles, I play that game all the time

having a mess of fighters kill a Star Destroyer is just spiffy

[dafoo]

3D RTS.  You don't NEED 3D, it over complicates play when you have so many camera moves you have to contend with.

[Jesse James]

I'm sorry, but when games have advanced BEYOND the engine used for the Galactic Battlegrounds games, and advanced beyond them significantly and effectively to deliver a popular 3-D RTS gaming experience, I just can't agree that you don't need 3-D gaming.

It enhances realism, it creates an atmosphere where strategy is a necessity, not simple plotting and movement.  You simply can't game 2-D with any "realistic" need for strategy.  It changes the dynamics completely.

I can't play a game like Medeival Total War, or Rome Total War, or even Force Commander, and go back to enjoying 2-D RTS gaming.  There's no challenge really.

I blew through Galactic Battlegrounds in like a week without even trying hard...  Not to mention the monotinous repetitive feel 2-D RTS gaming gives off with little reason to replay.  Blah.  Not a fan of that at all.