Empire at War

Last night, I got to go back and play one of my favorite computer games of all time, Star Wars: Empire at War. It is a real-time strategy game (RTS) where you build and manage units of troops or ships, telling them to attack enemies, defend positions, scout for resources, or other various commands. What makes Empire at War so great, is that it is Star Wars, and it is done correctly. It was made by a group of guys called Petroglyph who used to work for Westwood studios on the Command and Conquer games. They brought Empire at War to a level of class and polish that was previously unseen in other Star Wars RTS titles.

The reason this game is so much fun, is because it feels like Star Wars. The space combat segment (what I played last night) has a simple strategy system that is lots of fun to execute. Fighters beat Capitol Ships, Capitol Ships beat Picket Ships, and Picket Ships beat Fighters. However, numerous little intricacies make the game come alive. Rebel capitol ships have the ability to augment their shields at a time of need, Imperial Capitol Ships have a tractor beam that keeps picket ships from running away, Rebel fighters can increase their speed temporarily at the cost of their firepower, and so on. All-in-all, this makes for a very dynamic battle.

Other than playing this addicting game, what sweetened the deal was getting to do so with my former and future roommate, James. We worked together as a team to bring down multiple AI opponents and had a lot of fun in the process. Of course at the same time we shot the breeze and caught up on how each other had been doing the last few weeks. What a great bonding experience it is to annihilate electronic star ships while talking about life!

This game makes me happy, because it makes up for previous Star Wars RTS semi-failures: Rebellion, Force Commander, and most notably Galactic Battlegrounds. Rebellion was great because you got to manage the entire galaxy, but it had a very poor combat system. Force Commander was an interesting game with some unique mechanics, but it was very difficult to control and poorly balanced. Galactic Battlegrounds was a fine game, but it was a direct rip-off of Age of Empires 2, and therefore didn't feel very much like Star Wars. I had fun with each of these, but they all also left me feeling a little empty inside. I'm glad that emptiness has finally been filled with the wonderfulness of Empire at War.