Star Wars: Empire At War - New from the creators of C&C

[Sol Invictus]

The employees of Westwood Studios have gone and created a new studio called Petroglyph since their dismantlement by Electronic Farts, and they've apparently been busy developing a new RTS entitled Star Wars: Empire at War that looks very, very nice. Some Polish website got the scoop and a bunch of screenshots, to boot:

http://pclab.pl/news13497.html

From the looks of things, the game looks to be using the Earth3 engine in the upcoming Earth 2160 RTS and it looks really impressive. Of course, I could be wrong, but it'd explain how the Polish managed to get the scoop before anyone else, bearing that the developers of the Earth series are Polish themselves.

There's even space battles. Neat!

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Yes, that does look nice. I just hope it has a better time out the gate then Galactic Battlegrounds did. That game sucked until the expansion pack came out. I'm also happy they didn't go with the Ep. II era technology. Looks to me like it might take place just before Ep. IV and on through the rest of the movies. The reason I say that is because those Star Destroyers in the one screenshot look totally like the early stages of the vessel did.

 

[Flink]

I'm cautiously optimistic... I've been wanting a Star Wars Homeworld for ages...

 

[DemonKing]

I say the scans from the magazine article from PC Zone and they looked pretty good - although the Tie Crawler looked a little ridiculous (imagine a ground based Tie Fighter).

Unfortunately http://www.planetcnc.com/ had to take down the scans due to copyright issues but I'm sure they could be found somewhere.

 

[Elwro]

The screens are scans from Computer Gaming Word and PCZone. I agree that the game looks interesting.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I've always preferred the Imperial Wars (Ep 4 and beyond) over the Trade Federation/Clone Wars (Ep 1-3). The tech is just cooler, and there's a distinct lack of JarJar that makes me feel like rejoicing.

The Tie Crawlers look pretty cool, and I wonder if it's possible to customize those vehicles with their armaments, as it's possible to do that with Tie Fighters. If they're using the Earth3 engine, I'd imagine it would be.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I've always preferred the Imperial Wars (Ep 4 and beyond) over the Trade Federation/Clone Wars (Ep 1-3). The tech is just cooler, and there's a distinct lack of JarJar that makes me feel like rejoicing.

Mesa be having much agreement with you! :wink:

 

[roguefrog]

Looks nice. Glad some of westwood escaped the dark halls of EA.

 

[Sol Invictus]

It'd be most of them, actually. Considering that Brett Sperry's leading the show it looks like they're in a similar situation to Bill Roper's Flagship Studios. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they got the C&C director to direct any live action cutscenes in the Star Wars game. That'd be pretty awesome, haha.

 

[Flink]

That said, the new lord of the rings RTS by EA/Westwood is, (And I hate to say this) actually very good.

I really like the leveling up scheme. Nnot just units level, but buildings as well, unlocking new units the more lower level units you build. An innovative design idea that at least I haven't seen in any other RTS. The indiviual squad upgrades and forced base design is very interesting as well.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

That said, the new lord of the rings RTS by EA/Westwood is, (And I hate to say this) actually very good.

Hahaha! Don't hate to say it. There's people around here who love that game, myself included. Very nicely done. The interface is crap though, that's for sure. Still, it's a really good game and if they can clean up the interface with a patch, it would surely be among my fave RTS' of all time. That's not hard though since there's only very few RTS' I've enjoyed through the years.

 

[Sol Invictus]

The AI needs some serious work, though. I can't remember how many times the Rohan charged my pikemen.

 

[roguefrog]

I enjoyed bfme for a time, but the generic missions get tired quickly. Helms Deep was probably the best most challenging part. (as good) Also introduced something I came to loath: build slots.

 

[Sol Invictus]

The official website is now online:
http://www.lucasarts.com/games/swempireatwar/

Check out the goodies.

Marin County, Calif. – January 21, 2005 – LucasArts revealed today that it will give PC players the opportunity to control the fate of the galaxy in an all new real-time strategy (RTS) game titled Star Wars®: Empire at War™ (tentative title). Set a few years before the events of Episode IV A New Hope, the game will let players rewrite history as well as experience the aftermath of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the creation of the Rebel Alliance, and Darth Vader’s rise to power. Star Wars: Empire at War is scheduled for a release in Fall 2005.

Using an entirely new game engine created by the Las Vegas-based developer Petroglyph, the game will feature beautifully rendered land and space battles set on memorable planets such as Hoth, Tatooine and Dagobah as well as never-before-seen environments taken directly from the Star Wars films and expanded universe novels. In the game, players can choose to join either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, building and setting up tactical forces that can be unleashed on the enemy in real-time 3D. All of the gameplay and action within Star Wars: Empire at War is a persistent, meaning that strategic and tactical elements from previous events will have a permanent effect on the galaxy.

As players build, manage and progress their space and ground-based units, troops and vehicles, memorable Star Wars hero characters will begin playing a role in key situations. In addition to the single player campaign mode, the game will include a two-player Empire vs. Rebellion mode and up to eight player online skirmish modes. For more assets and information on Star Wars: Empire at War, please visit www.lucasarts.com.

Besides Earth 2160, it's the best looking RTS to date. Looks like you'll be able to control entire batallions of men at a time (Ground Control 1) rather than controlling single units (C&C). The space battles look fantastic.

I like the sound of a 'persistent RTS'. I hope they go out of their way to really work on that instead of settling on the shallow campaign of BFME or Emperor: Battle for Dune. The two-player campaign mode sounds pretty awesome, too.

 

[Thydron]

Have any of you played Star Wars Rebellion (AKA Star Wars Supremacy) - the persistant RTS thing seems a little like that (which is no bad thing)

 

[NeverwinterKnight]

im really hoping this game pans out to be a great one. i wasnt thrilled with the previous "strategy" type games with the star wars label. hopefully this changes my view.

 

[Chefe]

hello world

 

[Sol Invictus]

There's a new interview at CGW: http://www.cgonline.com/content/view/552/2/

This sounds particularly interesting:
"The player constructs ships and armies, marshals them into fleets, and sends the fleets to enemy controlled systems. Securing control of space by way of space combat is the first order of business. Space combat is dangerous since the invasion transports are vulnerable and there may be weapons on the planet’s surface that can fire upon the fleet, such as an Ion Cannon. If the space battle is successful, a land invasion is next. The player sends initial scouting forces (pathfinders) to the surface and then calls in any supporting reinforcements from available troops in orbital transports. Battle is engaged on the surface until one side or the other is defeated or retreats."

 

[Saran]

This is one of the games that dwell in my internal "Dream Game" list.

The best things of your common as muck RTS, the Total War series and the Homeworld series combined.

The fact that its a star wars game just makes it all the better. (And by that i mean the universe and its tech, not the abysmal track record of the license itself.)

Now all they need to do is make a sci-fi CRPG, with a newtonian flight model and the ability to walk around your ship and the planets/stations you dock with and ill be in gaming heaven.

(For a while atleast.)

 

[Deckard]

I'm cautiously optimistic... I've been wanting a Star Wars Homeworld for ages...

Just in case you dont know, there is a Star Wars Mod for Homeworld 2 called "Warlords". It looks pretty good and seems to be fun, though there is only skirmish and multiplayer yet. It seems worth to try it.

http://warlords.swrebellion.com/