Star Wars: Empire At War

[Naked_Lunch]

So, how's the game so far? It's getting pretty good reviews from magazines and such, but I could care less about them and I'd like to hear what you guys thought about the game.

 

[LCJr.]

WTF? You got the codexer to do your interview for you. Now you want them to write your reviews too?

Just pirate the damn thing and justify it as being the press copy you should have received.

BTW don't you think it's time to unsticky the interview thread?

 

[Naked_Lunch]

I'm not asking you to write a review, I'm asking for impressions or whatever, what's good about the game, what's not, whether or not it's worth buying, general discussions about the game. Besides GalCiv 2 it's the only new strategy title out now and I'd like to know a bit more about it than what the bland reviews are saying.

What interview are you talking about? I never interviewed the Empire at War guys.

 

[vazquez595654]

I only played the demo. The RTS part sucked really bad. Think LOTRBFME.

 

[Jason]

You probably wouldn't be into it, partly because of the Star Wars thing and partly because it's nothing special. It's not a bad game, just not worth $55. Install the demo (it's on one of those PC Gamer DVDs) and download one of the demo mods that unlock the other units and planets.

 

[Excalibur]

i dunno i really like the setting of the game, maybe becasue i love startwars. but it was extremly easy to beat the game, if your quick enough you can overwhelm the oposition very ealry and pound the shit outt them with like a fleet of like 200+ plus ships and only suffer a few losses since you can keep bring in reinforcemnt, ull never lose the battle, only alot of ships/or ground untis, which can be replaced in a matter of seconds...

 

[Naked_Lunch]

if ur quick enough u can overwehlm the oposition very eailry and pound the shit outt them with like a fleet of like 200+ plus ships and only suffer a few losses since u can keep bring in reinforcemnt, ull never lose the battle, only alot of ships/or ground untis, which can be replases in a matter of seconds...

Yeah, that's a very big con for me. I like games that take a while to beat and require strategical and tactical thinking rather than spam spam spam.

I also hate the Star Wars setting so there you go, heh.

I think I'll take your advice Baby Arm, and see if I can get the demo running, if only to check out the supposedly awesome space battles. Speaking of which, can you move on a 3D plane like you could in HomeWorld, or is restricted to just a flat 2D space battlefield?

 

[kingcomrade]

Yeah, that's a very big con for me. I like games that take a while to beat and require strategical and tactical thinking rather than spam spam spam.

There's a fine line between spamming and having a successful economy. I played the demo and I'm pretty sure this game is on the spam side, but I've always been much more partial to games that reward you, not just for putting your tanks on the high ground or your archers in the woods, but for making smart decisions with your economy. After all, America is powerful because it can afford lots of high-quality stuff.

I also hate the Star Wars setting so there you go, heh.

No arguments there, though I've got a ton of SW books in my closet from when I was a SW fanboy, back in elementary school. Sadly, I never video taped my fat ass whirling about with a lightsaber. I could've been famous.

I think I'll take your advice Baby Arm, and see if I can get the demo running, if only to check out the supposedly awesome space battles. Speaking of which, can you move on a 3D plane like you could in HomeWorld, or is restricted to just a flat 2D space battlefield?

It's 2D space, but seriously I think that's an improvement over Homeworld (the only one this game makes). The battles are really cool looking in space, but the ground battles are silly and kinda lame. It's fairly hard to control, though, and I was wishing for a Pause function so I could give orders to my squadrons and such, the battles go a bit too fast for real-time only. Just play the first mission and spend your money on as many starships and fighters/bombers as you can afford.

 

[Levski 1912]

Maybe I'm an imbecile, but I couldn't find the "hold position" order in the ground battles. Kind of tends to screw my entrenching strategy a bit.

 

[Thrawn05]

Maybe I'm an imbecile, but I couldn't find the "hold position" order in the ground battles. Kind of tends to screw my entrenching strategy a bit.

That's why pissed me off about the game. All units are always "attack nearest enemy" mode. Even if you order your AT-AT to attack the command center, they will stop to shot down the damn bacta tube.

Same goes with space combat, you can order your ISD to attack Ackbar's ship, but it's going to spend time also firing at other useless things instead of firing all the guns at Ackbar. I guess it's meant to "look cool", but it's very annoying.

 

[Levski 1912]

It's a trap, I knew it!

-obligatory.

 

[AZ]

It is very easy in every aspect. Strategy light - no real economy, no diplomacy, lame rts combat. Only interesting thing is space battles, because they look at least good.
It seems the concept was to make a game without any learning curve. It is more like a cafe break game.

 

[Jason]

In case anyone is still interested, Kris wrote a big, fancy review of the game here.

 

[Thrawn05]

Good review. I liked it. Good job NL.

 

[Jason]

Kris is the one that wrote it.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

hahahahaha

 

[Thrawn05]

Well, I didn't see Kris' name so, I went with NL.

Oops

Either way it was a good review.