Star Wars: Empire at War manages to combine one of my favourite universes with one of my favourite genres and it does it surprisingly well. Compared to the other RTS titles I’ve revisited this month, which I guess you could call more traditional, Empire at War is pretty unique. Instead of single maps with regular base building to pump out units, it blends that classic real-time combat with a galactic grand strategy campaign. Back when it released, I ended up sinking a surprising amount of hours into it and got completely sucked into managing my economy and moving fleets all around the galaxy. Coming back to it now, I still really enjoy the format and I think it’s a really solid take on the genre. Naturally, seeing some familiar faces and being able to take direct control of those heroes in battle is a bit of a novelty. Still, there’s something super satisfying about dropping Darth Vader onto a planet’s surface to tear any would be attackers to shreds like they’re nothing. Looking further into the game and the greater community, it’s made me even more keen to check out the game overhauling mods that are keeping it alive today. More on that later, for now let’s get stuck into the Empire campaign.
Star Wars: Empire at War was released by Petroglyph Games in 2006. The story is based on the lead up to Episode IV: A New Hope with the Death Star in the early stages of construction. The galaxy is currently in a Galactic Civil War with the Rebel Alliance doing their best to thwart the Galactic Empire at every turn. Darth Vader has turned his attention to hunting down and destroying the relatively inexperienced Rebel Alliance. The Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star, is under construction and nearing completion. Once operational, they’ll have the power to destroy an entire planet at the mere click of a button. But the plans for the Death Star have been stolen and ended up in the hands of Princess Leia and the Rebels. Vader must seek out the Imperial traitor who leaked them and enforce strict justice upon him. Darth Vader must also intercept and capture Princess Leia and show her the full power of the Death Star on her home planet of Alderaan and then, the remaining planets where the Rebel Alliance are hiding. It’s very Star Wars and it’s a pretty familiar story if you’ve watched the movies. If anything, Empire at War ends up a bit light on story-wise but the nostalgic element and clear ties to the greater Star Wars universe definitely don’t go unnoticed.
Empire at War combines real-time strategy and grand strategy elements. On the galactic map, you can manage planets, credits, units and fleets in real time. Every planet increases your income with some of them offering their own unique bonuses. Base building features here, but it’s on a smaller scale with structures being handled on a planet by planet basis with build pads available in ground battles for some extra defences or healing. There’s two different kinds of combat, ground and space, both are a blast for the most part. Attack a planet and you’ll fight a space battle in that planet’s orbit in real-time, then you can send in a ground assault to clean up whatever is left. There’s some familiar troops and vehicles available here too, with Imperial Star Destroyers, AT-ATs, AT-STs and Stormtroopers heavily featured for the Empire. Familiar faces like Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and the ability to control them also fuel the nostalgia and seeing the sheer power of a hero unit is unreal. Ground combat factors in a range of elements: elevation, line of sight and weather all with their own trade-offs. Space battles do get a touch tedious towards the end of the campaign. It’s mostly due to the repetitive nature of continually wiping out enemy ships and destroying their space station. My only other issue is with random enemy attacks. While it does teach you a decent lesson in fortifying and defending, the frequency and overwhelming force the enemy attacks with can be pretty rough.
When Empire at War released, it was met with a pretty favourable reception and personally, I had an absolute blast with the format. Taking over a galaxy of planets that were actually familiar to me, it just worked so well even if I wasn’t that well versed in the mechanics at the time. It makes sense when you look at it though, Petroglyph was founded by former Westwood Studios developers so you can feel that classic real-time strategy DNA throughout the game. It’s not the least bit surprising that they went on to handle the Command & Conquer and Red Alert remasters. What really cements Empire at War’s legacy is what’s happening with it right now, or I guess within the last ten years. Petroglyph officially supported the game long after release and even updated it, adding 64-bit support to allow modern hardware to properly run the game. They restored multiplayer through Steam after GameSpy died. Petroglyph’s ongoing support encouraged a thriving modding scene and the community has essentially built massive, brand-new games inside the Empire at War engine. Thrawn’s Revenge adds a huge chunk of the expanded universe and Fall of the Republic brings in the Clone Wars. After Real-Time Stratember wraps up, I need to look into these further. Given the ridiculous amount of times I’ve crushed through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II, having a deeper look at Revan’s Revenge and Old Republic at War is definitely next up on my list.
Star Wars: Empire at War is probably the odd one out this month and it might be better for it. Where the other games stuck to the traditional real-time strategy formula, outside of Dawn of War, Petroglyph blended real-time combat with a galactic grand strategy campaign and it’s a really solid take on the genre. Managing planets and fleets on the galactic map is pretty easy to buy into and the ground and space battles are a blast, for the most part. It’s not perfect, the story is a bit light, space battles start bordering on tedious towards the end and random enemy attacks can feel pretty rough. But dropping Darth Vader onto a planet’s surface to rip through anything in his path is super satisfying and easily fuels the nostalgia. You can feel Westwood’s influence here and even the soundtrack shares that lineage with Command & Conquer composer Frank Klepacki writing roughly a fifth of the soundtrack, by his own estimate. Klepacki described it himself as one of the most demanding soundtracks he’s worked on, with John Williams’ classic themes really setting the bar high. Empire at War’s legacy shines in how the game has lived on. Petroglyph supported it for years after it released with a 64-bit update and restored multiplayer through Steam, while the modding community has built massive, expansive new games inside the Empire at War engine. Revan’s Revenge and Old Republic at War will be first on my list. Empire at War is an absolute banger and I can’t recommend it enough for either Star Wars or real-time strategy fans.
Verdict:
Star Wars: Empire at War is a unique and well executed blend of real-time strategy and galactic grand strategy, with more than enough nostalgia from familiar faces like Darth Vader. It’s only held back by a light story, tedious late game space battles and random attacks that can feel overwhelming. Petroglyph’s ongoing support and a thriving modding scene make Empire at War well worth the time for any Star Wars fan who loves strategy.
Deck Compatibility: 10/10
Overall Game Rating: 8.5/10 – Lord Vader Awaits
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