|
|
|
|
|
Empire At War | Preview (Home Grown) |
|
This Page has been viewed 12114 times since March 2004!
 
A real-time strategy game set in the Star Wars universe, something already done in the past with weak results (Force Commander, Galactic Battlegrounds). So why then would a completely new games developer company gamble their previously uncharted reputation, (excuse the pun) by aiming for the stars on its first project with a title based on a hugely popular intellectual property? A thoughtful question, except there’s one difference with this newcomer, Petroglyph maybe new but its hidden heritage is well known among the RTS buffs. Combining their creative talents and visions, along with their experience over the years, Petroglyph will be delivering great strategy elements taken from such titles in the Command & Conquer series, Dune II, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth and many more, to sculpt what will be Star Wars: Empire at War.
Petroglyph comprises mostly of ex-Westwood employees, a studio engulfed into the EA Corporation long ago. Back and still fighting to prove independent studios can amaze and dazzle the gaming market; they’ve chosen a strong brand and ally in LucasArts.
 
Down to the game itself, not much in the way of specific information has been released yet by either developer or publisher. However, from interviews and some 'logical' speculation, the community has been piecing bits together for a while now, ever hungry for more. There are two main technical issues in this title that seem to vie for the most attention, one is the resource system proposed and in place while the other lies in planetary and space battles.
Firstly, the standard and “tedious” element of resource gathering in the RTS genre has been outcast as old fashioned and implausible, for this title at least. For example, the Imperial Empire once in occupation of a planet would not set about to chopping down trees or gathering some rocks. It’s time consuming, and adds a level of micro-management which can drag down the enjoyment of a game, while arguably for others it compliments depth. Once a system has been secured by either the Empire or Rebel Alliance, resources will trickle in depending on the population, natural resources and industrialisation of the planet. Holding several outer-rim worlds for example could yield the same as a single high profiled core system. Petroglyph stress that they are removing resource gathering, and not resource management, to allow the player to commit their time and tactics to fleet and troop movements. I for one am excited to hear this kind of development being implemented, no more time will be wasted making sure you have enough harvesters etc, or if certain resources will run out. As an added element, certain systems will also grant the player the ability to develop special units such as new or superior capitol starships, or perhaps a new type of base structure, anyone order these ion cannons?
Secondly, the role of land and spaces battles coupled with their transition between the two. After all, the game may have the “look”, the “sound” and the resource management but without the right “feel”, this title could go the way of the Death Star warranty. For a game that could class as “ground-breaking” a new engine seems right, Petroglyph have worked hard on their new technological prodigy and from the look of the screenshots it seems to be paying off. Space and land battles take place in the same engine; they have made sure the game glides in and out of both phases with ease. In an interview they used Rome: Total War as an example, where the battles are in real-time while the campaign or empire map used an entirely different approach in technology and appearance. Petroglyph have stated that their engine is capable of handling the land, space and a campaign view while feeling as “one whole” and not sectioned off, or at least that’s what’s implied. Regardless, right now both the battles on the planets and skirmishes in orbit look mightily impressive just from the screenshots.
 
Select a campaign, start mission, listen to some briefing (maybe a movie), load up, build base, amass force, attack, objective complete, next mission. A traditional RTS this game won’t be, instead of focusing upon a purely straight-lined linear story of missions, they’ve raised the bar yet again. Once the game has started in the selected campaign, Imperial Bucket-heads or Rebel Scum, the player will choose and create their own Star Wars legacy set in the time of the famous trilogy. Instead of the Empire driving out the Rebels on the ice world of Hoth, what if they forced the Empire to retreat with their tail between their legs? What if the Empire captured Yavin IV, how would the Rebels mount an attack against the Death Star? Also confirmed are the appearance of the action heroes, but as to what exact capacity they will fill the community doesn’t know. The range of units are vast, from Imperial Star Destroyers (which inspire both fear and awe) to the Rebel blockade runners. Other thoughts, doubts and blind-less hopes have since sparked and grown, as their exists no official unit list many have started wet dreaming about their command of the Death Star, or perhaps the appearance of the Imperial Super Star Destroyer, Darth Vader’s flagship. What ever makes that final unit list, its guaranteed to deliver some pretty hot action, be that on land or among the stars. Another issue Petroglyph have battled with themselves over is the possibility of a “unit limit”, while having the freedom to amass a grand fleet is something everyone will strive for in Empire at War, they also don’t want players to lose touch with individual units and consider only the “mass”. Each unit will play its part and utilise its speciality, so they need to fine tune their perception of what remains fun and what ranks as chaos in regards to gameplay.
You’ve just finished constructing you latest Rebel installation on a nice remote backwater planet, but your spies tell you of an Imperial fleet in the neighbouring system. It’s okay, I’m sure they’ll keep on trucking along but then disaster, they arrive eyeing up your latest scheme to overthrow their evil empire. Should this whirlwind of heart thumping, film worthy script-like scenario actually occur, it’s time to don your tactics hat! An Imperial fleet of sizeable proportion could easily dispatch a Rebel one of the same magnitude, this is where Petroglyph plan to shine even more by emphasizing a lot on tactics, this title really will swing one way or the other when it comes to the strategies the player can devise and use. In the above scenario for instance, the Rebels have spies all over the galaxy that watch the lumbering Empire and its movements, a wise player would have thought in advance of a dangerous trap for any fleet to enter the system. Even if they couldn’t be destroyed, then to at least inflict as much damage for as long as possible, every less Star Destroyer means less ground troops the Empire could commit to the planet. Yet another option could be to employ hit-and-run attacks once they started to send down their ground forces, decimate their ground offensive in space transit and buy the player more time to perhaps construct an ion weapon which in turn would greatly assist the orbital skirmish. Failing that a courageous retreat from the system entirely maybe in order, he who runs away lives to fight another day after all. Petroglyph really do want tactics put back into this RTS, usually it would be about procuring the most resources, spend, spend and spend some more, then comes the time to lob all you’ve got at your opponent(s). Of course tactics where included in there somewhere, but Star Wars: Empire at War cannot be won on resources alone, after all the Empire was defeated at the hands of the superior tactics and determination of the Rebel Alliance.
 
A system becoming ever more popular these days among the real-time strategy games, squad based units, and why not? After all armies travel in squads to maximise their force, for those unsure of what I speak then perhaps Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth will get you on the right track. Instead of training a single unit, one by one and then grouping them together forming a manual squad, units trained already contain multiple units in a pre-made formation. Not only is this better and less time consuming but it adds the precious element of realism or for those looking for a bigger word; plausibility. However it can be argued that this is nothing new and simply Petroglyph joining the times, okay fair enough, but another factor drawn into the equation is that each squad and unit will gain experience from battle, meaning the more you thrust yourself into conflict the better off the player will be later on down the line with elite forces to deploy. Again, this system was in use in LotR: Battle for Middle-earth and worked very well, but with the fundamental non-linear aspect of Empire at War this “reward structure” if you will, can be utilised to the very last second of the game. As each time the player finishes a battle they can take their units with them to the next, or leave a certain number behind, this opens up a new tactic of swapping and changing to create more elite task forces, say fleets specifically designed for the most hardened enemy locations. Also what with a non-linear campaign, just because you’ve secured a system doesn’t mean in thirty minutes time you couldn’t lose it and have to fight your way through again. So perhaps it would be a wise policy to create an elite “home guard” by shipping the more experience troops to the newly acquired system instead.
Campaign view, as of yet no information on how exactly the player will watch over their empire is certain. What does seem true is the ability to visit any system the player has control of and can then improve or adjust as they see fit at any time, not having to wait till it’s drawn into battle. With the number of planets suggested, I believe the number to be around 30 systems; it would be difficult not to have a kind of overview option of where to devise more long term tactics, with the ability to position your fleets. I am confident Petroglyph will not leave anything intentionally or unintentionally amiss in such a promising and epic game. Well this nearly draws an end to this article, I hope I’ve been able to add to your excitement and anticipation for Star Wars: Empire a War, I can assure you I am even more desperate myself to get the latest scrap of Intel straight from my Bothan spy network. Of course until such a time arrives the community will just have to keep guessing or bringing up new speculation, revive old points made and throw sarcasm at the silly person who can’t spell places right, like Alderaan. There’ll still be people out there unconvinced, that this will add yet another “failed” title to the Star Wars RTS genre collection and with the previous track record you can’t blame them completely. For any unwilling to set that aside and give Empire at War the benefit of the doubt, I say and I’m sure the community would agree, “I find your lack of faith disturbing…”
Star Wars: Empire at War could set the new style for the RTS genre, Westwood studios managed it once and I’m sure this new reincarnation in the form of Petroglyph, can do it again as many times as they like!
  |
|
|
| | | User Comments | | The following comments are owned by the user that posted them. Empire at War Files is not responsible for their content.
Total comments: 4 | Last comment: 04-26-2005 at 13:03
Interesting review and informative, but tepidly ignorant. (What does that mean? Who knows!) Should draw comparisons to similar games such as Rebellion and especially Imperium Galactica, but doesn't.
Just a toss-out. if you limit the growth in power, I don't think m*****ing is a huge problem. Don't do it too much- I'm not one of them, but some people *like* to do things like that in single-player, they *like* to accumulate ridiculous game-breaking power. Like capturing 90 Ion Frigates in Homeworld 1. Of course soft limiting it- perhaps some sort of unrest and lowered production caused by too much military combined with maintenance costs- could also work.
I agree that people do like to am***** huge unstoppable forces; I for one am such a person. Also this I believe is a preview and not a review; I expect that to be a typo anyhow.
The phrase "tepidly ignorant" (which I like  ), which can be loosely translated as mildly opinionated, is perhaps a valid point - after all if I didn't give my opinion this would have been a very boring and bland addition from just another bland writer out there. I acknowledge people like that, but I don’t personally and felt like delivering some “flavour”. I felt also with the information floating about in the EAW community that a comparison wasn’t needed at least for now, perhaps when we have more details say from E3 would could make more comparative points with validity.
Thanks for taking your time to read my thoughts! 
WHAT CAN I SAY??
I Also believe that some form of comparison should have been drawn up between Supremacy (Rebellion) and Empire At War. Supremacy was without a doubt an excellent game but had some flaws. I personally hope that EAW is going to have the same feel but correct those flaws.
About the population limit I don't wish to see a limit as to the amount you can create after all being the Empire is about creating a m*****ive overwhelming force
When posting comments, you must follow these rules:- No "Yay I got First Post!" posts, no exceptions and no matter what other content the post has!
- No Pornographic Material. Any sexually oriented imagery or links to such content will not be tolerated.
- No Warez or Illegal Software. This includes linking to software, posting about it, and suggesting to get it.
- No Cursing or Swear words. We encourage you to use our comment sections as a forum to debate files, news, etc., but please use proper adjectives to express yourself. We will not tolerate abuse upon another member or author.
- No Attacks / Retaliation of any kind against a member, or group of members.
- Please do not advertise for other sites or forums here.
- Maximum of 3 smileys per regular member.
The high interactivity of this site should be considered a luxury, not a right. If you cannot follow these simple rules, you can and will be warned or banned from the comments, site or the entire network for any period of time.
Now enjoy yourself and behave!
| |
|
|
Is that an AT-AT or are you
