Star Wars: Empire at War [PC]

The history of Star Wars strategy games isn't bursting with gaming goodness, but the latest challenger seems to have it all. Empire at War features three distinct segments, all real-time: space battles, surface engagements, and a larger scale strategic view where you construct fleets and move them from system to system.

Games that tackle such a diverse range of gameplay types usually fail. However, Empire at War succeeds impressively, and this is due in no small part to the similarities between the ground and space sequences. Although the setting and scale might be very different, the interface and controls are near-identical, many of the considerations are the same, and there's a clever interplay between ground and space forces that underlines the parallels.

Ground battles deviate substantially from the real-time strategy norm. Most crucially, you can't build any troops (and only a handful of small structures) while in battle. To paraphrase, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you think you might be able to build. Heavy unit count restrictions also mean you can only take a few of these units into battle at once. Most maps limit you to an initial 5 companies (a company might number 20 infantry, four tanks or one AT-AT) and while this grows as you capture more of the map, it rarely goes over 10.

You can also field heroes from the movies, like Obi-Wan or Darth Vader. Although some of them can pilot ships in the space battles too, it's on the ground where they really come into their own. The Jedi, in particular, are awesomely powerful, and capable of chopping through battalions of infantry without breaking sweat. Killing them requires significant effort, but controlling them also requires the player's attention, so they don't unbalance things too much.

Ground battles are where you spend the most time, but end up being the weaker link. The AI will fight to the bitter end, and the large size of the maps combined with the slow pace of many troop types can make fights unnecessarily prolonged. Some planets include hostile civilians that'll do their best to hinder you, and end up more of a whack-a-mole exercise instead of the dramatic, massed fights that are typical of the movies. Weak is relative, though; these battles aren't quite as good as the rest of the game, but not actually bad.

Space battles generally involve larger forces, but there's still a cap on the quantity of vessels you can bring into play at once. These fights have simpler objectives and no terrain beyond the odd asteroid, so they're less strategically deep than the ground fights. Still, all craft require significant micromanagement to be effective. If you're attacking a space station, you need to juggle many tasks: managing your bombers' targeting so they take out the station's defensive modules in order of threat, handling your fighters to balance defending your capital ships with keeping enemy fighters away from your bombers, and effectively directing the fire of your heavy ships.

As for the range of spacecraft and ground units, if you saw it in the original trilogy, you'll most likely see it in Empire at War. From speeder bikes to Death Stars, it's all here, and implemented with considerable sensitivity to its source. It's certainly the Empire that comes out on top in the cool gadget stakes, as the movies don't provide many Rebel ground units beyond soldiers and Ewoks. Also, the Empire's various classes of Star Destroyer all come with multiple squadrons of TIE fighters and bombers ready for use, so their fleets require less on-the-fly management.