Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns

The new Civilizations offer a ton of replay value.  Both are available in the standard map game where you can battle or align your army with any of the other civilizations from the original game.  You can also play through the original set of missions with the new units.  However if you choose to play through the two new campaigns you must take command of the Confederacy first.  The Confederacy is under the control of Count Dooku who will brief you before hand.  The objectives are the standard type you’ve come to expect such as clear the path of enemy units here, or construct an efficient army there.  The new missions incorporate units and locations contained within the new Star Wars film Episode II Attack Of The Clones.  Which incidentally is a thrilling action packed joyride. 

You must build your army while cultivating the landscape for carbon, nova, and food, as is the usual in any RTS.  As you advance through your civilizations tech tree bigger, and more devastating weaponry will become available so you can annihilate your opponents.  There are upgradeable shields, power droids, power cores, and this pack includes scenarios created by the Galactic Battlegrounds contest winners.

While the gameplay is standard to any veteran of the Age of Empires series one enhancement I’m sure everyone will appreciate is the size of the population you can control.  Would you believe 250?  The first thing I did when I loaded this puppy up was to start a random map game using the new Galactic Republic.  That’s right I created my clone army complete with the incredible Air Cruiser and the Jedi Starfighter and the Swoop Bike.  It was 225 strong when I started to loose track of my units.  Then the Confederacy stormed right through my fortress with the organization that only a computer could have and completely demolished my entire army.

That’s right because of the sheer amount of units you can now control gameplay can turn frantic in a matter of minutes.  Flying Geonosian warriors destroyed my big bad Air Cruisers.  Often with one shot.  It’s clear they need air support, but come on.  Some of the distribution is rather uneven.  For example one specific unit is effective against another, but I suppose that just adds to the strategy element that much more.  There is nothing new here, or wrong with that element aside from my frustration, and lack of patience for those deadly Geonosian warriors.  Anakin didn’t seem to have much trouble slicing and dicing them in the film.  Unfortunately I had to go through many different units to discover which one worked best against that particular enemy.

Since there are so many units life and death can occur within seconds.  This means chaotic gameplay once the armies are established.  The computer is always faster and more precise, but this just makes me want to win that much more.  There have also been other enhancements that address the original games shortcomings, and added terrain and other options to the map editor. This sucker is just plain fun, and is the type of game that you can play over and over again and never get tired of it.

Gameplay: 8
At times chaotic and sometimes uneven.  The enhancement to the population allows for a staggeringly large army, and a frantic amount of fun.

Graphics: 8.5
Each civilization has unique units, and structures faithful to the film.  High resolution looks sweet with minimal slowdown.

Sound: 10
Star Wars music and sound effects through and through.

Difficulty: Hard
The computer always seems to be more advanced and stronger in numbers than I.  Uneven you say.  Perhaps the force is not so strong with me.  That’s okay I am no stranger to the dark side.

Concept: 8
This is Age of Empires: Age of Kings technology adapted to the Star Wars universe.

Multiplayer: 9
Standard affair with an enhanced editor so you can create your own maps.

Overall: 8.5
There is nothing new to the genre, but this is a solid expansion pack with numerous enhancements and an unlimited amount of pure fun.