Star Wars: Empire at War *MUST read if you like Star Wars...*

[Richdog]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Ahem, sorry there I was having a moment to myself... I have just received my issue of PCZONE through the door and on the front cover was a Star Wars scene...

Expecting some sort of usual Lucas re-hash of something I opened up the hallowed pages and in it is a world-first on a new game coming out... Star Wars: Empire at War.

Avoiding the tragedies that were Episode I and II this is the original, pure, untainted Star Wars. We have Imperial AT-AT's and AT-ST's striding the battlefield, with Rebel Snowspeeders doing their best to trip them using their harpoon cables. Squads of stormtroopers and Rebels clash... tanks and huge lasers blow chunks out of the battlefield.

This is a true 3D RTS on a massive scale... the graphics are lovingly recreated and immensely detailed, with the ability to zoom in and out of the action at will, as well as rotate the angle to what you want... basically the same as the excellent camera in Dawn of War, except in this one you can zoom out far further due to the larger scale.

Now the best bit... we have... wait for it... SPACE BATTLES! Yup, you can now also fight it out in space, i'm talking gigantic Imperial Star Destroyers vs graceful Rebel Calamari Cruisers trading laser battery fire while squadrons of A-Wings, X-Wings and Y-Wings vie for superiority against overwhelming numbers of Tie Fighters, Tie Interceptors and the deadly Tie Bomber. Add to this enormous space stations which must be successfully assaulted and you have what will be the defining space battle experience, i'm talking Homeworld... except better. And it's Star Wars.

Well people I hope i've just built up a bit of hype over this game, i've just done a Google and you can find not a sausage on this game on teh intarweb http://www.google.co.uk/search?sour...2004-46,GGLD:en&q=star+wars+empire+at+war it really is that hot off the press

You can count on this being one of the biggest games of 2005, and a dream come true for anyone with the sense to realize the awesomeness, genius and pure magic that is Star Wars.

I'll add pics as soon as they become available, but as I said from these screens I have here on the page... it looks amazing.

WOOT!

 

[Modeps]

The only games that do the star wars license justice have been the Jedi Knight series and KOTOR. I have little faith in this one.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Modeps
The only games that do the star wars license justice have been the Jedi Knight series and KOTOR. I have little faith in this one.

man way to rain on his parade, you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning?

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Malladine
man way to rain on his parade, you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning?

I havent had my coffee yet so I'm a bit grumpy. sorry

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: Malladine
man way to rain on his parade, you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning?

I havent had my coffee yet so I'm a bit grumpy. sorry

hehehe

Rich, sounds great man, hope it fulfills!

 

[harrkev]

Originally posted by: Modeps
The only games that do the star wars license justice have been the Jedi Knight series and KOTOR. I have little faith in this one.

X-Wing Alliance was also awesome (if you are into space sims) -- still one of my favorites.

And don't forget Yoda Stories

 

[torpid]

Have to agree with modeps here. It's like being excited about a movie based on a video game. Maybe that video game is half life 2, but it's still a movie based on a video game, and has an absurdly high probability of sucking. Same thing for star wars games.

You forgot tie fighter! That was also good. Some people also liked dark forces, though I personally thought it was quite crappy. So Tie fighter and kotor were good, jedi knight decent. Every other star wars game, which would be at least 20, was bad or awful. Heck, the mini-game strategy type thing in kotor was a better game than most of the 20+.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: torpid
Have to agree with modeps here. It's like being excited about a movie based on a video game. Maybe that video game is half life 2, but it's still a movie based on a video game, and has an absurdly high probability of sucking. Same thing for star wars games.

You forgot tie fighter! That was also good. Some people also liked dark forces, though I personally thought it was quite crappy. So Tie fighter and kotor were good, jedi knight decent. Every other star wars game, which would be at least 20, was bad or awful. Heck, the mini-game strategy type thing in kotor was a better game than most of the 20+.

I still think Dark Forces, when you take into consideration when it was released, is the best game of all time. But I got it the day it was released.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: torpid
Have to agree with modeps here. It's like being excited about a movie based on a video game. Maybe that video game is half life 2, but it's still a movie based on a video game, and has an absurdly high probability of sucking. Same thing for star wars games.

You forgot tie fighter! That was also good. Some people also liked dark forces, though I personally thought it was quite crappy. So Tie fighter and kotor were good, jedi knight decent. Every other star wars game, which would be at least 20, was bad or awful. Heck, the mini-game strategy type thing in kotor was a better game than most of the 20+.

I still think Dark Forces, when you take into consideration when it was released, is the best game of all time. But I got it the day it was released.

I got it early on too. But that was around the time of doom 2 which was technically superior AND had multiplayer support (which the original doom had as well, many years earlier). I remember when doom came out there was also some 3d game made by apogee, I think it was commander keen 3d or similar. Dark forces reminded me of that...

 

[NeoV]

AS long as this isn't another "Force Commander", I'll be happy...

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: torpid
Have to agree with modeps here. It's like being excited about a movie based on a video game. Maybe that video game is half life 2, but it's still a movie based on a video game, and has an absurdly high probability of sucking. Same thing for star wars games.

You forgot tie fighter! That was also good. Some people also liked dark forces, though I personally thought it was quite crappy. So Tie fighter and kotor were good, jedi knight decent. Every other star wars game, which would be at least 20, was bad or awful. Heck, the mini-game strategy type thing in kotor was a better game than most of the 20+.

I still think Dark Forces, when you take into consideration when it was released, is the best game of all time. But I got it the day it was released.

I got it early on too. But that was around the time of doom 2 which was technically superior AND had multiplayer support (which the original doom had as well, many years earlier). I remember when doom came out there was also some 3d game made by apogee, I think it was commander keen 3d or similar. Dark forces reminded me of that...

Doom2 didn't look any better than Doom (at least I couldn't see any discernable difference)....it just had more stuff. LAN multiplayer may have been fine, but I had no nerd friends and computers were a bitch to move, and the only Internet multiplayer was through Kali and was 1v1.

I remember Rise Of The Triad from Apogee about that time but it was a joke of a game. Never heard of Commander Keen.

Dark Forces graphics and technology were way superior to Doom 2 and the levels were distinct as were the weapons. Concussion rifle anybody. And the music and effects were spot on. I wish we could get some screenshots and engine spec comparisons.

You couldn't even jump in D2 and in DF you could look up and down and jump and crouch. Jeez, there's just no comparison.

 

[Richdog]

Originally posted by: Modeps
The only games that do the star wars license justice have been the Jedi Knight series and KOTOR. I have little faith in this one.

lol I take it you haven't played the classic Star Wars games then like X-Wing, Tie Fighter etc

Lucasarts have produced some crummy Star Wars Games lately, very basic movie churners, but never forget they can work gaming magic when they so choose.

And believe me if you had seen any screens of this you would know it is no Force Commander, in fact the only thing they have in common is that they are both classed as RTS. I think they are pulling out all the stops for this one and it seems a LOT of love is going into it.

Time will prove me right or wrong, but if the bookies were taking bets for this being a success, i'd put £50 on it being one.

And there's nothing wrong with getting excited about a game, unless you're one of those joyless pessimistic types who never really look forward to anything, lol.

Seriously guys, either buy PCZONE or wait a couple of weeks until the screens and juicy info start arriving on the web, it just reeks of quality and attention to detail... hehe can't wait!

EDIT - Also just learned it is being designed by Petroglyph, a team made up of true RTS, most of who designed the C&C games.