Introduction
A not so long time ago, in November 2001 when the Star Wars prequel series were the big deal and strategy games were being released as often as possible, the impossible happened. LucasArts licensed the Genie Engine(Age of Empires I and II engine) to build a Star Wars RTS. And thus, Galactic Battlegrounds were born. And with the release of Star Wars Episode II Clone wars the game also received the Clone Campaigns which added 2 new campaigns and 2 new factions.
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| A humble Rebel beginning |
Gameplay
For those that are very familiar with Age of Empires 2, I'll keep this simple. It's basically a re-skinned Age of Empires 2 with a few extra features like power generators, buildings that house animals to produce food and air units. Now to detail for everyone...
So practically SW Galactic Battlegrounds is a classic isometric RTS following the standard rock-paper-scissors rule. One unit type is always better vs another unit type and weaker vs a third unit type.
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| The empire Attacking the Galactic Republic |
Then you got classic resource management and base building. You start with a command center and proceed to build workers and gather one of the following four resources: Carbon, Food, Nova Crystals and Ore so you can build more units, more buildings and expand, ultimately with the goal of defeating your foe. Now unlike Age of Empires where you advance through ages, you advance through tech levels, which is pretty much the same thing but it makes a bit more sense given the universe. But probably the most interesting resource in this game is power. It's generated either by constructed power generators or with the Clone Campaigns expansion pack, it's also generated by mobile units in a smaller radius. Buildings not receiving power work at 25% of their normal capacity. The game features 6 factions from the game universe with the Expansion adding two more factions. It also features 6 campaigns(one being a tutorial campaign) and 2 more with the expansion. It's quite the classic RTS game that can keep you busy for hours. Bonus if you're a Star Wars fan and missed playing this game, I honestly know a lot of people who somehow never heard of it, and they are both RTS and Star Wars fans.
Graphics & Audio
Seeing how the game works a lot with Sprites as units and objects, the age can easily be seen, even though it will bring a lot of nostalgia for both Age of Empires and Star Wars fans. Luckily after almost 17 years it can still be easy to understand and even easier to get comfortable with the game. The sound mostly consists of classic pre-recorded sounds that are quite visibily just cut and put into the game,
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| Meanwhile... The rebel base grows...slowly... |
Compatibility
I own the game on GoG so it's pretty much install and play, but if you want to play in a higher resolution and have widescreen support, then you'll want to install a simple mod/fan-patch (
link) that fixes some bugs, adds over two hours of in-game soundtrack and of course widescreen support through a new fan-made launcher. Of course that is as long as you start the Clone Campaigns game through the launcher and manually enable wide-screen. But I do not recommend going over 1080p as you'll be playing with ants, even on a 32 inch display. Of course even though you get wide-screen support, you'll be left with a small black gap to the right, which, as you play will easily forget about.
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| And now the Rebels join the Empire in attacking the Republic, because it makes no sense! |
Wrap-up
This game can usually be found for a steal nowadays and if you want a good RTS or an Age of Empires II with a twist then it's an absolute buy, while being very old, and certainly showing it's age, it can still keep you busy for hours and hours.
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