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Glorious Premise, Outdated execution

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: December 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am somewhat new to the RTS genre, having only played Starcraft and C&C:RA2, and I am officially hooked. When I heard of a LucasArts starwars version of the RTS I thought it would be great, but this is the first RTS I played that wasn't that fun or addictive. I have never played Age of the Empires II before, but it seems its(and star wars) engine is pretty outdated compared to Starcraft and Red Alert 2. The main reason being, WAAAAAAAAAAY too much time wasted getting resources, destroying structures, and moving across the enormous map. There's 4 different resources you need to be constantly grabbing; why there's ever more than one resource in RTS games is beyond me. This seems like such a typically (...) Sid Meier style move; meaning this is supposed to make the game feel more real, but instead it only adds boredom and time to it. Resources run out quickly, and you constantly need to locate new resources and build new structures near them. A solid portion of every game is spent grabbing your miners and telling them to friggin mine. They actually have a button to locate idle miners, because its such a constant problem. This is way too much micromanagement for getting resources. Having said that if you can stomach the time wasted on boring mining, it gets pretty entertaining building armies and attacking. The AT-ATs and light saber wielding men (are great), and the audio is the best RTS audio I've ever heard. The campaigns are pretty boring and tedious. However, commanding people like vader are entertaining. But you can't command vader online or in customized games, what a bust. I find myself playing custom games were I maximize the minerals and speed in order to play a less tedious game. If you do buy this, its all about fighting against 3 of the easiest jar jar binks races, and you are the empire. Its too bad LucasArts half-assed this games engine, if they spent the time to get a decent RTS engine going this game could have caught on harder than starcraft. Definately not worth (the money).

Control an Empire

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: November 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Many people are saying that this game is like Age of Empires. So what? AOE is a great game. Now that it has the Star Wars Universe on there it makes it that much more fun. Finally, you can take control of AT-AT's, X-wings, Scouts, bounty hunters, jedi, sith, and hundreds of more units. The capaigns are also great with a very fun story line. You can even make up your own battle like Hoth. I can't wait for an expantion that will have more Civs. like Black Sun and Sand People. If you liked Starcraft or AOE and your a SW fan then you'll love this game.

Looking for a great strategy game? Buy this.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is fantastic. In many ways this game is similar to Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, but it also introduces many fun new features. You can bulid and use air units (X-wing, Tie fighter, Droid fighters to name but a few,) but each civilization has its own unique look! Unlike Age of Kings, where almost every unit looked the same except for the unique units.
As a responce to David Copeland:
1)The game only takes for ever if you don't know what you are doing (it only takes a little while to learn anyway.)
2) The sound is only bad if you have a bad sound system on your computer.
3)Missions are only boring if you do not have any attention span
4)There is no such thing as "to many units" every one is usefull and interesting
5)There are not to many rescources, there are the same amount as there is in Age of Kings. In fact some of the structures such as the Fortress takes 100 less rescources than the Castle in Age of kings.
6)The graphics are NOT sub-par, they are even better than in Age of Kings.

The one point I will partially agree on is that each race is essentially the same, except that the seemingly random upgrades or researchable technologies are subtracted from the tech tree of each race. But each civilization does have a unique unit that is totally different from any other race.

IN CONCLUSION: This game is fantastic, especially if you are a Star Wars fan (Who isn't???.) Don't listen to the reviews that critiscize this game.

Really better than some people think

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am amazed at how people say this is 'AOE:Star Wars'. Yes, SWGB is built on the AOE engine, but the additional features added significantly alter the 'physics' of gameplay from AOE. This is done by the addition of power cores, sheild generators, submarine and aerial warfare. Certainly there are many parallels, but to say it's the same old same old is not accurate. Additionaly, SWGB uses the updates found in the AOEII expansion pack, so you do not spend your time managing all resources- you can queue farms, workers begin working after building their structure, etc. Certainly there are differences, but that's just more handy for those of us who actually have a life and use video games as a diversion- it's a pleasure not to memorize new keyboard mappings, cost structures, etc.

This game is certainly worth the money, but your significant other may not thank you for it (if they dig on spending time with you :) )!

Battlegrounds has plenty of punch

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I was dubious when I first heard about Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds because I have Age of Empires II, and it wasn't my favorite game (to be polite). I found the campaigns to be dull and derivative, the computer AI to always be too easy or too hard, and all of the civilizations bled together.

Admittedly, to some extent, SWGB suffers from these same problems. The single player missions are rather derivative, and more to the point, they don't have a whole lot of the movie's scenes. Again, the AI can be too hard or easy. However, the races are all quite distinct. Sure, the majority of units share a commonality among all races, but they look entirely different, enough so as to convince me these really are different factions. In fact, it makes it easy to play any race and know what you're doing, but the battles still have to clear sides fighting.

This game is much more fun multiplayer, where there're several fun ways to play. The computer AI still seems pretty inconsistent, but it's definitely on par with other strategy games.

If I haven't yet convinced you, let me put it this way: How would you rate re-enacting the battle (and escape) on Hoth from Episode 5? If you're like me, 5 stars!

I've been waiting for something like this for years!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: September 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I saw that the review rating for this game had only one star, I knew that had to change. Just by reading the FAQ I get excited. I've been tracking this game for two months now, because if you like AoK, you'r going to like this. Jedi's, Destroyer Droids, X-Wings, Wookies, Shield Generators; It makes me excited just thinking about it. I could elaborate more, but I just want to say that I think people will be surprised, and you should get this game.

Who cares what those losers say. This is a great game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: December 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Who cares what some of those reviews say. Most people who gave the game a bad review probably don't even like Star Wars. The game is great. It has everthing needed to make you feel like you are in the Star Wars Universe. The Wookies are one of the species that you here the least about. This game gives you a feel of what the Wookie community is like. I suggest to anyone who likes Star Wars to get this game.

SWGBG is sweet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

In this new game, Lucasarts has definately outdone themselves. The use of the Age of Empires 2 engine makes the game very easy to control and manuever, while the Star Wars twist on it makes it very much worth owning. The tutorial will easily accommidate people who are playing for the first time, and unlike some tutorials, this one keeps a good storyline. The different civilizations you can be each have their own strengths and weaknesses, again like AOE2. It has a very easy learning curve, but the missions are difficult and time-consuming, so you will be playing for a while. The troops, mechs, and fighters and bombers are exact replicas of what they are in the movies, and all seem to match the other on the battlefield.

All in all a pretty good game worthy of a good rating, and a good amount of time spent playing it. When you've beaten all the campaigns, don't worry, you can always play multiplayer, make your own campaigns, or download some from other people on the net. Happy hunting!

A lotta fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Few things are cooler than building 20 AT-AT's and rolling in on some of those Jar Jar Binks things and getting my slaughter on. Of course the process that leads up to all of this is pretty tedious, but in the end, when I'm looking over the charred corpses of the vanquished, and the burned out ruins that was once their home, I feel satisfied. And you will too no matter what race you choose to be. But let's face it; being the empire is the most fun. Sure the movies taught us to cheer for the leftist, crybaby rebellion, but this game allows you to perpetrate all those atrocities that made the Empire so popular among all the fictitious peoples of the galaxy. Watching Darth Vader roll around choking the hell out of people is fun too, even if you don't get to make him do it.
Basically this is AOE, which is no surprise, with SW units. Very little has changed, save for the fact that air units do change things a little. Basically they're useless as they're so easily killed by anti-air units. This strikes me as odd because most the movies revolve around air superiority. You really will have fun with this though, and it's pretty much worth the money you'll spend on it.

Da Best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: September 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Actually I don't want the previous customer to flame this game.
It is not another FoCom, because FoCom required a 3D engine, while this one uses the Famous engine from AoC which is 2D.
It is not a waste of money, for AoC was not a waste of money to thoousands of people.
BUY THIS GAME!

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