Star Wars: Empire at War Review

Star Wars: Empire at War came out back in 2006. Since then, we’ve had entirely new generations of games and even an entire new era for Star Wars movies.

So, is it worth doing the time warp and playing this old game? Or are you better off dusting off the old joystick and booting up TIE Fighter?

Keep reading to discover the answer!

A Different Kind of Strategy

Empire at War is a Real-Time Strategy game. However, this term means different things to different people.

For example, Empire at War is not like Starcraft. That game focuses almost entirely on ground battles and the race for resources. In that sense, Empire at War is also different from Galactic Battlegrounds. That game was Star Wars channeling Age of Kings as hard as it can, resulting in a game that was deep but still mostly battle-centric.

Instead, what sets Empire at War apart is that it focuses on both combat and all the behind-the-scenes operations of running an intergalactic war. Players must worry about annexing planets, gathering resources, and building formidable forces on your various planets as well as in the stars.

The result is a game that is hard to wholly love. The battles are beautiful (more on this later), but combat rarely achieves the visceral thrill of games like Starcraft. And the galactic planning is fun, but it doesn’t have the depth to compete with something like Civilization.

Long story short? Instead of doing one thing really well, this game does two things in a way that is simply “okay.”