It should have made for some very intense moments in the manner of Obi-Wan deactivating the tractor beam on the Death Star in the original Star Wars film.

Finally, the Gungan campaign is Boss Nass' recollection of his ancestors' campaign to unite the Gungan clans, followed by his own battle against the Trade Federation. And so on. But this adds a whole new layer to the basic mechanics of Age of Kings. Most of the time, LucasArts does a good job filling out the unit roster, even though no one knows what a Wookiee tank, a Gungan bomber, or a Rebel mech looks like. On one hand, sure, it's a derivative real-time strategy game. All the units can be upgraded. Instead of a town bell to call your workers to safety, you use an "alert beacon."

Six races are available for you to choose from, including theRebels, Empire, Naboo, Trade Federation, Wookiees, and our floppy eared friends,the Gungans. Strangely enough, the worst part about Battlegrounds is that it doesn’treally feel like Star Wars. The scenario editor gives the game enough flexibility to go wherever you want and bring along "hero" units. There are certain conventions from Age of Kings that don't carry over very well into the Star Wars universe. At least LucasArts picked a goodmodel for this game.

Tatooine maps are seeded with Jawa sandcrawlers that can be captured and used in combat. © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers. I like the way different sides have different strenghts: the Gungans are gr... Read Full Review, SWGB: Clone Campaigns introduces two new factions to the game the Republic and the Confederacy, now you'd expect a lot additions to the game but sadly there isn't much. There are four resourcesthat you’ll have to manage – food, carbon (trees), ore, and nova…just likeAoE‘s food, wood, gold, and stone. Although each side in Battlegrounds has unique graphics for its units and structures, they're all functionally the same. Map textures and units look okay, but they don’t seem tosport the amount of detail that was included in AoE. Picture this: A large army of aboutfifty mounted Wooks (mounted on what?

The online version is great I've got some great levels off of it but its so old there is no online any more.A bummer.A realy ... Read Full Review, I bought this game at a yard sale for a dime, and i'm very glad I did, because this is one of the best StarWars games I have ever played.

A few improvements to the unit AI and some tweaking of structuralhit points and we just might have a solid Star Wars RTS on our hands. Along with the slightly better looking visuals, it introduces us to 2 new empires.

Afterall, Battlegrounds is adapted from the same engine. To be blunt, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is basically Age of Kings with Star Wars units. As in AoE 2, troopscan be garrisoned inside buildings (sometimes increasing their health), givenformations and given standard behaviors (i.e. Antiair units come into play one tech level earlier than air units, so there's plenty of time to anticipate an aerial threat.

Rest assured that Galactic Battlegrounds has a relatively deep design with enough twists to distinguish it from Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

The former are clever additions to the Age of Kings gameplay that add a regenerating layer of hit points onto any unit or building within a certain radius. At first, it occurred so often that I thought it was supposedto happen, but then a few instances came up where it didn’t. The Star Wars universe already requires a willing suspension of disbelief, but most fans at least expect some internal consistency. So many elements are almost identical--the interface, the resource management, the upgradeable units, and the unit balance, for starters. The previous factions are pretty much the same and ... Read Full Review, Truly a must have for Star wars fans (Like me) and RTS fans. But once aircraft are developed in Galactic Battlegrounds, there are no such guarantees. Whip up a skirmish game in which Luke and Yoda square off against Darth Vader and the Emperor. These are hardly grounds to dismiss LucasArts' latest real-time strategy stab at the most lucrative license of them all. Each campaign unlocks bonus missions that let you replay events from the movies. And we want to hear the Imperial marching theme or that splendid "Duel of the Fates" riff while we do it. Put that annoying Anakin kid on a tiny island all by himself. Meanwhile, Jedi aren't just Age of Empires' monks. SWGB is a simple enough game, those acquainted with Age of Empires will find a familiar style... Read Full Review, Well the game is basically your typical strategy game. Structurestend to have an awesome amount of hit points – especially if they’re upgraded.Throw your soldiers inside and you’ve got some great defensive power. Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (or SWGB) is an RTS for the PC. As in Age of Kings, in Battlegrounds, each side can build a unique unit. Leia and Han Solo sound bad enough, but the actor voicing Lando Calrissian seems to think he's been hired to imitate someone from The Sopranos--Lando sounds like a goodfella. The skirmish maps can be randomly generated from generic terrain or from Star Wars locations, each with distinct features. On one hand, it's a derivative real-time strategy game. It has 4 technology levels and a whole bunch of technologies to research, and the... Read Full Review, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (or SWGB) is an RTS for the PC. On one hand, it's a derivative real-time strategy game. Well, it’s no ForceCommander, but I’ve still got a bad feelingabout this one…. any RTS ... Read Full Review, Since StarCraft, fans have been wishing for a Star War RTS. Forinstance, the tree-dwelling Wookiees are living in metal shelters on the ground.The Rebels are importing Tauntauns wherever they go and situations like theGungans vs. the Wookiees in space just seems very silly. Instead of peasants, you use worker droids to harvest resources--but it still costs 50 units of food to build one. "The direct similarities to Age of Kings are plentiful. Incredibly addictive, had me playing it until zone.com stopped supporting it. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. The graphics may not be up to today's standards, but is is still great graphically. We've recently moved from Disqus to Spot.IM. In Age of Kings, the Britons don't vary too drastically from the Celts because, well, they're both human civilizations that evolved along similar lines. The campaigns are fun, and it has a good Scenario randomizer. If you’ve ever played any of Microsoft’s Ageof Empires games, you’ll be instantly familiar with what’s going on. There are minor exceptions. Would it have killed LucasArts to make the sides substantially different?

For instance, in Age of Kings, the Teutons get Teutonic knights, and in Galactic Battlegrounds, the Galactic Empire gets dark troopers. In Battlegrounds, almost all units have some sort of ranged attack, with the occasional melee fighters serving as supporting elements.

You'll even occasionally hear Age of Empires' chirping cricket effect, which tends to break the mood when you're on the surface of a barren asteroid. How is the rest of the game, you ask? In Age of Kings, the Persians don't get champions, and in Galactic Battlegrounds, the Trade Federation doesn't get repeater troopers.

There are other areas where it feels like LucasArts isn't even trying to mask Galactic Battlegrounds' foundation. In a nutshell, it feels like an AoE mod more than astand-alone game. While Galactic Battlegrounds gets on the right RTS road, it doesn’tgo the distance. Each civilization has its own campaign, which spans approximatelyseven missions, so it won’t take you forever to get through each one. The way spacecraft are modeled as swarms of hovering flies feels awfully forced. One these problems is theway the game will sometimes pause as you perform a drag select to group a fewunits together. Since Battlegrounds deals with science fiction, ranged combat is no longer just the supporting element of an army, as it was in Age of Kings. For instance, in the Age of Kings, the Turks collect gold a little faster, and in Galactic Battlegrounds, the Royal Naboo collect nova crystals a little faster.