Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Preview

By Elliott Chin, GameSpotPosted May 16, 2001 5:31 pm PT

We take an exclusive look at the new Star Wars real-time strategy game.

LucasArts has done the unthinkable. It is returning to the real-time strategy genre with another Star Wars strategy game. Considering the poor reception given to Force Commander less than a year ago, this is a surprising move. But what's really shocking is that LucasArts is seeking outside help for a game that's being developed internally in order to ensure that it gets this second attempt right. It is all part of the plan to finally make a good RTS that truly lives up to the Star Wars name. This game is Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, and it uses the Age of Empires II engine as its backbone. The news bodes well for those who always wanted a fun Star Wars strategy game, and who better than Ensemble Studios to assist LucasArts in making a great real-time strategy game. Ensemble definitely has the experience and success to help LucasArts overcome the mistakes of Force Commander and deliver an RTS game that actually lives up to the promise of epic Star Wars battles.

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GameSpot recently visited the offices of LucasArts to get a firsthand look at Galactic Battlegrounds. The game has been in development for many months now, and it looks good. You can tell right away that this game is being built with the same engine used to power Age of Empires II, a technology that Ensemble calls genie technology. That's the first time we've heard the Age of Empires II engine referred to by that name, but regardless of nomenclature, it's the same stuff that built Age of Kings. Galactic Battlegrounds is basically Age of Empires II but with Star Wars units and settings. Moreover, the team at LucasArts isn't ashamed to admit that it's using Age of Empires II. As far as they're concerned, they want to keep the same gameplay that made Age of Kings fun but add their own unique Star Wars twist. The benefit of using the Age of Empires II engine is that LucasArts no longer has to waste valuable development time reinventing the wheel. A graphics engine, scripting language, and other technology are already done. What the designers can thus concentrate on is actual design, parlaying their expertise in art, story, and mission design (something LucasArts is very good at) into a better game.

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Many gamers will wonder why LucasArts is even bothering, considering Force Commander, but the company has definitely learned from its mistakes. And using the proven Age II engine doesn't hurt. LucasArts is quick to point out that Ensemble is licensing the engine and is not a codeveloper but that it does offer advice and feedback. And as the team leaders on this game pointed out to us, by both learning from their mistakes on Force Commander and using a proven technology, they'll hopefully be able to create a better strategy game. "This is the game that Force Commander should have been, could have been if we didn't commit to 3D. You want to have hundreds of units battling. That's Star Wars. And right now 2D is the only way that you can do that. What we learned on Force Commander has let us do this. We couldn't have done this game in 3D."

So let's take a look at what LucasArts can do with this 2D game.

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1 Comments

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jakeboudville
Posted Sep 10, 2006 6:29 pm PT

kinda impressive
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