There is a taskbar at the bottom of the screen where you will make your building and research decisions, and the screen holds the battlefield where you order your faithful soldiers to victory or defeat. There is no zoom or rotation, so everything is basically point and click. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds takes the conservative approach to control. There's your basic Deathmatch, a kill the king type of game, and a few other minor ones. You might get a little fun out of a few battles, but there aren't really enough options to make it worth while. The Multiplayer mode is a bit too dry to help this game out much. Here's your chance to test your game development skills you can make almost anything the developers could without altering the code. The Map and Scenario Editor allow complete control over what you put into your campaigns. If you don't like the composition of the campaigns, you can create entirely new ones. No matter how you present this universe, you can't help but avoid a bit of uniqueness. Each side has its own Campaign, all of which are quite different from each other. There is a definite contrast between the sleek underwater buildings of the Gungans and the dark, sharp edged buildings of the Empire. What has stuck from the movies is the look of each side. Video games are another story, and in the name of fun, the designers decided to up the unit count for every side instead of cutting it down to a manageable number. This is a result of the diversity of each side, as there never really was any military balance in the movies. On top of all this is a mass of upgrades you can give your troops, and they are all job specific. The number of units and buildings might overwhelm some, as might the inclusion of 4 different resources. And it might seem out of place to see a horde of Jedi running around the field converting enemy troops. In order to balance the game, the designers had to cut some corners and include troops like Mounted Wookies, or anti-air Gungans. However, not all of the units will be immediately familiar to even the most die-hard of fans. The 6 sides you can choose from are taken out of all the movies currently released, so expect some familiar faces. Yet, when I played the game and realized that it was nothing but an Age of Empires clone, I was forced to swallow my pride and face the truth that there was another bad Star Wars game in the world. And when I heard Lucasarts was doing a 2D RTS game, I was overjoyed, despite that whole Force Commander incident. When I think of Star Wars, I think of epic battles on distant planets, or edge of your seat space combat. It sort of ruins the mood to see a group of AT-ATs marching down the field without the Imperial March theme echoing in the background. The music will be familiar to all, but is apparently missing when you're actually playing the game.
Instead, I have to listen to Stormtroopers say THX 1138 over and over and over again. There is nothing to make me feel like I have a thriving Wookie community, or an oppressive Imperial base. The only time sound occurs is when you click on units or a fight is going on. Instead, they let me down with limited effects and unit lyrics. Since they practically stole the engine, you'd think that the developers would have some time to beef up the sounds. Not that the graphics are sub-par, but I was expecting a little more from the people who brought me X-Wing.
The animations could have used a little reworking, and the maps don't do any justice to the Star Wars Universe (I want giant Ewok villages, not a bunch of little trees). The three-quarter view has no zoom capabilities, which doesn't leave much room for maneuvering. Lucasarts basically ripped off the Age of Empires engine, and changed the textures around a bit. Who was it that said there is nothing new under the sun? Though I don't like to believe this, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds doesn't help my argument out any.
0 kommentar(er)
