Rating: 
Summary: What Force Commander Should Have Been
Review: Those of you that had the displeasure of playing LucasArts' first attempt at Star Wars real time strategy might be disinclined to take the bait a second time. You would be missing out, however, as Galactic Battlegrounds goes a good way towards making up for its abominable predecessor. While GB is definitely not an attempt to create a unique RTS system, at least it works, which is far better than can be said about FC. Galactic Battlegrounds uses the AOE 2 engine, and it plays a lot like Age of Kings. If you're experienced with the medieval-era strategy game, you probably won't even need to play the tutorial or read the manual. Now, before you run off and dismiss this game as Age of Kings with Star Wars sprites, you should know that the Star Wars sprites are really quite cool. Also, the game actually does play quite a bit differently, owing to the fact that almost all the units are ranged and there are air units. If you discount the last fact (as I did at least once) you risk the nasty surprise of having your opponent flatten your base with bombers. Another one of the best things about Battlegrounds is that it runs very smoothly over even a mediocre internet connection, much like AOE 2 does. It also enjoys rock-solid stability and a few useful improvements over the old game engine. For example, when you build a harvesting center, the workers you used to make it will automatically start harvesting when they're done building. Also, the 'idle villager' button flashes when there is one, so you don't have to keep clicking on it to find out. Of course, nothing is perfect, and although Battlegrounds sure seems perfect in the light of its predecessor, it could have been better. The graphics are only so-so. I really think LucasArts could have done a better job with the blaster shots and explosions. They are all non-antialiased colored lines and white flashes- the sort of thing you'd expect a 3 year old with crayons to draw. This wouldn't be so bad if you weren't always staring at them. I should also note here, however, that the graphics (aside from scaling) are arguably better than Force Commander's. This says a lot when you consider the fact that that game was 3-D. On another aesthetic note, but hardly the least important one, the original John Williams soundtrack is retained in this game. If there is any immediate indicator that LucasArts has learned from FC and worked to amend its deficiencies, this is it. Also, I'm sure many will agree that there could hardly be a be a better tune for playing against your best friend or kid brother than 'Duel of the Fates.' Another probable defficiency is that the game plays too much like Age of Kings. This goes down all the way to the scenarios, which aside from different heroes, run in a VERY similar fashion to the AOE 2 single player missions. The only real difference in the campaign is that each mission line has a 'bonus mission' that plays out a hypothetical alternate battle. Some of them are quite fun- say, the big slaughter of Gungans, including everyone's favorite, Jar-Jar Binks. If you've ever sadistically wondered how Darth Maul stacks up against him, here's your chance to find out. You can also (if you're good) win the battle of Hoth and generally make hay out of the canonical storyline. This is never a boring thing for a Star Wars fan to do. The established game engine certainly carries more advantages than disadvantages when you add them all up. It was definitely a good idea for LucasArts to license it. In fact, it's such a good idea that you'll inevitably wonder why they didn't do this in the first place, instead of going through all the trouble of making their own 3-D engine (no simple task) only to have it eat the floorboards on store shelves. For those who played Force Commander and wish they hadn't, I encourage you to give Galactic Battlegrounds a try. Especially if you haven't played Age of Empires before, it'll go a good way's towards fulfilling an aching need for some good Star Wars strategy gaming.
Rating: 
Summary: Battlegrounds has plenty of punch
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Good game
Review: I had a lot of fun playing this game. There really was only one problem. This would be that it is a total clone of Age of Empires 2. It is the AoE game engine set in a Star Wars galaxy. The units are exactly the same. For example, there is a unit in AoE that is called the ram, it is resitant to arrows and destroys buildings. In Star Wars there is a unit called a pummel. It is resitant to lasers and destroys sturctures. This sounds pretty similar, right? I suggest that you buy Age of Empires, and you love it, to buy this game. You should try AoE out first.
Rating:
Summary: Galactic Battlegrounds
Review: When I saw the game in the shops, I thought WOW!!! I got it for Christmas and played on it. I like it because it shows you lots of cool things about the films that you don't know, and how it is different to the films but links with them along the way.
If you like star wars and you you like other games like Age of Empires, then this game is a must.
You can be any of six civilisations. The Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance, Wookies, Royal Naboo and the Trade Federation. You can command battles like the Grassy Plains battle on Naboo, from Episode 1, You can control Characters like, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen Amidala, Princess Leia, Anakin Skywalker, R2D2 etc. I find it funny to kill them by pressing delete. You fail the mission but hey, you can always restart it right? Battling other players with huge armies is fun too, becuseits all destruction and explosions.
The graphics are really good and as you upgrade your base you see creatures, ships, people and machines that you recognise from the films. You can get vehicles that travel on land, in sea and in the air.
You can play skirmishes, campaigns, you can make your own game with the scenario editor and play against or with your friends over the Internet.
I can't wait till the add-on pack for it comes out. It's called 'Clone Campaigns' and there are two new civilisations.
I personally like all games that Lucasarts make.
If you like star wars and you have not got it yet,
GET YOURSELF TO THE SHOPS!!!
Rating:
Summary: Finally a good RTS Star Wars game!
Review: I've been waiting for a good Star Wars RTS game and this one is it. And it's a very challenging game. There are many units & structures to build plus plenty of upgrades to strengthen your units. The story was ok, but there weren't any cutscenes and no music was playing while you were playing the game. It made it a little dull.
The great thing about the game is for anyone who has played Ages Of Empires II, this game looks and plays alot like AOE2 and also keeps score the same way. That was good and bad. Good because the game was very easy to get the hang of and bad because I felt like I was playing AOE2 again, but just set in the future. But the game looks good and plays very well. And with all the different units to build, this game will give you many options in how you can go about trying to win. There are also some bonus maps where you can change the outcome of previous battles that were lost. Theses battles are very hard and are worth the challenge.
And the whole gang was here. You get to play Darth Vader, Luke, Han, Chewie, Obi-Wan, and many other characters. As far as RTS games go, this didn't bring anything new to the genre, but it didn't take anything away either. It is definitley a worthy game and it will take you a while to beat it. Some of the battles are ferocious and will take a long time to beat. Others are lame. But all in all, this game is very solid. May the Force be with you.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars plus AOEII - What can be better?
Review: I bought this game and it is incredible. I have fully enjoyed it so far. If you are familiar with AOEII, then this game will be easy for you. It is exciting to learn all the new technologies and units but more fun to see the civilizations come alive on the screen. The only down-side is that there are only currently 6 civs to play or fight against so your options are limited but I expect this to be increased with expansion packs in the future (I hope!!). However, the number of options for units, maps, and techs will keep your interest. Play style is identical to AOEII, graphics and sound are fine, and overall this game combines one of the best genres of games with one of the best sci-fi/fantasy worlds of all time. If you are a RTS gamer or a fan of Star Wars then this game is for you. If you enjoy both, then what are you waiting for!
Rating:
Summary: An addictive game and a great buy for Star Wars fans!
Review: This is a great game! I got it as a Christmas present and haven't been able to stay away! I must admit that I am also an AOE2 fanatic, and I can't say that I would recommend Battlegrounds to those of you who have played that game since they are so similar, but I love to play Battlegrounds if I get tired of the medieval feel of Age of Kings. It has pretty good graphics for the type of game it is, and there are numerous improvements on the Kings engine that are quite helpful (e.g. a nearly unlimited farm queue and flashing Idle Worker button). The air portion of the game seems somewhat awkward - it is slightly imbalanced and seems kind of simplistic yet, as if that part of the game is still in the tweaking stages - but it is not a major issue. There is literally a wealth of gameplay value hidden in the campaign area of the game that I still have not even begun to explore, and the game soundtrack is unbeatable (since it is a mix of music from the trilogy and from the Phantom Menace). Overall, although it has some minor flaws, this game is a great buy and I give it 4 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Glorious Premise, Outdated execution
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: I am an avid RTS gamer, and of course I fell in love with Starcraft the first time I played it. But SC does have its faults, namely the biggest one being it was too limited. I always wanted to load up with 100 or so carriers and raid someone's base. But alas, unit limits keep you from doing such a thing. But then I discovered Battlegrounds, and was satisfied. It has an even more detailed tech tree then Starcraft, and of course the unit limits were more forgiving, so I was able to take 150 at-ats and raid bases at my whim. Of course, its challenging to keep your base going long enough to do this, so the difficulty I had at playing SC never really left either. Of course, you could sit around and complain that the graphics arent 3d, the story mode doesnt have Starcraft's excellent cutscenes, well, to that I say, hard cheese. If you like Starcraft, Star Wars games, or just strategy games in general, this is worth the cash.
Rating:
Summary: A good RTS with a star wars twist
Review: this game is overall good, although it's hard to play the random battle mode well. the CPU's are either dumb as rocks or hard to beat but never in between. also it has easy to access online gaming but limited players unless you have the expansion. in the end, this game is a great star wars RTS but is very limited with out the expansion.
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