Use the Force in New Star Wars RTS Game

Set between the good trilogy and the bad one.

Jar Jar Binks may have destroyed cherished childhood memories of millions of sci-fi fans in one ill-conceived swoop, but Star Wars is a strong enough franchise to survive him. This summer, the Star Wars prequel trilogy comes to a head in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith, which tells the tale of the Empire's rise to power.

Loosely tied in to the movie is a new real-time strategy (RTS) game from LucasArts named Star Wars: Empire At War. The game, which is being developed by ex-Command & Conquer creators at Petroglyph, is set four years before Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope and forms a segue between the original and prequel trilogies.

As you'd expect, the game allows you to commandeer all the Rebel and Empire vehicles and troops from the movies and several of the main characters will make appearances too, but the game will also mine the Star Wars Expanded Universe for inspiration.

Your actions in the galaxy will have real consequences in the game world and how you've fared in past battles will affect who you meet and what happens later in the game.

The singleplayer story mode can be played from the perspective of either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, while multiplayer is divided into one-on-one matches of good vs evil or up-to-eight player skirmishes.

Star Wars: Empire At War should hit stores this autumn. Check out the screens below for an idea of what the game will look like.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games