Techtite's Macintosh Game Reviews!

"Alternative missions include your ability to change history, and see what would've happened if you were in charge of the Empire's raid of the Rebel Base on Hoth, or if you were in charge of fighting those pesky Ewoks on their way to the shield generator... When based on the fun of the original films, this game scores a hit."

---from the review

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Sidebar :

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That cool Star Trek Game... Just about every minute I played this game, I thought of Star Trek Armada 2, which sadly, is a PC-only title. However, can anyone who played that game blame me...? Galactic Battlegrounds could've had so much more based on the features of Armada 2; in particular, unique abilities, for each army. In Star Trek Armada, for example, the Borg can assimilate opponent ships, acquiring all the special traits of that spacecraft, including Romulan cloaking devices and Starfleet phase shields. Each race also had a "secret weapon" to avoid in battle, if you give the opponent time to create it. This may lead to shorter games, though they're much more fun to play! What about a "death grip" in this game, exclusive to SITH masters? What about Jedi controlling the weak-minded, temporarily pitting enemy against enemy? This is just some of the additions this game could've had, yet didn't. It's fun, yet could've been a thrill.

Expansion Disc, Anyone...? Above is an order link for the mission disk, which I reviewed for the PC version. However, is it Mac-compatible? That's a tough question. It's basically a bunch of files, not a program, so if the file types of the Mac version match the ones for PC (sort of like how a web page is compatible with both systems), then it's compatible. Otherwise, NO, it's not. Sadly, this review could not check for you, since the ability to install the mission disk was never attempted as of the time the review was written. So; should you try to buy this mission disc, hoping that it's Mac-compatible...? It's all a matter of how "cool" the notion is to you, to play as two additional army types: Clone troopers (the Republic), and the Separatists, both from Attack of the Clones. If that doesn't sound like anything you'd both with, forget I mentioned it, and be happy with the original game...which is still pretty cool, as-is.

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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LucasArts has a penchant for taking a game concept elsewhere, placing it within the Star Wars realms, and making it ten times better. So, it was only a matter of time until they looked at games like "Age of Empires" and made it into a Star Wars game where you choose an army type, build your base, and defend it as you try to grow into a mighty city, starbase, or Empire. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds lets you create garrisons of stormtroopers, SITH masters, and TIE Fighters --or rebels, Jedi, and X-wings-- and battle it out to the end. This is hardly a flawed game, even if any game like it proves how much better it truly could've been....

At least they chose the right game engine; the same one, to be precise! Using the exact same game engine as the Age of Kings saga("Age of Empires 2," in particular), your mission is to choose one of 6 possible alien types, and help them create a powerful army to defeat the opposition. It doesn't matter which side you choose; while it is cool to use ships from the films, all races are with equal strength, technology wise. Whether training 50 stormtroopers or 50 wookies, they'll perform just as well in battle. While the Galactic Empire can build a dozen AT-AT walkers, the Gungans have a water tank that's just as ominous, yet takes the same extended time to build. It's all strategy, and it's all up to the game players.

Single-player missions offer a roughly 6-mission story, for each of 5 major races. While this sounds like a short quintet of stories; they help to get you accustomed to each alien type: what their command centers look like, what ships are the most powerful/vulnerable, and so on. Even if you never choose them in a multiplayer game, the knowledge will help you know what their strengths and weaknesses are, if you must fight them as an opponent! These races/armies include the Galactic Empire, The Rebel Alliance, Wookies (Chewbacca in particular!), The Trade Federation, and yes (groan) even the Gungans. However, before you think someone expected us to want to save Jar-Jar Binks from attack, keep in mind; this means they can be an enemy, as well. Anyone who thinks that Jar Jar Binks was the catalyst for ruining the entire new trilogy can choose the Gungans as the computer-controlled opponent, and build an opposing army to defeat them. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

From a strategy game's perspective, it's nice that each alien race is pretty much "equal" in structure; each has a command center, research center, ship yard, and so on. However, it leads to a certain feeling of redundancy, when every army is the same, except for the graphics used. Let's apply this flaw to the already-flawed Gungans, where a Trade Federation mission implies that the Gungans have underwater settlements that can only be seen by watercraft. This was an element of the game that would've actually made playing the Gungans intriguing...yet unfortunately, underwater bases aren't available in the actual game. Instead, Gungans must make a land-based command center, just like everyone else. How disappointing.

Not that people will be playing as the Gungans long enough to care. There's the cool Galactic Empire to command, complete with AT-ATs, AT-STs (those mini AT-AT's from Return of the Jedi), TIE fighters, and yes, even the ability to make a SITH temple, and train your own legion of Darth Vader apprentices! Rebels are similarly cool, with X-Wings, Y-Wings, and of course Jedi temples to train an army of Jedi Knights! Scientific labs for both, can be used to research weaponry for the armies you train. Of course, this isn't even getting into the Wookies and the Trade Federation. I think the best multiplayer game would be a 2-on-2 battle between the Trade Federation and Empire on one side, and the Rebellion and Wookies on the other. How cool is that?

It's even cooler in single player. Alternative missions include your ability to change history, and see what would've happened if you were in charge of the Empire's raid of the Rebel Base on Hoth, or if you were in charge of fighting those pesky Ewoks on their way to the shield generator. Rebel missions are similar reenactments of classic movie battles, as well as some inspired new ones. When based on the fun of the original films, this game scores a hit.

Not that there aren't a fair amount of gripes. For one thing; all single player missions begin and end with a cheesy slide show and even cheesier narrations. It doesn't help that the narrator for the Rebel missions sounds nothing like Carrie Fisher --even though she's supposed to be Princess Leia-- and their voice for Boss Nass is as annoying as he was in the films. Mind you, the Wookie missions are narrated by a "Lando" who sounds so much like Billy Dee Williams you'll wonder if "Obba Baba Tunde" is a surname, making those mission narratives the exception to the rule. However, these "log entries" are your only reward for a job well done, which basically makes the single player missions a "thankless" job...no matter how much fun it is playing them.

However, there's all that multiplayer fun to enjoy. In fact, they can even be played by a single player, with as many as 6 computer controlled armies against yours, along with any parameters you like. Pit all races against each other, or a whole Empire team against your rebel forces, or Wookies against Gungans. Better yet is the speed of the game, which may have merely "average" isometric graphics, yet works with no slowdowns, even when the screen is filled with a dozen of each ship type, from six separate army sides. That's nothing to scoff at.

So, what to rate this game...? Well, it's not a bad game in the least; the ability to build a dozen AT-ATs and set them against 100 Jedi is an intriguing enough experience, for a thumbs-up. Yet as I said before, it could've been better. Why no "secret powers" for Jedi or Sith, or special weaponry for the Rebels/Empire? Here's an example: a scout could locate a group of soldiers far away from camp, and Vader could use his choke hold on them from clear across the game map. That would've been cool. I guess "pretty good" in this case will have to be good enough.

---Techtite