I'm a big Star Wars fan, which means that I have learned to avoid most of the Star Wars games. Let's face it, apart from the odd exception, they're rubbish. This one could be an exception to the rule though.
SW-EAW is a strategy game in which your aim is to take over the galaxy. This is done in three areas of play. The first is played on a map of the galaxy showing who controls each planet and what troops / characters / buildings / funds there are on them. You can construct and upgrade certain buildings, train troops, hire bounty hunters and spies to list just a few things. As well as land based assets you also construct space stations above planets from which you can construct ships, garrison troops and transport between planets. I found this area of the game to be the best section. There's load of strategy and planning to think about regarding which units to send where. Not having enough units stationed at an important planet will make it an easy target.
Which leads us on to the other two areas of the game, which are land and space based battles. The idea is simple in these – kill the enemy, blowing up a few things along the way. Land battles suffer from rather pitiful sound effects and an awkward, slow pace. The space battles look and feel a lot more exciting though. There are huge space stations, big trundling star destroyers, tiny x-wings and tie-fighters whizzing around, and loads of other ships to keep track of. It looks and sounds great. However, things occasionally get a bit hard to follow and it can be quite tricky selecting the smaller ships when they are speeding about. These small problems aside though, the battles are enjoyable.
The results of the land / space battles can do play a pivotal part in the whole game. Losing a battle could mean you lose control of a planet that has a high strategical advantage. But, unlike some other games, this does not spell out certain doom in the rest of the campaign as you could then gain back the advantage elsewhere.
You can play as either the rebel alliance or the evil empire and the game plays significantly differently depending on which you choose. There's also several game modes including campaign, skirmish, and multi-player which should keep you going for ages. Whilst not being as good as Rome Total War it is still enjoyable as both a Star Wars game and a strategical war game. So, as the tiny green Jedi Knight might say, "if both a fan of you are, like it you will. Strong is the force in this one, but perfect it is not."
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