Star Wars: Empire at War

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 341 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 264 out of 341
  2. Mixed: 60 out of 341
  3. Negative: 17 out of 341
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. JacobCleveland
    Apr 3, 2014
    10
    This game is one of the best RTS games I've ever played, and gives you a satisfying Star Wars experience. While the initial game isn't too large in scale by today's standards, the great modding community gives us even more depth into the Star Wars canon, and gives us a truly fantastic experience. The only fault i could give for this game is that there isn't more of it out there.
  2. DanielJ.
    Mar 17, 2007
    9
    Although the other Star Wars RTS games weren't great, Star Wars Empire at War proves out to be one hell of an RTS. The graphics are really awesome, especially with a good video card. The sound is simply perfect! And there is just a ton of game-play from skirmish vs the AI to the story campaign. In summary Empire at War is a great game and what I consider to be one of the best Star Although the other Star Wars RTS games weren't great, Star Wars Empire at War proves out to be one hell of an RTS. The graphics are really awesome, especially with a good video card. The sound is simply perfect! And there is just a ton of game-play from skirmish vs the AI to the story campaign. In summary Empire at War is a great game and what I consider to be one of the best Star Wars strategy games in the series. I hope they make a sequel.… Expand
  3. KravinM.
    Mar 27, 2007
    9
    Star Wars Empire at War is one of the best Star Wars RTS games for the PC. With good game play you'll be playing for hours.
  4. JC
    Aug 11, 2007
    8
    Probably the best strategy game of the Star Wars series since Rebellion. This game makes for both ground and space based warfare, making it an interesting change from past games. The Single Player Campaigns were interesting. 1 Con about this game is its A.I. The AI of this game is pretty bad and easily defeatable. Online play is ok, but generates loads of lag and poor online design.
  5. JoeyKohn
    Feb 21, 2006
    9
    Fantastic game. For any knowledgable Star Wars fan, you'll love a lot about this game. It's a familiar and accurate Galaxy map, with logical plantery bonuses. You'll likely be surprised at some of the planets included, and you'll appreciate the good descriptions.
    Two things will bother people, though. First, the size and fighting strategy and capability of the    Fantastic game. For any knowledgable Star Wars fan, you'll love a lot about this game. It's a familiar and accurate Galaxy map, with logical plantery bonuses. You'll likely be surprised at some of the planets included, and you'll appreciate the good descriptions.
    Two things will bother people, though. First, the size and fighting strategy and capability of the Rebellion. Despite the cool and interesting differences between the Rebels and the Empire, the overall strategy for both sides is the same. Armies, bases, and real confrontations, not quite the stelathy guerrilla warfare that would be more accurate. Also, the way certain mechanics work may by slightly bothersome, such as Rebels getting technology by stealing from the Empire with R2 and C3PO, and the fact that fleets can only be located at planets, no open space. All of these issues are excused for the sake of gameplay, and trust me, the sacrifices of strict continuity are TOTALLY worth it. You also have to keep in mind that the game lets you do it how you want to, so if you want to complain about continuity, remember that it's your fault.
    Now gameplay. There are three categories of gameplay. Galactic, space, and ground. Galactic is easy and intuitive. While there are options that you might rather have, there is little to complain about in what's there.
    Space is fun. A serious fan of space battles will wish they could do more specific stuff, but there's enough strategy to be intersting, and the cool feature of targeting fire to certain hard points is immersive. The biggest complaint is the 2D plane. A 3D space ala Homeworld would have been awesome, but alas. It's still quite fun, however.
    Land is very different from most traditional RTS games. You capture reinforcement points so that you can bring in troops from your fleet above. You don't make units, you bring in units you made on the galactic map. You can build a few structures like turrets, but only at certain points. You don't have all the options of normal RTS games, but it's still fun and tactical, although rudimentary. It makes for a unique experience, which befits a scenario of galactic conquest with pre made fleets in the air.
    That's the important distinction that makes this game awesome. Of the three gameplay types, none are spectacular. Each one, while immersive and plenty detailed enough, doesn't have all the options for a more ambitious gamer or as much as a more specialized game. However, all three types mesh in such a way that the minor lackings of each type don't matter, because each is just a part of a whole galactic war. You make units on planets in the Galactic map, using buildings you made on those planets. That's how you build your bases, you command your resources and unit distribution from there, and the space and land battles are merely specific tactical confrontations, that honestly would not make sense as a duplication of C&C. Everything makes sense and blends well as a galactic war, which makes the gameplay varied and intriguing, continuous, and galaxy spanning, and it's a fantastic immersive experiene for great fun.
    Graphics are plenty good. No complaints. Turn up the resolution and detail and it's nice. It doesn't need to be better. Turn it down and it still looks nice, and runs great even on older machines. Sound is top notch, and voice acting isn't bad considering they didn't get any original actors. As for difficulty, it is kind of easy, and strategy can be fairly basic. The AI isn't great, but it's not retarded and it's not frustrating, a good balance.
    Overall, while nothing about it is spectacular, Empire at War blends all it's parts into an amazing overarching gameplay that is immersive for anyone, especially a Star Wars fan, and enthralling. No component could pretend to be a full fledged game, for example the Space battles would be no competition for Homeworld, but each part is only part of a whole, and they all blend so well, that the game is ammazing. It's an experience that you simply can't get in any other game.
    Final thought: I have Final Exams tommorrow, and instead of studying or doing any work, I've been playing EAW for days, and even after I pried myself from it, I came online to speak praise for it.
    Strategy fans, Star Wars fans, you'll love it.    … Expand
  6. CaptainChaos
    Feb 9, 2014
    10
    This 2006 game is still SO MUCH fun. The graphics are a bit retro but are so colorful the space battles still stand up BEAUTIFULLY! And all the sounds are completely licensed from Lucas Arts. I haven't seen such a balance between abilities and weaknesses of different factions (Empire, Rebels, Zann Consortium (criminal syndicate), since Star Craft. And both land and space battles requireThis 2006 game is still SO MUCH fun. The graphics are a bit retro but are so colorful the space battles still stand up BEAUTIFULLY! And all the sounds are completely licensed from Lucas Arts. I haven't seen such a balance between abilities and weaknesses of different factions (Empire, Rebels, Zann Consortium (criminal syndicate), since Star Craft. And both land and space battles require complex balancing of mixed forces. Generally, with few exceptions, you can't just build imperial star destroyers and expect to take on swarms on rebel fighters or proton frigates, they will surprisingly eat you alive without proper escorts. To say nothing of strategically managing the planetary map (balancing what kind of buildings you build on your planets). And the AI is quite good, both tactically and strategically. The only drag is the sometimes brutally repetitive nature of some of the attacks. Pro Tip: If you use auto-resolve, often times you will lose seemingly hopeless battles (or win some easy ones with ridiculous loses). BUT, if you begin the tactical combat and then use the Fast Forward button, and sit back and watch, you may very well win, and win with no or few losses. It takes 2-3 minutes but it's worth it (Advanced Pro Tip: If you do this, I think you still manually need to fire the planet based weapons, so un-FF and then fire, and re-FF).

    Example, being rusty at this game, as the all powerful Empire, I laughingly got my rear end kicked all the way back to Coruscant, was invaded, and almost lost the game, but was forced to think of inventive new strategies to claw my way back up, using a combination of land based hypervelocity cannons to secure my local space, and researching powerful new techs, which also opened up new "hero units" such as Captain Piett (with a suped up star destroyer) and Darth Vader (with an Executer Class Super Star Stardestroyer Command Ship), which turned the tide.

    I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants the ultimate RTS Star Wars experience done really well, even if the graphics (particularly the land battles) are a bit dated.    … Expand
  7. J42Hmusic
    Apr 5, 2011
    7
    This game wasn't too bad. The close up camera of the battle was really good and the maps were okay. I was however disappointed with the lack of variation within vehicles and infantry, and all the buttons and menus in the battle were too visually confusing. I'm sure someone who likes playing tactically would like this game, but for me, I moved onto a different game after about 10 minutes.
  8. cub317
    Oct 3, 2011
    9
    This is simply an amazing game! I just can't put it down! I really like how it is basically a strategy game for both beginners, and experts. The game play is very good, and it suits expert strategy gamers, without going so hard on beginners. I think that this could be the best Star Wars strategy game out there. Then again, I actually like Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds better, butThis is simply an amazing game! I just can't put it down! I really like how it is basically a strategy game for both beginners, and experts. The game play is very good, and it suits expert strategy gamers, without going so hard on beginners. I think that this could be the best Star Wars strategy game out there. Then again, I actually like Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds better, but that's not to say that this game is terrible. The one thing that's better from Galactic Battlegrounds is the graphics. Battlegrounds was 2D, while everything here is 3D. Not to mention that it has a game engine of its own, where Galactic Battlegrounds works on the Age of Empires engine. However, there is one thing that I don't like about Empire at War, and that's the space battles. The battles, when playing in instant action mode, last only a measly seven minutes, where the ground battles last up to thirty! However, that problem doesn't totally ruin the game. It's still a good game nonetheless.… Expand
  9. Kurtz
    Dec 22, 2011
    8
    Great game. Not without it's flaws but still a must for any Star Wars fan. Good amount of content, 2 campaigns, galactic conquest mode, skirmish and multiplayer. Also there is a huge modding community around the game which will increase it's re playability.
  10. HawkeyeWii
    May 9, 2013
    9
    One of the very best RTS games to ever grace the PC. Also one of the very best Star Wars games, sitting right next to Battlefront 2. This game is still a blast to play with others online, even today!
  11. spacepirate369
    Feb 12, 2014
    10
    This is one of the best games I have ever played, and certainly the best RTS. The game is fantastic on its own, with an excellent diversity of units and playstyles, but the fantastic modding community makes it all the more legendary. Due to the inclusion of both space and land battles, I would even go so far as to say that this game is better than the critically acclaimed Starcraft II, andThis is one of the best games I have ever played, and certainly the best RTS. The game is fantastic on its own, with an excellent diversity of units and playstyles, but the fantastic modding community makes it all the more legendary. Due to the inclusion of both space and land battles, I would even go so far as to say that this game is better than the critically acclaimed Starcraft II, and not just because EaW is Star Wars. Fanboys will cry about the canonocity (I know I did at first), but again, this can be fixed easily with mods, as can any other nitpicks you might come up with.… Expand
  12. RC-1148
    Mar 28, 2016
    9
    i have had the game on steam for a few years, i still love it to this day. its not the perfect game but it is very very fun. if i were to lose my steam account to a hacker, not only would i be destroyed because of all the games i lost, but i would be sad because i lost empire at war
  13. Larux18
    Apr 14, 2014
    7
    A strategy game in real-time seems like the perfect genre for Star Wars, and Empire at War sort of nailed it in a certain sense, by that I mean this game does feel like Star Wars, and I feel like I am actually commanding either the rebels or the empire, and that feeling is one of the best you can have while playing a video game. Despite that Empire at War has it's flaws. There are twoA strategy game in real-time seems like the perfect genre for Star Wars, and Empire at War sort of nailed it in a certain sense, by that I mean this game does feel like Star Wars, and I feel like I am actually commanding either the rebels or the empire, and that feeling is one of the best you can have while playing a video game. Despite that Empire at War has it's flaws. There are two factions in this game, Rebels are Empire, and two modes of battle, those being in land and in space. Space battles are where the game shines, since they look great, and never seem to get boring, I have started up a game countless of times to play a single space skirmish battle, and it will always be a blast, going from star fighters to giant capital cruisers battling it out is legitimately great. Despite that there is a unit limit, and that takes out some of the scale of the battles. Things in land aren't so great however, they look quite ugly actually, and can be relatively boring at times, when I wanted to conquer a planet I actually found myself playing and enjoying the space battles and then simply auto-completing (a feature that I should note for single-player) the land battles in order to avoid them, I did find myself enjoying certain land battles in the campaign modes however, but that is mainly because that mode made sure the battles were more unique. Talking about modes, apart from the two campaigns, there are skirmish battles and a mode called galactic conquest, where as the name suggests you'll have to conquer the galaxy, and this is an interesting part of the game, for a good portion of this mode you won't be in battle, you'll be viewing the galaxy and the planets you control as well as your enemies' planets, training both ground and space units and making buildings, as well as transporting troops and strengthening your economy, and this galactic conquest mode can extend and get really tense thanks to all of that, however it can get tedious after a while. Multiplayer is LAN only, which is a shame, since some online battles would definitely have been very interesting. A feature that this game has that is very noteworthy is the movie camera mode, it lets you see battles as if it was a movie, it can be a little distracting amidst the action, however when you can put the camera and relax it is great, but as I said it shines way more in space than land. Also, strategy-game wise it isn't that deep, there are few hotkeys and options that you would use in other strategy games like Starcraft 2. Overall I think it's a good game, but some issues lead it to not be great, I'd say download the demo (which is a good demo by the way) and judge by yourself, as for me, I think my purchase was good, but the potential that Star Wars has still wasn't used to it's fullest.… Expand
  14. KneelB4Zod
    Dec 13, 2006
    6
    Da Gameboyz hit the nail on tha head; this game's biggest positive reinforcement, it that it come from the Star Wars Genre and has all that cool star wars stuff. If it had been any other space oriented game it would have fallen on its face and bit off its tongue. Honestly, the game isn't terrible, its quite fun. However, once you beat the game, its sucks a fat one.... i had had Da Gameboyz hit the nail on tha head; this game's biggest positive reinforcement, it that it come from the Star Wars Genre and has all that cool star wars stuff. If it had been any other space oriented game it would have fallen on its face and bit off its tongue. Honestly, the game isn't terrible, its quite fun. However, once you beat the game, its sucks a fat one.... i had had more fun popping pimples than continuing playing this game. P.S. idk what all you critics are talking about, that was incredibly easier than you make it out to be. "grind through the game" my ass, i bet you can't play a video game for sh.... PWN..... yea it makes me feel like a bigger man.… Expand
  15. PoviR.
    Mar 18, 2007
    10
    Love this game. Multiplayer galactic conquest is where it's at.My buddy and I are still trying to beat each other after a week of playing a 40+ planet campaign. Brilliant! Saving your game during multiplayer is also a nice touch. Also, you don't need a super mega PC to run this game, unlike the current stock out there.
  16. JakeK.
    Apr 20, 2006
    3
    I can't believe how anyone could give this game a 10 or a 9. I thought this was one of the worst star wars games ever. They have almost no different kinds of troops or veicles and the maps are very small. The only good part of this game was when i played the first 10 minutes of it.
  17. TobyD.
    Feb 18, 2006
    1
    I thought this was the worst game I've ever been conned into buying by overzealous reviews by people I don't think have even played this game. do like starwars, but we've had some problems with Star wars games, Battlefront 2 sucked like a £5 whore. I.e - badly. This is worse. This is, quite possibly the WORST game I have EVER played. The graphics are appalling. They I thought this was the worst game I've ever been conned into buying by overzealous reviews by people I don't think have even played this game. do like starwars, but we've had some problems with Star wars games, Battlefront 2 sucked like a £5 whore. I.e - badly. This is worse. This is, quite possibly the WORST game I have EVER played. The graphics are appalling. They are irritating and cutesy, while lacking in detail, the only thing that looks good is the explosions in the space battles. Don't get me started on the inconsistencies. Just trust me, if you're a star wars fan this game will irritate you. Perfect example - During the formative years of the Rebellion, acccording to EAW the SOLE method the Rebel Alliance had for gathering intelligence was.... wait for it... R2D2 & C3P0. "Many camp droids died to bring you this information..." Also, apparently the Rebellion is just as strong as the empire. No, really. Click single player, click the SUPPOSEDLY freeform conquest mode that - MAKES YOU PICK A LINEAR SCENARIO. Pick Galactic conquest (the only relatively freeform one, although if you replay it, they always attack the same places) try starting it from BOTH sides. Compare fleets and troops. Lucasarts? I wish I could defenestrate whoever was responsible for this pile of s**t. And the ground combat...? No, I can't. I'll cry. I'd say find out for yourself, but... Ok, one quick thing, all combat, both ground and orbital reminds me of warcraft 2 without the charm. You have a set square map, with predefined "terrain" like asteroid fields. You can't alter the camera angle at all, although you do have a very limited zoom function. except you can't Build units. Use pre-built - hammer the crap out of stuff. Very command and conquer but with even less strategy and charm (and I AM talking the FIRST C&C!)… Expand
  18. MarcO.
    Jun 7, 2006
    4
    The fact that there is no senario editor gives it a bad fall in points. This game is fairly dissapointing, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds beats this.
  19. RTSGuru
    Feb 10, 2006
    10
    This is by no means your traditional RTS. This game is fresh and new and offers strategy gamers something different with galactic, space and ground battles. The interface is streamlined and easy-to use, it just down right addicting. If you want more than the standard generic offering of strategy games currently available, this game is for you. By far the best Star Wars RTS/Strategy game This is by no means your traditional RTS. This game is fresh and new and offers strategy gamers something different with galactic, space and ground battles. The interface is streamlined and easy-to use, it just down right addicting. If you want more than the standard generic offering of strategy games currently available, this game is for you. By far the best Star Wars RTS/Strategy game to do date.… Expand
  20. Mr.Vader
    Feb 21, 2006
    8
    There are some good points and bad points to be said here, (GOOD) out of all the star wars RTS games that have ever been made this one is the best of the lot. (BAD) I
  21. MookN.
    Mar 5, 2006
    5
    This game was very disappointing. As one of the few fans of Rebellion, I was elated when I heard this game was coming out. It sounded like the sequel I'd waited so long for, but with actual 3d space combat. (Finally a chance to employ all of my Homeworld skills in the Star Wars universe!) When I discovered that the space maps were 1.) tiny and 2.) Effectively not 3d but a very basic This game was very disappointing. As one of the few fans of Rebellion, I was elated when I heard this game was coming out. It sounded like the sequel I'd waited so long for, but with actual 3d space combat. (Finally a chance to employ all of my Homeworld skills in the Star Wars universe!) When I discovered that the space maps were 1.) tiny and 2.) Effectively not 3d but a very basic RTS map I nearly fell out my chair. This game is designed for kids of all ages. The tactics are simple: overwhelm by numbers. The graphics are okay, the front end and in game overlays are not well laid out, and it's nothing new. In fact, Empire at War… Expand
  22. SteveT.
    May 31, 2006
    6
    Very pretty and atmospheric. Shallow and repetitive however- I didnt even feel the urge to play the Rebel campaign after finishing the Imp one.
  23. AdamL.
    Nov 30, 2005
    10
    Are You Ready for this? This game really shows you the expanse of the LucasArts Industry! I got to test it, and man does it kick ---!!! There are still some glitches in the space battles, but once there fixed, it'll be the best game they ever came out with!!!
  24. MattB.
    Feb 10, 2006
    10
    Red Alert eat your heart out!
  25. RonM.
    Feb 14, 2006
    10
    All I can say is Wow! These guys have managed to seperate from the boring traditional style of RTS play. The game is highly addictive and 30+ hours of gameplay content easy. The best part, the pulled this off in the Star Wars universe. If you are a strategy fan, this is a must have game.
  26. BlackFox
    Feb 21, 2006
    8
    Star Wars ha been really lacking a proper Strategy game since Rebellion and this is the game to fill that need. Looking back at past SW strategy games Epire at wars seems like a good combination of all these elements and really feels like a galactic scale conquest. The battles look and feel beautiful in space and are good even on the ground. The gameplay is long lasting wioth easily 20 Star Wars ha been really lacking a proper Strategy game since Rebellion and this is the game to fill that need. Looking back at past SW strategy games Epire at wars seems like a good combination of all these elements and really feels like a galactic scale conquest. The battles look and feel beautiful in space and are good even on the ground. The gameplay is long lasting wioth easily 20 hours of play in both single player campaings and overall I am amazingly happy with this game. However, there was a few problems I noticed durign my play. First off battles can get reptative and tedious, but the fact your going to diffrent enviroments ever 10 to 30 minutes seems to make up for this problem. Also their is some problems with with units getting stuck. I had a victory class and several soilder units get stuck and not move from their position (even to fire) over several battles, though this is rare its annoying never the less. Another problem is with control glitches, often my cursor will not want to drag over units and i am forced to press escape bringing up the menu and returning to the game in order to get that back. However the game was just released and these problems will be fixed eventually and do not hamper the game play much. Overall some aspects could have been better and hopefully an expansion will allow the production of Super Star Destroyers, B-wings, hero's like Thrawn and other cool units that were left out.… Expand
  27. Liam
    Feb 3, 2006
    9
    after installing the bryant 2.0 mod for this demo(this mod opens up the demo to include many more units and a bigger campaine map) ive come to the conclusion that this is the greatest star wars RTS to date i love how they have changed the resource collectiong part e,g, there is no resource collecting. the camera angles are great and the cinimatic mode is just a great idea, with all theafter installing the bryant 2.0 mod for this demo(this mod opens up the demo to include many more units and a bigger campaine map) ive come to the conclusion that this is the greatest star wars RTS to date i love how they have changed the resource collectiong part e,g, there is no resource collecting. the camera angles are great and the cinimatic mode is just a great idea, with all the battle chatter and fantastic musical score happening during battles it the only RTS that draws you in to it universe this game is destined for greatness. lets just hope they dont screw up the release of this game.… Expand
  28. RobertThompson
    Feb 5, 2006
    10
    This game is awesome! It offers strategy gamers a new way to play with three levels of gameplay (space, ground and agalactic). Beats the heck out of the standard generic template RTS games these days. Who would have thought this cool stuff to come from a Star Wars game.
  29. VidM.
    Feb 8, 2006
    5
    When all is said and done, it's just another uninspired strategy game. The space battles ae somewhat interesting, but ground battles tend to drag. Separation of building and battles takes a lot of the fun of stategy games out. I simply can't recommend this game. Star Wars fanatics only need apply.
  30. StrellS.
    Mar 2, 2006
    10
    An absolutely fantastic strategy game whether you like Star Wars or not! Exceptionally strong multiplayer element that is extremely fun! Best strategy game I played since StarCraft and RA2!
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

48
#48 Best PC Game of 2006
24
#24 Most Discussed PC Game of 2006
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 45
  3. Negative: 0 out of 45
  1. The Sydney Morning Herald
    60
    Empire at War hits all the right notes if you're a Star Wars fan, but be prepared to grind out your victories.
    Read full review
  2. Game Informer
    83
    It's not every day that a licensed game actually makes its source material cooler, especially when you are talking about Star Wars. [Mar 2006, p.114]
  3. IGN
    76
    Star Wars: Empire at War definitely scores big in terms of style. Gamers who are looking for an authentic Star Wars experience will not be disappointed with this one... What really stinks is that the actual gameplay isn't exciting enough to support the setting.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »