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Petroglyph discusses design and microtransactions for Mytheon
For a lot of people, the MMO/RTS hybrid has been an unwieldy beast at times. That's not to say there aren't interesting titles to check out, such as Dreamlords, Atlantica and SAGA. However, nobody has quite made a huge splash with an MMORTS just yet. So could the recently announced Mytheon be the first game to catch a lot of people's attention? Well, why don't you see for yourself in this 1UP interview with the game's developer, Petroglyph -- whose previous games include Universe at War and Star Wars: Empire at War.Since there haven't been any screens -- and probably won't be for a while -- it's hard to make too many judgments at this point. The interview promises some interesting, if not vague, features. So you can bet we'll be on the lookout for any future information about Mytheon in the coming months.
Metareview - Star Wars: Empire at War
Here's one that's all over the galactic map. While most of the gaming press acknowledges Star Wars: Empire at War as superior to its RTS predecessors (Rebellion, Force Commander, and Galactic Battlegrounds), scores still ranged from 60 to 92. It was unanimous that the land battles were less interesting than the space conflicts, due in part to repetitive environments on the ground. Additionally, many reviewers had issues with the game's lack of strategic depth. However, Petroglyph has been applauded for presenting the Star Wars universe on a much grander scale than has been seen in any of the franchise's other titles to date, and it's quite possible they simply wanted to make Empire at War as accessible as the Battle for Middle-earth series. GameSpot (87/100) was impressed with the Star Wars authenticity and overall presentation: "Logical differences in the optimal playing style between the Empire and Rebellion, as well as an epic presentation befitting of the license, contribute to a fantastic overall package that any strategy-game player can appreciate." 1UP (80/100) enjoyed the Galactic Conquest mode, but had this to say about single player: "Campaign mode moves at a sort of jerky pace, and everything moves too quickly to really enjoy. It's climactic, yes, but the abruptness cuts short your time to enjoy finally accessing your ultimate technologies." IGN (76/100) would have liked to see larger maps, but enjoyed the action: "While the galactic management of the game is satisfying, the game really doesn't take off until you actually take part in the full battles. The space battles come damn close to capturing the excitement of the films. It should be mentioned that, while heroes can play a big role in space battles, they tend to be much more effective on the ground." GameSpy (70/100) had issues with the interface and too many hidden features that should have been more obvious: "It does a wonderful job of bending, breaking, and often reinventing the normal RTS rules to create as Star Wars a feel as you could possibly hope for... But the bad news is that it's not easy to play Empire at War so that it lives up to its fullest potential." [via GameStats, Metacritic]
Empire at War - a force to be reckoned with
LucasArts is taking a big step back into the RTS genre with this week's release of Star Wars: Empire at War. To commemorate the occasion, Ferrago has put together a preview that discusses the game's synergy between ground and space combat, including the Civ4-esque bird's-eye view with tactical zooming. You can also check out GameSpot's new Designer Diary with Petroglyph president and lead programmer Michael Legg. He discusses the Alamo graphics engine and the three major features of Empire that sets it apart from other strategy games. It looks and sounds impressive, and had a positive reception at last year's E3. But will Empire offer enough to make us forget the foul stench of Force Commander and the mediocrity of Galactic Battlegrounds? If not, you can always dust off your old Kenner AT-ATs and stomp on your buddy's rebel scum action figures.
Single-player Star Wars: Empire at War demo online
The single-player demo of Star Wars: Empire at War is now available online, which means we can all get our SW RTS freak on, well... by ourselves. The nice-looking Empire at War is quite a step up from previous strategy incarnations of the seminal sci-fi series (at least visually), so now we can marvel at how many differently-colored laser blasts can fill one screen on your computer at a time. After watching one of the most exciting opening sequences to a Star Wars movie in years last summer, we're pumped to try anything that'll replicate that massive space-battle feeling. We've been waiting quite a while for word on this game (in a near-final format), so would any early brave demo downloaders care to share about the experience? [Thanks, Matt T.]
Star Wars: Empire at War trailer
Gamespot have a nice, new trailer up for Star Wars: Empire at War, featuring some spectacular battle footage. Or at least that's what it says. My system decided to say "Video? What video?" and choked spectacularly on it, so if I've directed you to a trailer that doesn't deliver what it promises, well, at least you got to see something that sounds better than Phantom Menace.
Star Wars: Empire at War screenies
Okay, so we know that the pretty pictures companies put out are a complete pack of lies in many cases. We also know that game visuals will, invariably, be turned down somewhat. But man, check out that Imperial Star Destroyer! Plus there's a good shot of some Jawa Sandcrawler being owned, albeit with one particularly creative Jawa looking like he's about to shoot Darth in the back. Man, wouldn't that stink. The greatest evil in the universe, shot in the back by a Jawa.
Star Wars Empire at War delayed
Word on the Lucas Arts site is that Star Wars Empire at War is getting bumped by a few months. The original launch period was Fall 2005, but the official game site now lists Spring 2006. It's an ambitious project that could help set the quality of post-film Star Wars games for years to come. Take all the time you need folks. [via GameGossip]
New Star Wars: Empire at War screenshots to lust over
Another day, another Star Wars game. There's, what? About a thousand of them now? Sure seems that way. Unlike other franchises *cough*startrek*cough*, Star Wars games tend to be more hit than miss. Empire at War is looking good. Note the wording. LOOKING good. No idea on the gameplay. The one thing that concerns us is on one screenshot. Check out that lovely AT-AT. Nice! Then check out the X-Wing doing peculiar things in the bottom right. Hmmm...
Star Wars: Empire at War screenshots on 3D Gamers
3D Gamers has a slew of new Star Wars: Empire at War pics. The images are mostly space combat scenes, which is fine with us. The idea of having a well-done Star Wars RTS amongst the stars is pretty damn appealing. From what we gather, the way the controls will work, is you'll be able to control different classes of ships as they battle on different spatial planes. Since space has no up or down, it's a real challenge to make it work (though the Homeworld series did an admirable job of handling it).
Star Wars: Empire at War preview on Gamespy
Head on over to Gamespy for a basic overview of what you can expect from Star Wars: Empitre at War. The article doesn't have anything new in it, but it does clarify some of the details. The real-time strategy game, being developed by Petroglyph, is shaping up nicely. It looks like they're serious about shaking up the RTS format a bit, with consistent forces from one level to the next, and practically zero resource gathering. Though, what is the problem with resource gathering? People treat it like stuttering framerate in first-person shooters. Isn't it part of the fun to protect your gatherers? You don't hear anyone complaining about having to gather ammo in an FPS.
Star Wars: Empire at War details emerge
Gamespot has grabbed some details on the upcoming real-time strategy game, Star Wars: Empire at War. The game will take place between Episode III and Episode IV of the serial, and will include many familiar ships and settings. You can fight in the boots of the rebellion or the Empire, depending on what kind of game you want to play. If you want stealth and cunning, then the rebels will be your side. They have older (and less) resources at their disposal. But they're good at slipping around for guerrilla warfare. The Empire has the galaxy at its disposal, but is more like a clumsy giant than a well-oiled machine. There's also an interview with a couple of the team members available to wrap the coverage up. The keyword of the clip is "persistence". As in, the persistence of this game from level to level will transform the way we view RTS games. We'll see, by the end of this year.
Star Wars: Empire at War preview puts it all together
We've only been getting bits and piece of information on the upcoming Star Wars real-time strategy game, Star Wars: Empire at War. Now someone has finally put together a solid look at what's being worked on. There are still lofty promises being made, but it sounds like they have their head screwed on straight. Smart pathfinding, solid formations, limited resource management; it all sounds great to us. The only thing that sounds like it could be a challenge is the dynamic storytelling. The preview steps through a couple of scenarios that are meant to show how the gameplay will differ from other RTS games.
Star Wars Empire at War scans to fill your screen
Voodoo Extreme has linked to some huge magazine scans of the upcoming real-time strategy game, Star Wars: Empire at War. The pics are from PCZones UK, so they must be a little pissed right about now. The links include the images, as well as the article itself. In it, you'll find a number of promises that the game will be better than Force Commander, the last Star Wars RTS title (hint: it wasn't good). Indeed, the article paints a clear picture of some excellent scenarios. The developers have done RTS before, so maybe this time around, Lucas will get it right.
