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The game revolves around six civilisations: the Trade Federation, Naboo and the infamous Gungans - which we've made every effort to make cool in the game, and yes, Jar- Jar's in there - and three from Episodes Four to Six. There's the Alliance, the Empire and the Wookees
Controlling each civilisation represents a separate chapter in the game, which follows canonical Star Wars quite closely, although you can rewrite the events of the movies any way you please in the entirely free-form skirmish mode. Being Star Wars, there's as strong a narrative component as there is a strategy one, so in each of the six campaigns - and on the menu screen there's an ominous gap where Episode Two should be, waiting to be filled - you take the part of a character from the films, leading an army in authentically-styled settings. So you play Darth Vader hunting down the Rebels at Hoth for seven missions, and move on to play as Princess Leia commanding Alliance troops in the quest to smash the Empire once and for all. Other characters, such as Han, Luke, Obi-Wan and Jar-Jar make appearances throughout the game, acting as hero units with special powers.
As has been well documented, the game is based on the AOE engine and Ensemble has had a lot of input into the game - so the style of play will feel instantly familiar to RTS fans. Resource management is kept relatively simple, while commanding units and setting up build and research queues is very intuitive. The engine is no real looker, though.
The nature of Star Wars, with its human heroes facing seemingly insurmountable odds, seems contrary to the level of abstraction that makes a good RTS, but Gaber and his team seem confident that they have resolved any conflicts. Indeed, the recognisable hero characters give Battlegrounds an unprecedented level of variety for an RTS. With the imminent arrival of Civ III, Warrior Kings and Empire Earth, the stakes are going to be high. Galactic Battlegrounds, with the Star Wars and Age of Kings cards to play, has a strong hand - and I've seen just a few of the aces that remain up its sleeve
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