Brood_McEto's Full Review: Shadow Of Destiny for Windows
A long time ago, in our own galaxy, LucasArts put out quality software that usually brought up the whole genre. X-Wing was the first Space Combat sim that was any good, and (almost) every title in the X-wing series was really good, and brought new graphics and gameplay.
Then came the darkness. After X-Wing Alliance (great game) came out, LucasArts didn't do so hot in the PC games world. The Episode One software pretty much tanked. Then, Force Commander came out and proved that LucasArts can make a terrible game. Yeah, the graphics were good, and the idea is good, but you have to have good and easy gameplay and controls to accomplish a great game. They didn't do that for Force Commander. Put behind the sluggish and complicated game that it was 3 years in the making and you realize that this game was almost a complete waste of effort.
Now, in 2001, LucasArts begins to redeem itself. I've been hearing about the game for sometime now, but had no faith in it since my last few tries with LucasArts left me dry. I wasn't anticipating a good game, and didn't even care when it came out.
Then, at a retail store, they had a trial of this game on a display computer. I clicked and moved and played for a few seconds and realized that this was going to be at least better than the ill-conceived Force Commander. They had the game for $50, but it was still a bit steep for me.
The next day, I received a flyer from another video/book store and saw that the game indeed was $20 off the regular price. So, I rushed down and bought it. I wasn't disappointed.
That night I played almost all the way through the basic training scenario. I was impressed. The game plays much like another favorite of mine, Age Of Empires. In fact, you could almost take Age Of Empires and just change names and graphics and call it Galactic Battlegrounds.
The next day I began to read the manual, because I never read the manual first. That's a waste of learning time, in my opinion. Well, on the first two pages, LucasArts explains that this game is based on the sequel to my favorite real-time strategy (RTS) game, Age Of Empires II: Age of Kings. AHA! I thought to myself, no wonder I'm digging this one.
LucasArts evidently learned a little bit from their last few outings. Don't go over the top, just go for what's better than the competition, and if you can't beat 'em, use 'em.
This game is every bit as good as AOEII (Age Of Empires II) and better. It adds new options to the game, such as Kill the Commander. This is where each civilization has a 'hero' commander that they have to protect, and each civilization has to kill the other commanders in order to win. Clever idea. There are other gameplay options also, and what is really neat is that you get to play on Star Wars worlds. Ones that we've seen, and ones we've only heard about.
I'm not sure how much development was put into this game, but they did a good job. There are six civilizations: Rebels, Imperials, Gungans, Naboo, Wookiees, and Trade Federation. They each have the basic technologies and then they each have special technologies. For example, Gungans have better water craft and can build underwater. Wookiees have stronger troops, and rebels are good pilots. Everything makes sense, and even though it's not canon to Star Wars, it draws off the canon sources.
The basic training scenario has Qui-Gon instructing us how to play. There are 6 or 7 parts to it, where Qui-Gon tells us how to build, move, and fight. It's really easy for anyone, and really not all that annoying if you've played AOE or AOEII. The training takes place on Alaris Prime, and we are none other than Chewbacca! Interesting tie between the trilogies. The last part of the training is the fight against the Trade Federation and the Wookiees. It was tough to build up to the level needed, but once there, it was easy to defeat the Federation.
Once you complete the training (but you don't have to) you can go on to the campaigns section. There you can be Boss Nass, Chewie, Leia, Vader, OOL-9, or Amidala. There are several levels to complete with various objectives. This gives the game a nice replay value and depth. Don't wanna play the rebels? Switch to Vader. Wanna be the bad guys from The Phantom Menace? Go Ahead. It's all here and really nicely done.
You can also just play skirmishes against the computer or other players. This allows you quite a bit of control over what you'll be doing. Each civilization has their own workers, troops, and mechs, so each time you pick a new tribe, you'll see different graphics. Rebels use R2 units, the Empire uses worker droids (ASPs) as workers, and ride different animals, from Dewbacks to Taun-Tauns.
In the original AOE, you sometimes had to 'walk' your troops or workers to the place they needed to go. You couldn't always just click them and click where they needed to go, because they were not 'smart' enough to walk around the cliffs or trees or water. This is still a problem in GB (Galactic Battlegrounds) but not nearly as bad. I had a small problem trying to get my heavy troopers to maneuver around some cliffs to destroy an outpost, but after a little coaxing, they did well.
I haven't played through a whole campaign yet, but I'm working with Leia and the rebels. The stories behind the campaigns fit into the Star Wars timeline well, and don't interfere with things we already know. Although technically it's possible for the rebels to run into Gungans, I haven't run into them in the campaigns. Everything is well thought out and fits well with everything.
There is a databank where you can find lots of information on the civilizations, planets, vehicles, troops, and just about everything you can think of. I was impressed, and for a die-hard Star Wars fan, that's a lot.
LucasArts has redeemed themselves to me with this game. Although it doesn't take the genre up a few levels, it definitely gives Star Wars fans a great RTS game to play. I look forward to any add-ons or expansions in the future. Hopefully LucasArts will keep this up and not make another Force Commander.
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