Premise
I describe this as a Star Wars Battle simulation/ First person shooter. You are set in a map and you proceed to act out a battle in the Star Wars universe. You get to play through battles that are found in the original movies and the new prequels.

Gameplay
You play as one of 4 armies that are basically the same. They are the rebels, the empire, the droid army, the naboo army, or the republic. All of the armies have a rifleman, a sniper, a rocket launcher dude (or mortar launcher), a pilot/mechanic, and the fifth unit is unique. There are slight variations with the fifth unit like the droideak (destroyer druids) and the dark trooper, but they are basically the same armies and therefore well balanced. No army has an advantage over another. The advantage mainly comes with where you are on the map and the vehicles you have access to.
In order to win a map you need to either kill off all of the units or occupy all of the waypoints. In order to possess a waypoint you need to be near the waypoint itself and get rid of any enemies that are around it. It takes about 15 seconds to fully occupy a waypoint. Most of the time you will just kill off all of your enemies to win a map which will average 200 kills.

Multiplayer
There are three multiplayer modes. You can play split screen with another person, you can link up multiple Xboxes, or you can play online. In split screen mode you are limited to playing with only one other person. This sucks when I have more than one friend over so we usually play Halo instead. In split screen mode you get to do everything you can in single player mode with the exception of four maps in galactic conquest. Xbox live supports up to 24 players.

AI
The AI pretty much sucks. The problem stems from having more units on the map then the cpu can control at any one time. I have seen units standing around doing nothing (this happens a lot), units running into a pillar and continuing to run, units running straight into battle with no thought of cover or team work, taking a vehicle and just walking around until it sees an enemy. As a sniper you can frequently take out soldiers that are just standing around or use cover to you advantage even when they do not.

Map design
The maps are pretty basic, you just start from one side of the map and move to another for most of them. The only real exceptions are when one army is primarily in the middle and the other is primarily on the outskirts, but that design fails to give the feeling of a base assault. It would have been cool to have a map creation tool on the PC and then transfer those to the Xbox, but as usual I am in my own fantasy world.

Problems with the gameplay
The biggest problem is that there are too many units for the CPU to properly utilize. Many times you have a unit just standing around getting shot up. This happens a lot. It seems like the computer can only control 10 units on each side properly and switches around to keep the illusion that all of the units (I am guessing 25 for each side) are functioning properly. In the heat of battle you usually will not see this issue but once you take a step back and explore (or snipe) then you really see the problem.
The other issue is there are only a limited number of units on the map at any one time. So there really is not a battle of 400 units at one time. What happens is once a unit dies it can respawn by taking a life off the life counter. It will probably be another 10 years until we see this game made that can properly run a real Star Wars simulation (at least to a level I want.)

Units, vehicles, and balancing issues.
The balancing issues are not with the units but with the vehicles and map design. The maps sacrificed balance and creativity for realism. There are some maps where you can hop into a vehicle and defend a particular spot on a map for an easy win. On one map I only lost 50 soldiers and killed 200 of their just by camping out with an AT-AT. Not well balanced in my opinion. About half the maps I can use a similar strategy and rack up over 40 kills without even trying. This strategy is a little harder to do in multiplayer but it still works.

Sound
I think the sound and music are perfect. It does not distract from the game but it does contribute to the overall illusion.

Graphics
Graphics are what I expect out of the Xbox. The only issue is because of the shear amount of unit on the map you cannot have any of the “eye-popping” graphics that I so adore. But the graphics are good enough to create the illusion of being in a real Star Wars battle. There is nothing in this department that makes me say “that isn’t right.”

Control and Camera
The control was relatively good. Not perfect, just good. You have the choice of 1st and 3rd person perspective. First person perspective seems easier to play with for me but 3rd person gives you a wider view of the playing field. I will usually play with the 1st person view while playing units and 3rd person for vehicles. The problem is I have to keep going to the menu to change back and forth, this really needs to be set to one of the buttons.
Most of the vehicles are very difficult to control. Either the vehicles were put in the last minute or this is a way for them to balance the game. The AT-ST almost never wants to go straight and it likes to wobble a lot. The Tie Fighter and X-Wing are nearly impossible to control. I get more damage from crashing into things than I do from enemy fire. And when I am not crashing into the ground I find I do not kill as many units as I can with a soldier on foot.
Even though the camera did not hinder my performance, I still was not wild about it. But you never have to worry about a wall hindering your view or weird things like that.

Overall Length & Replay Value
You can finish all the maps in 8-24 hours depending on your skill level. I did not see any replay value in the 2 campaigns. The galactic conquest tries to give a second life to the game but I feel it fails for the most part. The only real replay value is to be found online or split screen. I only play it with friends now.

Extras
You basically can only unlock some artwork. It is interesting to look at but definitely not worth buying the game for. The other Star Wars games have much better unlockable extras.

Should I buy this game?
No, if you are a Star Wars fanatic then you only need to rent it. It is not worth buying. The only exception is if you want something new to play online. Online play does add value to the game but if you want an online shooter then go pick up halo2.

About the rating
I am giving this game a 7.6 out of 10. I think it is a fun game for Star Wars fans, but if you are not into Star Wars then I would suggest avoiding it. Right now the only reason I pull it out is to play multiplayer with friends that come over.

Summary
This is a descent attempt at simulating the Star Wars universe. This game lacks good AI and great multiplayer maps. Replay value is very limited, especially if you do not have Xbox live. But you do get to experience a small taste of what a Star Wars battle would be like, albeit a small taste.

Other video games or gaming hardware you might find interesting.
Nintendo Wii game console
Logitech wireless controller
Star Wars Rogue Squadron III
XIII


Recommended: Yes