I would obsessively play this game back when I was a child. I played Age of Empires II first. So when someone told me that there was a game just like Age of Empires II, but Star Wars, I was pretty damn psyched. Good times. But enough nostalgia -- does this old gem still hold up today? Well, in an objective sense, yes. Seriously, it's Age of Empires II but Star Wars, what's not to like? Sure, it's a little weird how you can have the Rebel Alliance fighting Gungans, but that's no less realistic than having Vikings go head-to-head with the Japanese in AoEII. Some of the campaigns are pretty good, though some of missions are admittedly pretty boring. But how does it differ from Age of Empires II? Well, for one, there are several new features in the game. Jedi/Sith units can stealth, and require special units to see them. Jedi themselves are basically just Monks who can attack people (while still retaining the ability to "wololo" people, as well). There are air units now, that also require specific units to shoot down (apparently storm troopers cannot fathom the idea of aiming their blasters into the sky). Several races have cool unique features to them. Gungans, for example, can construct buildings in water. The Trade Federation does not require prefab shelters (read: houses). So after all these years I'd still say it's a good game, and would definitely recommend it. However... From a technical standpoint, the game is in dire need of an update. Personally, I wish it received the treatment Age of Empires II got, with the HD re-release. You're probably going to want to browse around the GOG community and look for some wide-screen resolution patches and make a batch file to shut off explorer.exe, because it has the infamous Windows 7 color bug. Even with these work-arounds, I don't quite remember the UI being so obnoxiously large so long ago, but it is exactly that. Also, the main menu still has a link to the MSN Gaming Zone. The Zone... Good times, good times.
