First Impressions

Developer: Ronin
Publisher: Lucas Arts
Star Wars: Commander official page: http://focom.lucasarts.com

Quickie

Today we have Star Wars: Force Commander in the house! Lucas Arts, once again, cashes in on that powerhouse of a brand we have all come to know as Star Wars. Previous games released on this brand focused more on action. Force Commander, however, is the first real time strategy game put out under the Star Wars banner.

Prepare to see this a lot.

Sand Crawler anyone?

Bit 'bout Visuals

First off, the game interface is done well. Full camera panning is allowed, and features true 3-D environments. On a nifty graphical note, gusts of dust look spectacular in this game. Think slightly thinned out Quake 3 fog, and then have it flowing through a region. Dope eh? On a performance note, this thing is literally killing my system. I do have all the details on though, but at a decent resolution.

Zoomed in baby!

Ooo look another load screen!

How?

Gameplay types run the usual one player storyline, along with a few skirmish options. Multiplayer, to my disappointment, is limited to 4 players. On a positive note, the developers claim the engine can support up to 100 moving units on the screen at a time: I would hate to see the frame rate at that point! Another nice addition is the ability to change a unit's disposition. One can make a unit passive, and have it not fire at all. The other extreme being "belligerent," which will allow that unit to actively chase and kill enemy units.

Force Commander does allow use of both Rebel and Imperial forces. There are over 15 types of units available for each side. These units can be upgraded for speed and other attributes, and, as an added touch of realism, become better fighters as their combat experience increases.

GUI could have used some work.

Check out the fog.

Luke?

The plot so far is pretty good. The few bits of storyline that we have seen already hint at a conversion over to the Rebel side. The plot also seems to parallel the original Star Wars storyline.

Force Commander looks to have a decent two-cents worth in it. So come on back for the full review, coming soon! Enjoy the few bits of eye-candy that we have here - we'll see if this game turns out to be choc full o' gaming goodness in the final review.