
	Platform PC Developer LucasArts Publisher LucasArts Genre Real-time Strategy ESRB T (Teen) Release Date May 2002

- More solid Galactic Battlegrounds action - Easy to spend several hours playing without realizing it - "Must have" if you're a fan

- Campaign missions are extremely long - Still a thousand and one keyboard shortcuts - Gimme a cutscene! - Cuts close to boredom on some missions

Review: Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth (PC) Review: Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (PC) Review: Savage: The Battle for Newerth (PC)
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Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns

Score: 7.0 / 10

As anyone who has been around PC gaming knows, expansion packs are hit and miss. Some are sterling examples of what not to do – take a popular game add a new feature or two, assemble a few half-hearted levels, then attempt to sell it to the gamers that bought the original. These situations can often kill interest in the original game (e.g. Star Trek Voyager’s Elite Force expansion, lamely titled “Expansion.”) But then there are expansions that get everything right – take a popular game and add plenty of new stuff that affects gameplay and spurs your desire to keep on playing. (e.g. Red Alert 2’s Yuri’s Revenge or any of the numerous Sims add-ons.) Clone Campaigns (CC) falls somewhere in the middle. (Take a minute to read our review of Galactic Battlegrounds (GB).)

There are only two campaigns for CC, but considering its inspiration is drawn from one movie instead of the four drawn from in GB, this is a good ratio. And both are freakin’ long -- at least according to me. (The plot lines are kind of interesting too.) Although my multiplayer prowess stinks (my win-loss record is atrocious), I specialized in whipping the computer AI’s sorry butt in GB. While definitely not a walk in the park, GB provided a reasonable challenge but not so much that I ever wanted to pull my hair out. But CC…

I must confess, it took me – on average – more than 3 hours to finish each level. My record time was 6 ¼ hours (this doesn’t allow for restarts or loading saved games). I found the AI to be punishing (on the moderate setting). Or am I just inept? Unable to grasp what I’m doing? A moron?

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Well, a little of all three I suppose, but I still don’t think that had anything to do with my inability to storm through a level then onto the next. No, most times I had to resort to building a complete civilization (and some resentment) before moving on. Some might find this interesting but I found it on the boring side – having to rebuild and upgrade everything again and again. (This doesn't apply to every level.) Fortunately, the same conventions and controls have been

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carried over from GB so relearning everything isn’t necessary. (Collecting ore, nova, food, carbon; building and upgrading various buildings; researching upgrades and tech levels, etc.) But there have been some additions in the obvious forms of units and technologies.

Most everything that shows up in Star Wars Episode II appears in CC. (Not surprising since it takes place during Episode II.) So expect to pit clones against drones, and vehicles ripped off from other sci-fi sources against one another (Starship Troopers and War of the Worlds). Overall, the new units are balanced so you don’t have a definite edge over your opponent – that’s up to your tactical ability, mixing units of various types and in different formations to maximize your attack while still being able to defend. Balancing so many different races is a tough job but LucasArts has met the challenge. They've actually gone back and tweaked quite a number of elements, mostly how much units and upgrading costs, but they've also increased the population limit and given new team bonuses. During the multiplayer games (and skirmish modes) it’s tons of fun to pit Clones against Stormtroopers, even when I get my head handed to me on platter.

Graphically there have been no upgrades (aside from the new units and structures) but you can still tell Geonosis from Eredenin. But depending on your anal retentiveness, the lack of graphical updates might annoy you. After all, the Age of Empires engine, which CC uses, must be all of 18 months old. Something that’s a little disappointing is a lack of cutscenes. After fighting the AI for 6 ¼ hours, even a crummy little FMV clip would have been nice. But the intro movie is pretty good. Audio is fine and dandy – I can find nothing to complain about, even after so many hours of listening to it.

I’m not confident to declare Clone Campaigns a “must have.” At times, I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit – my army of Jedi Masters kickin’ droid butt – and multiplayer games are a highlight. The unpredictable nature of online games against human opponents is far more interesting than the single-player game. However, if you’re a fan of the original game, snatch it up because it adds lots more to Galactic Battlegrounds (including some user-made maps) and should bring you hours of gaming. (Trust me.)

- Omni