Game: "Star Wars: Empire at War"

Console: PC

Developer/publisher: Lucas Arts & Petroglyph

Genre: Real-time strategy

Number of players: 1-2

Rated: T, for teens

The premise: It is the galactic civil war. Take control of the Empire or the Rebellion and lead your troops to victory. Command everything from a squad of Storm Troopers to AT-ATs and Star Destroyers, or even a Death Star. Follow the original story line or rewrite it.

Game play: The controls for "Star Wars: Empire at War" are similar to most strategy games'. The mouse is used to select units and give them orders such as movement. To take control of a planet, you must gain control of the airspace around it using space units and then land troops to control the surface. The more planets you control, the more money you gain, and the more units you can construct. To gain more-advanced units, the Empire must develop new technology with research stations, whereas the rebels must steal tech from the Empire using droids.

Adding to the difficulty: The enemies are aggressive and try to take control of planets frequently; they also attack with larger fleets and more-advanced units. There are usually greater losses on your side, making it harder to create a huge fleet, and increasing the emphasis on strategy rather than numbers.

The good/bad: Battles are massive and visually stunning, and with the cinema camera you can issue your orders and sit back to watch the chaos ensue. The game includes pretty much every vehicle and land troop from the original movie trilogy (IV to VI), from Speeder Bikes to Star Destroyers, and even some ships not seen before. The addition of heroes allows you to see some of your favorite characters, such as Boba Fett and Chewie, but there are few hero characters and some of them are virtual unknowns, like Mara Jade. But there is nothing like hauling a Death Star around the galaxy and vaporizing a planet at will.

Tips: Take advantage of the fast-forward button when trying to amass your armies or construct buildings. Use the auto-resolve option if you are overwhelmingly outnumbered in a battle, so you don't waste time. When you destroy a planet, its credit value goes down significantly and it will not be possible to construct any buildings on it, so don't get an itchy trigger finger with the Death Star. When you are not taking in all the credits you need, build mining stations to increase a planet's credit value.

My take: This is a great real-time strategy game. The differences between the rebels and empire — reflecting the resources each faction had available — are a great feature. The cinema view is a fine addition, making it a game and a movie. There is nothing like watching multiple Star Destroyers attacking a ragtag fleet of rebel ships as thousands of laser bolts fly through the sky.

Alex Ariola, a senior at Assets High School, is a participant in a student mentorship program at PC Gamerz in 'Aiea, through which The Advertiser received this review.