Star Wars: Force Commander (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

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Star Wars: Force Commander (Jewel Case)

Platforms: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me

 Average Customer Rating: 2.75/5.00
Amazon Sales Rank: 1,402
CD-ROM Release Date: 15 April, 2002
Manufacturer: LucasArts Entertainment

 View on Amazon (ASIN: B000063N7U)
Number of CD-ROMs: 1
Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours
 Amazon Price: $9.99

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Amazon Customer Reviews of this item: (Average Rating is 2.75/5.00)

Rating: 2 [ To many bugs to deal with ]
I'm a pretty adament Star Wars fan, although i'm not to crazy about episodes 1&2, but that is for a different review, so naturally i went out and bought this game when it first came out. Unfortunately it is riddled with problems that even it's impressive graphics couldn't overcome. In theory it is a good game, but in theory utopia is possible. I can see how the creators envisioned it, and i'm not angry with them, just disappointed they put out an obviously defective product. Game crashes, and controls that get impossible to use the more units you have destroy all enjoyment of this game. I got only a little bit into the Missions before i couln't take it anymore. By the way, i have a Athalon 1.2, 400 Megs of ram, and a 128 voodoo 4 card, so there should be no problems, but for some reason there are. Overall i'd have to give this game:

Graphics: 4.0 (nice at the time, a little dated by this point)
Sound: 4.5 (some nice music and the such, but repetitive after a while, and some slight skipping)
Gameplay: 1.5 (this is where it loses a ton of points, it's an impossible game to play, even with overwhelming odds on your side, it's next to impossible to beat the computer)
Replay: 1.0 (I must admit, i tried numerous times to play this game, i just can't make it though an entire game it's to tedious.)

This game was good in theory, and from my understanding, Lucas Arts has made a much better one, so i recomend buying that.


Rating: 1 [ Okay, for 9 bucks, I might say it's worth it... ]
It's a stretch, but I might recommend this game for 9 bucks. Why the 1 star then? Because the current rating is way too high for such a lousy RTS. I feel an obligation to warn any potential buyers that you're not likely to enjoy the game even as much as I did, since I happen to be a hardcore Star Wars fan.

Force Commander made waves when it was due for release, since it was highly anticipated as the first Star Wars real-time strategy title (Rebellion doesn't count). It made even more waves after it did come out, but not because of record sales. Let's just say that it fell a bit short of expectations. Here's a few reasons why:

Clunky interface- The camera controls are terrible and the terrain following camera does its best to put hills in your face instead of what you really want/need to see (i.e. the fighting). Issuing directions and forming teams is much like the Blizzard Warcraft/Starcraft style, but the icons that represent your units give little indication of their status. The camera rotation is more a detriment to play than anything else, as clicking around the minimap is more likely to disorient you than actually focus on what you want to see.

Lousy pathfinding- This is something that just HAS to work in an RTS. It doesn't work in Force Commander. Units will get stuck for no apparent reason, especially when navigating steep terrain or narrow valleys. You'll often have to back everyone up and send them through one at a time- that is, if they CAN back out without getting stuck again. Needless to say, this isn't something you want to do if the enemy is waiting on the other end or, even worse, above you.

Weak AI- All right, so if the enemy has the high ground, no problem right? We'll just blast them from where we are. WRONG! The AI is stupid enough that if you target units with an obstruction in between, your forces will just sit there and shoot into the blockade. Usually you'll have to maneuver around and up and right on top of what you want to kill before they can even hit it.

Mediocre graphics- All right, you would think they at least got this part right. After all, what is Star Wars without the special effects? While the scaling does look better than your typical RTS, Force Commander's graphics are obviously outdated (I'm saying this from when it was released, let alone now). While the units are decently modeled, the problem is that if you zoom in enough to see the detail, you pretty much give up your command privileges. That said, the weapon effects and movement are uninspiring and repetitive. It looks like something you'd expect out of a lesser 2-D game, and in fact I'd argue a lot of 2-D strategy games do a better job.

Soundtrack- This is a serious problem. I don't know what the folks at LucasArts were thinking, but the John Williams soundtrack is as much a part of Star Wars as the Force. They did something based off it, and the result is an assault on your ears. Don't listen to it.

Stupid resource model- Or more appropriate, NO resource model. Points to LucasArts for thinking up something new, to keep the battle going rather than worrying about mining resources. And negative points for making it so stupid. I would almost say it's unworkable, but it might actually work as long as you stick to single play.

Balance issues- So what's the real reason this game is tempting? Let me guess... AT-ATs right? Sorry to rain on the party, but AT-ATs are lousy. They get stuck more easily than other units and cost too much. You're much better off building stormtroopers. Yup, just those will do it. In fact, you can win any fight with just infantry, and pretty darn quickly too.

Since I've put in all these words deprecating the product, I'll also say that it does have some strong points. First off, the story is decent, which is better than you'd expect from a typical RTS. The movies are also worth seeing at least once, and at the moment FoCom remains the only 3-D Star Wars RTS (Galactic Battlegrounds is the other, based off the Age of Kings engine). Lastly, it's dirt cheap now, so it might be a worthy risk if you're a very bored person. Just don't expect to be blown away.


Rating: 4 [ Good game, hard to play ]
This game has great graphics/sound/music/story line, just hard to play.I reccomend it to any star wars gamer though!!:)