I will agree with some here. This game is involved and engaging. It does require LOTS of time to complete. You will click your finger off. This is just part of the game. The only game you can compare this to is the game it was built on...Age of Empires II. If you like AOEII, you will like this game as well. If you like Star Wars, you will LOVE this game. That is what makes this game fun, it is NOT like all the other games. I enjoyed Starcraft and Warcraft. But this game is much more than these.
Unlike others below, I have had no problems running the program in OS9 or OSx. Never crashed once. I use a B&W G3 upgraded to G4 with the stock Rage 16mb card.
At first I thought this game was going to involve "micromanagement". With the 4 resources you need, you will never look for something to do. However, I find these things necessary to the game and did not tire in collecting them. I found the standard campaigns to be challenging and fun. Frustrating at times, but rewarding. I think the thing to remember is to keep an open mind and not box yourself into thinking this game has to be like all the others. It is refreshing to have something different. Also, you do not need to just do what the game tells you. You can start a single player custom map and do what you want. The options are many with this game.
Kudos to Aspyr for the conversion of this game and the upcoming Clone Campaigns. Mac users should feel grateful and support companies like this.

Rating: 4 [ Engaging and Challenging ]

Anyone who's a fan of games built from the Age of Empires engine will get a kick out of this game. It's Age of Empires, except with Star Wars characters! While that might not be the MOST original game idea you've heard lately, it certainly got me to buy it. Oh, and the background music is based on John Williams' great movie themes, which means you don't get completely sick of it after an hour of gaming. Granted, the Mac version doesn't have the expansion pack that is out for PC's, but we Mac gamers are used to that.
I've worked my way steadily through the various pre-defined missions and I must say that this game makes you think, hard, about how and when to put your forces to the test against the enemy. Some of the missions are no-brainers, and many of them are fairly linear, but the story lines are solid and the difficulty of the higher-level missions will keep you locked in for hours at a time.
The variation in the units isn't what it could be. Basically, a ground troop is a ground troop, regardless of whether you're playing as the Trade Federation or Wookies. And it seems like too often, you MUST achieve the highest tech level before you can accomplish the mission goals, including upgrading your existing units as much as possible. But for me, that keeps things more intense as I have to search far and wide to come up with the resources to make this happen.
Highly recommended to any Star Wars or Age of Empires fan!

Rating: 4 [ Age of Empires III: A Galaxy, Far, Far Away ]

Galactic Battlegrounds is not the most innovative product available: take a popular computer game franchise (Age of Empires), and alter the theme to incorporate the most popular film series of all times (Star Wars). The result is a fun game which ranks pretty low on originality.
I found the game fun and enjoyable. The campaigns are varied and challenging. The multiplayer feature improves replayability. The artwork is endearing, as are the sound effects. The graphical interface is dated, and sometimes confusing as troops get hidden behind buildings, and aircrafts are more like hovercrafts than starships. They also could have included more movie clips from the film to liven it up a bit.
All in all, if you love Star Wars and/or Age of Empires, buy this game. If you don't already have Age of Empires, but like RTS games, you will probably enjoy it. If you are tired of Age of Empires, then I can't recommend spending your money on this incarnation.

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (Mac) (CD-ROM)

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (Mac)

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