Star Wars: Rebellion

The Good
I tried this game because it had the title "Star Wars", although from the beginning a knew it had bad reviews. I admit that the first 3 times I tried, I could not cope with it and I quit. When the Star Wars virus stroke me again, I gave it a second chance and I was glued for hours!! Yes, the game is really hard, I haven't managed to do anything of notice no matter how many hours I tried but it challenged me... I WANT to beat it!

If you don't stuck on the bad things, you will love this game. It has no action but it's rich and deep. Characters, ships, fleets, missions, spies, technologies and evolution. The game really evolves in your hands and your empire becomes your own personal creation.

There is also plentiful information in the little embedded encyclopedia, about everything in the game, that will boost up your knowledge on Star Wars.

Many say that this is 'a card game with the name Star Wars on it to attract fans'. Maybe, I don't agree, but there is even Star Wars Monopoly. If you don't have a problem to play it, what's wrong with Rebellion?

Also, it's not really important, but I liked the cutscenes :)

The Bad
Yes, I know players dislike many elements of this game, so did I, but I want to justify some of them.

• The nature of the game itself isn't promising for graphics, sound and action. You can't accuse for example a platform arcade game for having poor dialogues. I agree however that (although it doen't affect much) the 'cards' could be drawn better

• Everyone says that the controls are hard and confusing. I am not going to say the opposite, but it can be mastered.

• I didn't like some inconsistencies to the Star Wars timeline. For example you are going to 'discover' and recruit characters that were in the Rebellion from the first movie! also, this is the same for the planets. I had to 'discover' Tatooine!

• Yes, COULD have some action and battles, even poorly done. Even the ancient Centurion had elementary battles.
  
  The Bottom Line
  I can tell that this game was maybe hastily done. It could be simpler, had better graphics, and maybe battles. But if you give it a second chance, and don't define 'strategy' as 'action RTS', and then try to find what is really good of it (believe me, there is), then Rebellion is worth the try!

The Good
This is a truly immersive and addictive game. To actually play as the Empire or the Rebellion and try to take over the galaxy with or without force is a dream many Star Wars fans have had. To build multiple Death Stars and blow up planets at will is a first in the line of Star Wars games. As an avid fan of TIE Fighter I felt a strong desire to correct the mistakes of the Empire and bring true peace and order to the galaxy. I tried playing as the Rebels but hearing that fake Leia or Luke voice made it so annoying to play as the Rebels. The Empire was much more fun as their characters were more civilized and proper. The Imperial Star Destroyer is a great capital ship and with the Lancer Frigate and Carrack Light Cruiser can easily take on Rebel fleets fairly early in the game. The Super Star Destroyer along with a fleet of the smaller Star Destroyers with fighters and support craft make the game very engrossing.

The game diverges from so many other RTS and turn-based strategy games in that it requires the player to effectively manage political, social as well as economical and military events in the game. The lower your expenditures in the war against the Rebels the more popular you can be. Gaining support for your cause is crucial to success in this game as you only have limited resources and a big galaxy to conquer.

The Bad
It takes a very long time to build ships and send fleets to fight the enemy. The Rebels start off with a huge disadvantage as they have NO LARGE CAPITAL SHIPS. The Empire can rely on the fact that it will start the game with at least one Star Destroyer, either a smaller Victory Star Destoyer or the superior Imperial-class Star Destroyer. Very wise planning is needed in this game to achieve success as the enemy is not as dumb as they look.

The infamous interface which has so often killed the game in the reviewers' minds is not hard to learn. It is better than the interface in newer games like Star Trek Armada. Unfortunately it is terribly inefficient and can even lead to mistakes such as retiring officers prematurely or scrapping necessary ships (I've never made these mistakes in the game but came close).

The sound options are terrible as it is impossible to mute those annoying C-3PO sounds and other robot noises.

The Bottom Line
Only a four on five as it lacks proper sound and interface controls. I still recommend it to all hardcore Star Wars fans as you do get to conquer the galaxy either with an iron fist or a soft hand.

Do you have what it takes to command a galaxy?

The Good
I think that Rebellion is best categorized as a 4X strategy game but it's not an obvious clone of any strategy game I've played. Unlike most of the other 4X games, it's not turn-based but instead operates in real-time. There is a lot to digest. It took me many hours to figure out how to play the game. I read some of the rather large manual and followed the tutorial. Once I got the hang of things, I really got sucked in.

There are many strategic options. You can go the conqueror route, with huge armies and fleets of ships led by officers who gain experience. You can alternatively go with a more "diplomatic" direction. You can also do lots of sabotage, espionage and incite rebellions and such. Combine, mix and match. Whatever you enjoy.

The game has a lot of Star Wars "expanded universe" material. I really like seeing the games go beyond the movies. There are numerous characters and a lot of technology from the novels. I have read a boatload of Star Wars novels and recognized a lot of things and this definitely enriched the experience for me.

The space combat is strange and maybe difficult to control, but it definitely has the proper slow lumbering naval capital ship feel to it. The simulation of each ship/fighter's capabilities is complex and fascinating and definitely is something you can learn to leverage advantages and weaknesses of.

The Bad
The interface isn't really capable of dealing with the amount of info you have available. I would like to have seen an interface with windows that you can drag around so you can keep them open. It's hard to juggle the game events. It's not that bad though.

The real-time aspect isn't particularly beneficial to a game like this. Thankfully the game speed is adjustable so essentially it ends up being a turn-based game without a turn button.

Ground combat isn't presented in a satisfying manner. I think a little animated battle screen like the MOO games have would have added some excitement to this aspect. A little goes a long way, but this game does zero.

Space combat is ugly? This is true but I don't think it matters. The ships are recognizable and that's all that matters to me.

The Bottom Line
Rebellion is a misunderstood game for some reason. I think a lot of people were expecting Command & Conquer Star Wars Edition. That is not what this game is at all. If that's what you want, look at Force Commander or Galactic Battlegrounds.

Don't expect it to be easy to jump into. It has a nasty learning curve. Give the manual a read and follow the tutorial to get a grasp on the basics and then things will go much better for you.

If you want to see a simplified and arguably refined version of this game, look at Star Wars Empire at War. I immediately caught on to this when I first loaded EaW up. I think they went way too far with the simplification of the strategy aspect and the ground combat is not great, but the space combat is fun.