To say Galactic Battlegrounds was inspired by Age of Empires is a bit of an understatement.
And, in the same vein, a predecessor to Empire at War that would be released years later. Where some of the popular Star Wars games of the age introduced the galaxy to new genres like Dark Forces, Rogue Squadron, Knights of the Old Republic, and Battlefront-Galactic Battlegrounds was the first foray in the uncharted RTS realm-something perfect for a world as realized as Star Wars. The games spanned genres, consoles, developers, and Star Wars eras-and Galactic Battlegrounds was among the first as a consequence of that supremacy by LucasArts. The early 2000s saw a myriad of Star Wars games released to coincide with George Lucas’s prequel trilogy.
With voice-acting to emulate the prequel trilogy (being that the movies came out close to its release), tons of deep civilizations, the original Star Wars aesthetic, and a well-realized building system-it has all the necessities of a good RTS. Inspired by games like Age of Empires II, Galactic Battlegrounds is a lasting marvel of the 2D RTS era. The wonderful thing about having a universe as expansive as Star Wars is the opportunity to have games spanning multiple genres take place in any corner of it-which is how we have the timeless classic, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Saga, a real-time strategy game.
