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An old, forgotten Star Wars RTS micromanagement/conquest game from the 90s. How’s it hold up?
Star Wars Rebellion is one of the less talked about Star Wars games of the 90s, and on first glance, it’s difficult to discern why. I mean, it’s a grand strategy game that gives you full command of the Rebel or Empire forces, where you can take out the opposing side bit by bit through slow conquest of the galaxy, one planet at the time. What could be a more accurate simulation of this galaxy-wide conflict? Surely this is one of the most underrated games to come from the franchise.
Except, it’s not. It’s sad to say, but it was rightfully forgotten.
Don’t get me wrong, the groundwork for a great RTS/resource management game was certainly there. The game opens with a decent FMV sequence showing you landing on either a Rebel or Imperial Star Cruiser, depending on what you choose, and from then on you are introduced to your own personal agent for each side who’ll give you advice and help with the various duties such as maintenance. From there, you get to take a look at the galaxy map, where you can see your planets, the enemies, and all other worlds you can invade. There’s actually a fairly deep resource management/conquest game in here, where you can position units to blockade, bombard, and invade planets, and its certainly satisfying when you turn an enemy planet over to your side. Unfortunately, what isn’t satisfying is the tedium involved in just figuring out how to pull it off.
The single biggest hurdle, one that’s apparent almost immediately, is Rebellion’s utterly mystifying interface. It’s so complicated that the game actually has a 170 page manual just to explain the ins and outs. To start, actually invading a planet is a mess of screens and obtuse mechanics. First, you select a fleet from one of your planets. Then, you exit the screen and fly it over to a planet occupied by the enemy, and a blockade starts. Then, you have the option to attack either military or civilian bases. But wait! Nothing seems to have changed. The planet is still under enemy control. Well, as it turns out, I need to click on another screen to select troops from one of my planets. I then have to place them on a ship, send them to that planet, wait for the troops to get out of hyperspace, and then select planetary assault from another popup menu. Just figuring all this out took me a good few minutes, since your guide doesn’t explain much.
Oh yeah, there’s also the matter of waiting for your guys to arrive. You see, the game has a variation of a real-time mechanic, in which transporting something from one planet to another takes a certain amount of in-game time, be it days, months, or sometimes even years. Yeah, I get that they wanted to add some realism to the game, but waiting for things to arrive isn’t much fun in real life, and it’s not much fun in the game. To be fair, there is an option to speed things up, but an option to just get these things done instantly would be ideal.
Yup, just about everything in the game is more complicated than it needs to be. Want to build some ships? Right click on a planet, right click on the build menu, build a refinery for material to build a shipyard, wait until it’s done, then right click again to open the pop-up to build ships, wait until they’re done, then click another menu to send them to where you want to go. As for actually building, well, the game does a poor job of explaining that as well. Why can shipyards be built on some planets, but construction yards can’t? When and how do I build factories on a planet? How in the galaxy do I speed up resource gathering if I can’t build these places in the first place?
Huh, so I can find Vader an apprentice, too? Learn something new every day.
Want to send one of your men on a mission? Search for them to figure out where they are, then right click on them, then go to mission, then click on the sector with the planet you want to send them to. Want to put down an uprising? Right click on a planet with troops, or right click to build troops, or right click to find out where you can build troops…you get the picture. About 90% of the game consists of endless clicking through menus, often just to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing. In fact, there’s probably plenty I still haven’t figured out yet. And what of the other ten percent? Well, that’s another can of worms entirely.
When your fleet engages with an enemy fleet over a planet, the game transforms into a 3D tactical strategy game where you can give limited command to your ships. Sadly, these RTS segments just don’t work, because you don’t feel like you actually have much control over the course of the battle. What little input you do have doesn’t seem to actually make much of a difference. Ultimately, it’s a minute-or-so of watching ships move towards each other until one side decides to flee.
In perhaps a mercy from developers, the enemies give you all the time you need to figure things out. The enemies don’t seem nearly active as you are, as they’ll mostly stay in place while you position your troops around occupied planets. Every now and then, you’ll get updates on uprisings they’ve started or planets they’ve occupied, but it’s rarely anything worth your immediate attention, which makes your battle for galactic supremacy feel a lot less urgent than it should.
It’s a shame the final product wound up such a mess, because you could see the potential for a great Star Wars strategy game underneath all the poorly designed menus. Occasionally, everything in the game clicks, and you get a steady stream of resources as you move your fleets through the galaxy, conquering helpless planets in your wake. Sadly, the hurdles you must overcome just to figure out how to get to this point just aren’t worth it. You want a great strategy game set in the Star Wars universe, try the far better designed Empire at War. The force is not strong with this one.
Pros:
Graphics: 6
Sound: 7
Value: 5
Overall: 4/10
Star Wars Rebellion is one of the less talked about Star Wars games of the 90s, and on first glance, it’s difficult to discern why. I mean, it’s a grand strategy game that gives you full command of the Rebel or Empire forces, where you can take out the opposing side bit by bit through slow conquest of the galaxy, one planet at the time. What could be a more accurate simulation of this galaxy-wide conflict? Surely this is one of the most underrated games to come from the franchise.
Except, it’s not. It’s sad to say, but it was rightfully forgotten.
Don’t get me wrong, the groundwork for a great RTS/resource management game was certainly there. The game opens with a decent FMV sequence showing you landing on either a Rebel or Imperial Star Cruiser, depending on what you choose, and from then on you are introduced to your own personal agent for each side who’ll give you advice and help with the various duties such as maintenance. From there, you get to take a look at the galaxy map, where you can see your planets, the enemies, and all other worlds you can invade. There’s actually a fairly deep resource management/conquest game in here, where you can position units to blockade, bombard, and invade planets, and its certainly satisfying when you turn an enemy planet over to your side. Unfortunately, what isn’t satisfying is the tedium involved in just figuring out how to pull it off.
The single biggest hurdle, one that’s apparent almost immediately, is Rebellion’s utterly mystifying interface. It’s so complicated that the game actually has a 170 page manual just to explain the ins and outs. To start, actually invading a planet is a mess of screens and obtuse mechanics. First, you select a fleet from one of your planets. Then, you exit the screen and fly it over to a planet occupied by the enemy, and a blockade starts. Then, you have the option to attack either military or civilian bases. But wait! Nothing seems to have changed. The planet is still under enemy control. Well, as it turns out, I need to click on another screen to select troops from one of my planets. I then have to place them on a ship, send them to that planet, wait for the troops to get out of hyperspace, and then select planetary assault from another popup menu. Just figuring all this out took me a good few minutes, since your guide doesn’t explain much.
Oh yeah, there’s also the matter of waiting for your guys to arrive. You see, the game has a variation of a real-time mechanic, in which transporting something from one planet to another takes a certain amount of in-game time, be it days, months, or sometimes even years. Yeah, I get that they wanted to add some realism to the game, but waiting for things to arrive isn’t much fun in real life, and it’s not much fun in the game. To be fair, there is an option to speed things up, but an option to just get these things done instantly would be ideal.
Yup, just about everything in the game is more complicated than it needs to be. Want to build some ships? Right click on a planet, right click on the build menu, build a refinery for material to build a shipyard, wait until it’s done, then right click again to open the pop-up to build ships, wait until they’re done, then click another menu to send them to where you want to go. As for actually building, well, the game does a poor job of explaining that as well. Why can shipyards be built on some planets, but construction yards can’t? When and how do I build factories on a planet? How in the galaxy do I speed up resource gathering if I can’t build these places in the first place?
Huh, so I can find Vader an apprentice, too? Learn something new every day.
Want to send one of your men on a mission? Search for them to figure out where they are, then right click on them, then go to mission, then click on the sector with the planet you want to send them to. Want to put down an uprising? Right click on a planet with troops, or right click to build troops, or right click to find out where you can build troops…you get the picture. About 90% of the game consists of endless clicking through menus, often just to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing. In fact, there’s probably plenty I still haven’t figured out yet. And what of the other ten percent? Well, that’s another can of worms entirely.
When your fleet engages with an enemy fleet over a planet, the game transforms into a 3D tactical strategy game where you can give limited command to your ships. Sadly, these RTS segments just don’t work, because you don’t feel like you actually have much control over the course of the battle. What little input you do have doesn’t seem to actually make much of a difference. Ultimately, it’s a minute-or-so of watching ships move towards each other until one side decides to flee.
In perhaps a mercy from developers, the enemies give you all the time you need to figure things out. The enemies don’t seem nearly active as you are, as they’ll mostly stay in place while you position your troops around occupied planets. Every now and then, you’ll get updates on uprisings they’ve started or planets they’ve occupied, but it’s rarely anything worth your immediate attention, which makes your battle for galactic supremacy feel a lot less urgent than it should.
It’s a shame the final product wound up such a mess, because you could see the potential for a great Star Wars strategy game underneath all the poorly designed menus. Occasionally, everything in the game clicks, and you get a steady stream of resources as you move your fleets through the galaxy, conquering helpless planets in your wake. Sadly, the hurdles you must overcome just to figure out how to get to this point just aren’t worth it. You want a great strategy game set in the Star Wars universe, try the far better designed Empire at War. The force is not strong with this one.
Pros:
- Gives you command over the entirety of the Rebellion or the Empire
- Successfully taking over planets can be satisfying
- Horribly obtuse user interface
- Waiting for units to arrive at their destination is annoying
- Dull, barely interactive space battles
- Inert AI sucks away all sense of urgency
Graphics: 6
Sound: 7
Value: 5
Overall: 4/10
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