STAR WARS™ Empire at War: Gold Pack

STAR WARS™ Empire at War: Gold Pack

Awakening of the Clone Wars
Experience playing AOTCW mod
I will write down my personal experience, both to help other players get an idea of the experience they may have and to hopefully give some feedback to the developers. BE AWARE, this will be rather in depth, and will include less important issues I noticed with the mod (i.e., nitpicks) in order to help with potential feedback, so this list will be rather long. I will, however, mark the comments that are nitpicks. Also, keep in mind I have only had to time to play as the Republic, so this is a somewhat one sided perspective.

Pros:
- A clear distinction between the Republic and Separatist forces: While the Reps clear focus on offence in their warships, the CIS seem to focus more on defense, such as overcharging shields in space and deploy-able shields on the ground. This necessitates different strategies depending on the player's faction and adds depth to their campaign.
- Jedi are still tough, but less so than usual: In most mods, Jedi can self heal over time, including in the mod Awakening of the Rebellion (which was made by the same developers) but given how plentiful they are in this particular mod, it would be somewhat frustrating fighting Jedi or Sith heroes. Their inability to self heal makes them much more balanced in this mod, even if it is a bit annoying when you use them.
- Stealth missions are much easier: Though I've only used clone commandos on stealth missions, I've found said missions much easier. Because they have medics in their squads, the need for a bacta station is greatly reduced, and while they are still challenging, the stealth missions are much easier and I personally found myself much more compelled to do them.
- The Republic was unprepared for war: At the start of the game, I noticed that the Reps could barely build anything that could stand against the CIS. While this is annoying to deal with, I love the attention to detail as it fits with the lore.
- Diplomacy and the Hutts: I love that you don't have to smash your way through the entire galaxy and can get ships for free and without a fight. Diplomacy also makes it easier to gain control of plants that can get you a lot of credits. Also, being able to simply ignore the Hutts and potentially bargain for safe passage makes for some very interesting choices.
- Republic structures are very similar to the Empire: While playing, you can clearly see the Reps ground structures, and even the garrisons, are very similar to the structures and the garrisons in the mod Awakening of the Rebellion. I love these comparisons.
- New planets and battlefields: Though many of the planets in this mod are similar to the ones in Awakening of the Rebellion, there are several new ones, which adds spice to the galactic map. However, even when fighting on the same planets as those in AOTR, several of them very clearly have a different battleground, such as Eriadu and Chandrila to name only two. This, again, adds spice to the game and keeps things from becoming stale.

Cons:
- (Nitpick) Delta Squad doesn't sound like Delta: When using Delta Squad, I noticed their voices were those of standard clones. I hope this changes later on, though I won't be mad if it doesn't.
- (Nitpick) Republic forces declare, "For the Empire," in battle and portray Imperial themes: While playing, I heard soldiers using dialogue that was very similar to Imperial soldiers and certain ships will say, "For the Empire," or similar phrases. Again, not a major issue, though I hope it gets resolved.
- (Nitpick) The Munificent seems to have unusually long sight range: Truth be told, I don't know if this criticism is true and if it's not, please disregard this critique. During my playthrough, I noticed the Munificent frigates seemed to be able to see me at far sooner than they should have been able to. I don't know for sure, however.
- Anti-infantry missiles are FAR too effective: When fighting standard ATT tanks, I noticed they seemed to use anti-infantry missiles, but they seemed way to effective. A single ATT tank seems able to easily kill several squads of infantry, even when it is vastly outgunned. The same holds true for the Republic's A5 Juggernaut. From my experiences, it seems to be a issue with the splash damage.
- Very little distinction between Phase 1 and Phase 2 clones: Initially, I thought Phase 2's would be better than Phase 1's, but aside from additional abilities, there is very little difference between the two clone types and even less benefits from upgrading them. It would be nice if the developers made a more distinct and rewarding difference.
- CIS fighters seem to easily outclass Rep fighters: When in space combat, I noticed that the starting CIS fighters were more easily able to kill the Rep starting fighters, even when the CIS are outnumbered. I know the starting Republic fighters are bad, but it doesn't feel very balanced.
- Game stutters on certain planets: While fighting on the planet Iridonia (ground) the game repeatedly stuttered and froze for up to 4 seconds, leading me to wonder if the game was about to crash. Afterwards, I recalled a few other planets where I experienced the same problem, though I cannot for the life of me remember which planets; only that they were not as severe.
- In ground battles, certain units aren't grouped together: When using certain units, such as the 212th clone division, I noticed certain units that weren't being grouped together properly. The units that immediately come to mind are clone snipers, heavy judicial forces, and rocket clone troopers, though I believe there are more. Also, clone snipers are auto grouped with their speeder bikes, which prevents them from being un-spread out unless you select them individually, which is rather annoying to deal with. While not game breaking, it can be frustrating when you realize you lost a certain unit because you didn't go down the list of who you've told to take cover and who you missed or when your army is moving at a crawl because one unit is still spread out.

Conclusion: This mod needs some work, but it's definitely worth playing and I would recommend this mod in a heartbeat. I wish the developers luck in their work and send them my support.
Mod Quality: 7.5/10
Last edited by Ferus Olin; May 26 @ 11:02am