The first Star Wars RTS is too simplistic for most, but still has that Star Wars uniqueness to it.
The layout, background, and galaxy graphics are all superb. By layout, I mean the control panel, the buttons, and the holo-images of the people you talk to. By galaxy, and background, I refer to the background textures of the land missions and the stars or debris in the space backgrounds. As well, the space units are superbly textured, with cool looking appendages that make this a true star wars battleground. However, the land units are lacking in colour, detail, and depth. In other words, the land units don't stand out or even look very real, especially for the tinier units such as the stormtrooper or plex troopers. If this game had come out 2 years ago, then the graphics would be quite stunning, but as it is, with the other games that have appeared on the market, SWEAW just doesn't cut it. The graphics just doesn't make you excited to play the game. A good indicator for the graphics in SWEAW is that it is comparable to the graphics in Age of Empires 2 mixed with some of the elements in Star Craft: Brood War.
Sound: 10/10
With the plethora of soundtracks at Lucasarts' hand, it isn't surprising that the background music earns a perfect score. As well, since there aren't any competing games with the same sound effects (lightsaber AOE anyone?), SWEAW's sfx are unique and can't be criticized much. All the sounds are almost identical to the ones heard in either the movies or some other form of Star Wars game such as Battlefront 2 or Knights of the Old Republic 2. If you liked the Vader theme from Episode III and IV, then prepare to hear a lot more of it; the game begins with the vader theme everytime.
Gameplay: 6/10
Maybe I'm just too used to more complex RTS or SWEAW is aimed at ages 5 and above, but I have to really consider why there's only 15 space and around another 10 land units in total in the entire game.
And the upgrades are simply bland. Upgrades such as "Level 2 land unit armor" just doesn't interest me. Whereas, in other RTS such as Star Craft: Brood War, there's unique upgrades to every unit, such as the spawn broodling for the queen which makes upgrading your units much more tactical. Now in SWEAW, you don't even need to plan which unit you're going to use as your army since 1 or 2 upgrades completely upgrades your fleet already.
Another pitfall that SWEAW took was to have almost no statistics for the units. So an X-Wing squadron would cost 300 creds, but how does it compare with an A-Wing squadron? In the game, it says the A-Wing squadron could evade attacks better, but by how much? All these questions are left unanswered in the game and is left for you to experiment yourself.
Much of the game is too limited in ways to victory. In most cases, you have to fight against armies which are auto-spawned. Since these armies never run out of reinforcements (but you sure will), the gameplay in SWEAW is basically rush, rush, and rush for all you're worth and hope you destroy the spawning base before you run out of steam. Now I don't see much "strategy" in this, and most battles are going to be like this format, especially in Galactic Conquest, which already involves the most strategy. As well, because the AI autospawns and you don't, the battles are quite unfair, especially when you're losing reinforcements in the late game.
The one ray of sunlight in this game is the appearance of heroes. Just like in Battlefront 2, you get Obi-Wan, Vader, Han-Solo, and the Emperor, but in addition, you get space heroes which were never seen before. These include Red Squadron, Sundered Heart, and Admiral Ackbar, who commands a huge Mon-Cal cruiser called the Home One. This makes for more interesting strategic planning, as one hero unit could take out 5 - 10 normal units on average.
One final straw is the population limit. In battles, you're limited to how many units you're allowed by the number of control points you control. This all sounds logical and fun, until you take into account these 2 stats: there's usually only 2-3 control points in a map, and each control point only gives you an additional 3-5 units. Now how do you like fighting a "GALACTIC" battle with 5 units?
Advice:
Don't buy this game unless:
1) You're a hardcore Star Wars fan who likes to see little stick figures of jedi and stormtroopers duke it out.
2) You haven't played other RTS (Real Time Strategy) games and would like to give it a try.
3) The cost of it is less than $20 CDN.
Pros: Unique Star Wars units, Music, Space graphics.
Cons: Not enough variety, little strategy, poor detail on land units, unfair battles, too many functions to learn.