It was such a long time ago...
I remember the days when Star Wars always brought a smile to my face. Sure, I was twelve, but still. The movies were not even that important to my smile, although I worshipped them more than the Pope does G-d. No, it was the feeling of playing with my action figures and vehicles and recreating my favorite scenes.
As I grew up, all I was left with was the movies (people stared at me when I played with my toys in college). The problem was, Lucas could not leave the movies alone. He had to re-edit the original trilogy. Then he had to make a new prequel series, only he doesn’t make it for his fans (now in their late 20’s), but rather goes for the toy market again and makes children’s movies.
The only positive aspect of Lucas making those movies has finally revealed itself to me. I was in a store (rather not give a free plug) and saw the yellow spine of a box sitting in the computer game section. The “S” joined into the “T” in the first four letter word. The “R” merged into the “S” in the second four letter word. There was a new Star Wars videogame out. Normally this would not have caught my eye, except that this one was in the Real Time Strategy (RTS) game section.
LucasArts releasing Star Wars video games is nothing new. Some even don’t completely suck I have heard, but I am not a fan of shooters. I like strategy games. Command and Conquer, Warcraft, Starcraft, LOTR: Middle Earth: I loved them all. The idea of building bases, building troops and squads and sending them into battle was so much like playing with my action figures as a child, only this was virtual and not as awkward to be caught with plastic figures.
The only real problem the vast selection of RTS games had was none of them really dealt with my childhood fantasies. Most were geared towards the Dungeons and Dragons crowd and that was not really me. I was Star Wars. Starcraft came close, but the story, sounds and everything else were just not right. That is why Star Wars: Empire at War has made me so very happy. My inner-child feels like giggling insanely, but he knows it scares me when he does that.
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