LucasArts seems to be living in good times as of late. With the recent releases of Jedi Outcast and Galactic Battlegrounds, they have managed to breathe new life in a franchise that has seemed to live on in one generation after another. With Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the timing could not have been more perfect for LucasArts to release an expansion to Galactic Battlegrounds that will allow many of the units from the movie to be in a game. But as history has shown, games based on a movie are not always the PB&J combination that one would have hoped. So is Clone Campaigns one of those exceptions? Read on…

Clone Campaigns introduces two new factions to the many factions seen in Galactic Battlegrounds. They are the Confederacy and the Galactic Republic. Each faction has more influence from the Force and the Jedi more than any other faction. The Confederacy, led by Jedi Master Count Dooku, has sent his best field leader, General Tann on a campaign to capture any new technology from the Galactic Republic in order to strike a crippling blow in the war. The Galactic Republic is going through some internal conflict, and with the Confederacy growing stronger, many within the republic fear that a civil war may erupt. Jedi Strike Force leader, Mace Windu, sends out his former padawan, Echuu Shen-Jon to Geonosis to destroy their technology that has since been captured by the Confederacy.

To fully appreciate the entire story of Clone Campaigns, I would recommend that you play as the Confederacy first, as their campaigns setup some of the events that will take place during the Galactic Republic campaign. After playing through the Confederacy campaign, I really wasn't impressed with how the story and the characters moved along. But those jeers became cheers after playing the Galactic Republic campaign. The story picks up big time, and you even get a hint of suspense, some twists, and somewhat of an emotional ending to a successful campaign. There are a total of 14 missions (one being a bonus missions), all of which contains more action than Galactic Battlegrounds.

Gameplay:

With two new factions, comes new units, and Clone Campaigns doesn't disappoint. The Confederacy introduces some animal predators, such as the Nexu and the Acklay. These creatures have a bit of an advantage, because they appear as some of the other wildlife featured in the game. But these predators are fast and deadly, and will make quick work of your druids. The Confederacy also introduces the Geonosian Warrior, a winged-like creature that can kill an enemy troop with a single strike.

The Galactic Republic introduces some new units such as the AT-TE Assault Mech, which resembles an oversized mechanical cockroach, but can pack quite a punch. The GR also includes the Air Cruiser, which is essentially a very large ship that not only damages the target, but also causes significant damage to any unit within the immediate radius of the explosion. Both factions showcase more new units, but the changes are purely cosmetic.

LucasArts didn't leave the other factions out in the cold, as the original collective receives a new Aircraft unit, as well as additional upgrades to the Jedi units, and the shield generators. All factions now have the ability to create power droids. These droids produce the same effect as the power core, but at the fraction of the cost. Plus it's portable. Clone Campaigns also focuses the gameplay on land rather than the water. The result is a much beefier land and air attack/counter-attack. The action is much more intense, and it doesn't take as long to build a competitive army. It is never out of the ordinary to see a massive group of assault mechs and Jedi knights going at each other's throat.

The AI in Clone Campaigns has also received a noticeable change as well. With the added power to the air units, the AI now builds to effectively counter that method of attack. The Jedi Knights also convert units a lot more in the expansion. They also spend less time creating troops, and spend more time building the heavier and special units available. However, I must have missed this in the original game, but I noticed that your AI opponents are in sync with your own development. Here is an example: I start a game, and leave for about 10 minutes. I come back, and noticed that the AI hasn't done anything. I was expecting to see my units in a burnt cinder, but that would not be the case. Just something to keep in mind when you play against the AI.

Graphics/Sound:

Like with most expansions, Clone Campaigns isn't a major upgrade or downgrade from Galactic Battlegrounds. One of the biggest complaints was the graphics of several resources felt more like AoE than Star Wars. Playing the single-player campaigns, the resources are placed in containers for you to harvest. But the more I played, I discovered that those changes were just temporary, as the crystallized carbon in SWGB is ever so present. The units look great, considering the age of the engine, and the newer units sport some impressive detail. It's just a shame that you have to view the battle from a great distance. The animations in Clone Campaigns certainly aren't lacking, though I noticed that Lucas Arts cut a couple of corners in some single player missions. Instead of a transport ship flying in, the ship just appears on the screen, with troops already deployed.

Another complaint in SW:GB was that the environments looked very AoE-ish, with the various palm trees and terrain. Well, Clone Campaigns cleans up this issue for the most part, showcasing various desert, volcanic, and rugged terrain. Trees do not litter the majority of the maps like in Galactic Battlegrounds, which helps a great deal. And some of the maps that feature a lot of trees will show them without leaves, giving that wasteland look. Clone Campaigns looks more like Star Wars than Galactic Battlegrounds did, which certainly isn't a bad thing.

Well, this area is pretty much a given here, as the sound excels yet again in Clone Campaigns. The music is basically the same, except the Confederacy and Republic sport their own theme music. But the voice acting is really outstanding. I'm not sure if that is Samuel Jackson, or a sound-alike. Either way their voice is very convincing as he tells the story. The voice behind Count Dooku is very effective in bringing out that little warrior in each of us. You even get treated to the voices of some "old" friends, though I doubt it was really them doing the voice-overs. Make sure you crank up your speakers when you play, because the action will put them to work. All of the sound effects of the weapons and vehicles have been translated without flaw into the game, and LucasArts takes full advantage of multi-channel sound cards. It's almost guaranteed that Lucas Arts will deliver in the sound department, and I'm glad to see that Clone Campaigns didn't drop the ball.

Multiplayer/Devices:

Before I get into the multiplayer aspects of the game, I noticed that Clone Campaigns did not automatically upgrade my copy of Galactic Battlegrounds to version 1.1. Unfortunately, I had to find that out the hard way after trying to enter a room on the Zone. So if you perform a fresh install of Galactic Battlegrounds, you will still need to download the patch.

For the most part, other than the addition of the two new factions, the multiplayer remains unchanged. Clone Campaigns increases the maximum population limit from 200 to 250, thus making large-scale battles more obtainable. As many of you know, you can find and create games through Gamespy Arcade and the Zone. Neither offers a significant advantage, so it just becomes a matter of taste. With the expansion comes more maps, and these maps barely resemble the maps found in Clone Campaigns. These maps are definitely a breath of fresh air for the multiplayer. I must say that the multiplayer of Clone Campaigns is much more fulfilling because everyone usually plays with everyone except the Wookies and the Gungans. So having two new factions that are of the same wavelength as the most played factions really gives the player more options, and don't always have to worry about your opponents picking the same faction as yourself.

If you explore your CD, you will notice that Lucas Arts has provided a profile for the MS Strategic Commander. But where are the Gamevoice profiles? Or better yet, where are the Game Commander 2, and n50 Speed Pad profiles? Well, just because they don't provide them doesn't mean that I can't make my own. And after creating profiles for both the n50 and the Game Commander, I must say that the ability to voice train in GC2 really cuts down some of the problems that I experienced when I use the Gamevoice. For those with the n50, a proper layout could significantly increase your productivity while playing.

The Wrap-up:

At first, I was hoping that LucasArts would have done what Ensemble Studios did for Age of Empires 2 when they released the Conquerors expansion. Instead, they divert their resources on two of the main factions that are featured in Episode 2. This turns out to be a good thing, as Clone Campaigns does an excellent job of making this RTS game feel and look more like Star Wars than Galactic Battlegrounds managed to do. For those wondering if the game will spoil the movie, although I haven't actually seen the movie, I can say that the most of the main characters found in the movie have little to no impact to the progression of the story in this expansion. If you weren't completely convinced with Galactic Battlegrounds, then Clone Campaigns will surely bring you to the dark side or the light side. Whatever floats your boat.