Consider this my official endorsment for Star Wars: Empire at War.

I recently got this game, and I must say, it's fantastic.

There's so much to love. If you know much about the Star Wars universe (which I know you do), then you'll be delighted by the galactic accuracy.

However, there are a few things that you'll have to accept as innaccuracies, sacrifices for te sake of gameplay. For example, the rebels acquire technology by stealing it from the Empire... with R2-D2 and C-3PO. And the rebels don't fight with stealthy guerrilla tactics, they fight with open confrontations, like the Empire. It's innaccurate, but worth it for gameplay. And there are pknety of other differences that make the sides noticalby different, like the Rebels' unique ability to make a raid fleet, a small band of ground units capable of bypassing space battles.

There are the gameplay types, the Galactic Map, Space Battles, and Ground Battles. All are great, and great fun, although they don't lack all of the options that you might want, and they don't have all that specialized games do. However, each part is just that, a part, of a whole gameplay experience. All three belnd seemlessly together and are constructed in a way that makes perfect sense for what is really going on, a galactic war. A wide, larger conflict that is dependent on other facets, not some big battle that is won by mining resources until you can build the buildings to make your units. It's much broader, and each fight is a battle, not the kind of conflict that it typical of other RTS games.

It al blends so well, that it's a remarkably unique experience that's totally immersive and addictively fun.

You gotta try it.