By now, I'm sure, most of you have had a chance to try the Empire At War demo released during last week. While the full title won't be out for a few more days yet, it's an opportunity to understand the games' basic style and substance.

There's a few short tutorials and a quick run at the single player campaign on offer here. It isn't really showing off the games true potential, but there are a lot of positives.
For one, as expected, the resource gathering techniques of old have been thrown out the window completly. No longer will you be buying your time, waiting impatiently to build your forces.
Secondly, playing the game ranges, and that's a good thing. Those of you who aren't RTS fans will be able to get into the swing of things easily enough. But the added level of strategy brings a fresh challenge to the experienced gamers out there. A perfect example of this is the space combat. Where as in most RTS games, you choose a fighter and a target, with EaW the larger vessels have target points, such as engines, weapon systems, shield generators, etc. Click on the right target with your forces, and a Star Destroyer can be a sitting duck within seconds.

That being said, I'm a little dissapointed with the space combat. The games engine allows for some nice tight camera angles to get a good view of the action, but unlike say the Homeworld franchise, the combat plane isn't a full 360 degrees, instead playing out the same as ground combat. That's a small gripe really, since it doesn't make much difference to gameplay. Otherwise, everything smoothly comes together.

Imperials and Rebels both have their own different means of getting on with life. While the Alliance call upon Smugglers and spys to gain new technology and added currency, the Empire has the aid of Bounty Hunters to eliminate hidden threats and research labs to build new weapon structures. Using both of these options wisely while finding or taking over planets in the Galaxy will be an important tactic.

You'll also soon discover how good it can be to run. In certain situations, you can call your troops out of the frontline to survive for another campaign. Don't be shy on that button, it will come in handy. You won't lose all your forces, saving you the credits of having to rebuild, and you get a good idea of the lay of the land for future invasions.

Presentation wise, it's a very solid experience. As with all Star Wars games, the sound and music score is spot on. There's a good selection of John Williams score mixed in with some original tracks made specifically for the game (think the Rogue Squadron series), and visually it's impressive to watch. I've always been a fan of games that add those little touches in the background, so watching the Rancor going all out against Imperial forces was as fun as it sounds.

But be warned, you'll need a good pc setup to get the most out of EaW. The detail levels are stunning at the highest settings, so be sure to have an updated video card installed and ready to go, otherwise you may be dissapointed.

There aren't any multiplayer options available, sadly. Perhaps a demo map just to test against a few friends would have been a nice addition. But as always with demo releases, if you show off too much, people may shy away from the full product. A teaser, just like movie trailers, is all that you need. And that's what LucasArts have provided.

It's safe to say this demo proves the level of detail promised, and the ease of which to get involved from the outset. If you haven't yet, I suggest giving the demo a try. Just be careful, the file size is a little large, so be patient.

We'll have a full wrap of Empire At War's launch, reviews and more over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.