I'm a big fan of the age of empires series but don't really like star wars (isn't enough to put me off a game but wouldn't be a plus). Does the game hold up on it's own enough to be worth buying?

Thanks.

I suppose so, although a fan of the franchise will enjoy it more since he/she is familiar with the theme.

SWGB is literally a clone of AoE, down to the menu interface. It does however add some interesting new mechanics such as airborne units, shield generators and power cores, and your "monks" double as powerful warriors (jedi).

Depending on what kind of AoE fan you are, you may consider this to be blasphemous sacrilege, or you may think it's a cool mod and upgrade. Personally, while I think fans of Star Wars would enjoy it more, there is no reason you couldn't come in and enjoy expanding your AoE experience with new mechanics and possibilities.

I would say you should go for it, but only if you think additional mechanics could be fun. Plus AoE isn't DRM free.

The "flying" units are horrible, though. They were just shoved in the game. They don't really fit with the rest of the units. Basically the flying units are just land units that can occupy any spot on the map. It looks really clunky when the X-Wings and TIE Fighters simply hover above their targets blasting away. They didn't put a lot of effort into that aspect of it.

I don't really think a non-Star Wars fan will enjoy the game much. Age of Empires II is superior in my opinion.

If you are a Star Wars fan (as I am) it is DEFINITELY worth $5.99. It isn't a bad game, just not a very inspired one.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

I guess i'll give it a try, not like it's expensive.

I finally bought it today - back in the day I had only played the demo. It's slightly worse than I remembered. It definitely LOOKS worse than I thought, but part of it might be that I got used to playing Age of Empires II HD edition, so maybe I hold it to that standard. The sprites are kind of crispy and occasionally sluggish in their movement. In retrospective, it IS kind of a lazy operation... still a good thing for Star Wars fans, but honestly, it doesn't have the same care in it that AoE II does, and for the rest, it's literally AoE II reskinned. The thought I enjoy the most though is the scenario editor, I really want to make some Star Wars personalized campaign now!