[Macworld.com]

This real-time strategy game is decidedly different and fun... but it's only for Intel-based Macs. Regardless of whether it should have or even could have been produced to run on PowerPC-based Macs, Empire at War remains a fantastic real-time strategy game. [more]

[Steve_S]

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Personally, I find the skirmish mode against the computer to be all the fun I need.

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Agreed. I play in skirmish mode almost exclusively. If I had more time to devote to it, I would probably be in campaign mode more often. Skirmish mode is great for just getting into the action. Though, either the AI is weak or I'm exceptionally good (which I don't really claim to be the case) because I can beat it on the "hard" setting regularly as I'm sure you can too.
Still, Empire at War is great fun. I like how you can zoom in to see the action at great detail. It's a very nice touch. Overall, I'd highly recommend this for any Star Wars / RTS fan.

[Helmutek]

Can someone tell me why Aspyr refuses to make this game fully compatible on ALL INTEL BASED MACs? I have the new macbook pro which comes with a 256MB GeForce 8600M GT and the game won't launch most of the time, and when it does it crashes right after the initial screen. I also have a white macbook and the game even though runs slow, did not ever crash.
Don't get me wrong I bought this title also for a PC, being a Star Wars fan I wanted to get something fresh"er" than Gallactic Battlegrounds. It is absolutely amazing, I am guessing the fun play factor is also present in this version, but I can't play it. Whenever I contact Aspyr they blame Apple for drivers? UUgh...
The tech specs lists specific cards this game is compatible with, so even though you own an intel mac, don't assume it will work.

[Peter Cohen]

I tested the game on an iMac (Rev A Intel model) and a MacBook Pro (last year's model) and it worked just fine on both machines. I know that the new Nvidia chipset is giving some games fits -- Unreal Tournament, for example, ran very poorly in our tests until Apple updated its OpenGL drivers in a recent patch.
So, having said that, I'm wondering a) if you've updated the system software on your Macs to the latest versions and b) If you've installed the 1.05A patch for Empire at War. I'm also curious if you've contacted Aspyr tech support, and if so, have you heard from them?

[Helmutek]

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I tested the game on an iMac (Rev A Intel model) and a MacBook Pro (last year's model) and it worked just fine on both machines. I know that the new Nvidia chipset is giving some games fits -- Unreal Tournament, for example, ran very poorly in our tests until Apple updated its OpenGL drivers in a recent patch.
So, having said that, I'm wondering a) if you've updated the system software on your Macs to the latest versions and b) If you've installed the 1.05A patch for Empire at War. I'm also curious if you've contacted Aspyr tech support, and if so, have you heard from them?

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a) yes I have updated the system to the latest of every patch available.
b) tried it without a patch, with a patch. even a demo of EAW produces the same results.
c) I contacted Aspyr tech support, and I won't say they were not responsive - they were, it's just that I had no solution from them for this problem - and my requests in their ticket system were simply closed with an answer "we know the situation exists, it is apple's fault" without any follow up.
After a number of weeks of waiting, I went ahead and installed everything from scratch using the DVDs that came with the MacBook Pro - thinking that there was something wrong with my system - visits to the genius bar also were not a joy. Here are two interesting points I observed, the game runs fine on the previous model of Macbook Pro (using the X1600 video card - installed it on friends macbook pro). It also runs fine within my very own system after installing Boot Camp and Windows XP - yes I purchased EAW along with the other games I wanted to run on my mac in windows version - but I still can't win - because now I can't use the multiplayer in EAW and most games to play it back with my mac friends.
I did try installing unreal tournament before the battery of patches came out and just like you say - there was a performance problem, and crashes. Now Unreal Trournament runs fine. No difference on anything related to EAW, Civ4.
I wonder if this is a known issue, if it really is, perhaps I am the only one.

[Helmutek]

Ok I am going to reply to myself here. I contacted Aspyr once more, and I must say that this time I did get more of a response than just a "it's Apple problem, go away". This time their response was that Aspyr is working with Apple to resolve this incompatibilty and it does apply to Civ4, EAW, and good ol' faithful Sim City 4. So I guess I will be waiting with hopes that Aspyr is really working on this.
In the same response I also received a pointer to look at Aspyr's current projects page, which I failed to locate - but it's probably just me.
I am looking forward to find out what the game is like on my Geforce powered Macbook Pro.

[GlendaAdams]

The MacBoo Pro Update Apple released recently should fix many if not all of the problems with Empire at War on your particular machine.
Glenda Adams
Aspyr Media

[Helmutek]

Thank you for your response. Yes, I did update to the said Macbook Pro update - yet I'm still having startup issues. I am awaiting a brand new MacBook Pro to replace the first generation of Intel based Macbooks, I am thinking that there may be something wrong with my machine at this point.
I will do the following;
1) unwrap the newly arrived macbook pro and install all updates and patches from the software update
2) i will make sure that the macbook pro update is installed
3) install the game and patches.
4) report to you what my findings are
I know the above is a bit extreme, but I've tried everything - besides I need another MBP. I should have the machine in my hands no later than Friday.

[Helmutek]

As stated above, my new Macbook Pro arrived and I performed nothing but the above. When that has failed I updated to the Macbook Pro 1.1 update which was released just a few days ago. I am still experiencing the same problem. I am still surprised that Aspyr has different people saying different things - one admits to the known issue, the other person claims the Macbook Pro update fixes things. It just doesn't work.
So I think this thread took a wrong turn, however the game itself is awesome and Peter has an awesome review here. Believe it or not I can actully run the game in Parallels on Windows XP SP2 (I have purchased a PC version as well) with a slightly better performance than running EAW on a Macbook. I know Parallels is not the answer for gaming, but I wanted to avoid going places with two laptops.
The game published by Aspyr still performs good on my Macbook, and performs awesome on my friends' Macbook Pro with the ATI video card. It just doesn't run on the new Macbook Pro with the Geforce cards.
I am still not understanding one thing... any of you guys experience the same problems I am? Any suggestions?

[selky75]

Mac's have become so troublesome after this switch to Intel chips. Unfortunately for Apple it's left a bad taste in my mouth, so switching back to Windows will be no issue for me. Vista is nice and extremely fast on my new Dell Inspiron with an AMD processor and I have no compatibility issues at all with Windows. Never have as a matter of fact.
I have a Power Mac g5 and an Intel Mac Mini I'm probably going to get rid of soon. I'm just sick of all the compatibility issues.

[soccersetter]

i have a question about the game in particular. I love this game, but i don't like the fact that you can't make your own campaigns, or galactic conquest modes. Do I just not know about the technique used to create these? Or is there a website to download user-created campaigns?
Also, does anyone else get the official AND custom maps buttons when you open up instant action and galactic conquest?
Been wondering about this for a while, wondering if anyone could help.