SW Empire at War trailer

A new trailer for Star Wars Empire at War, LucasArts' new PC real-time strategy title, is now available for download.

The hi-res movie features two minutes of cinematic and in-game footage, and weighs in at 68MB.

Empire at War takes place a few years before the events of Episode IV - A New Hope, when the Rebel Alliance is taking shape, the Empire is gathering strength and the Galactic Civil War is about to kick off.

Developer Petroglyph has created an entirely new engine for the game, which is being worked on by many former Command & Conquer designers. Battles take place both on land and in space, and planets such as Yavin IV, Tatooine and Dagobah are featured along with brand new environments inspired by the SW films and novels.

You must choose whether to join the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, a choice made more difficult by the fact you get to control the Death Star if you take the latter option.

Either way, your time will be spent constructing space stations, factories and ion cannons, deploying vehicles such as Star Destroyers, AT-ATs, speeder bikes and X-wings, and generally managing your troops. And if things start to get a bit sticky, you can call in hero characters Darth Vader or Obi-Wan to sort it all out.

There's a multiplayer campaign mode which lets two players battle it out, and up to eight players can take part in online skirmish games.

Star Wars Empire at War is due out next spring.