Star Wars: Empire at War time on both the galactic and skirmish maps. All modes also make use of important Star Wars characters, such as Darth Vader, as Heroes. Each Hero is a single, moderately powerful unit with special abilities. For example, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Vader can use the Force. Some characters can be used in both land and space battles,(e.g. Darth Vader becomes a special TIE fighter unit in space.) while others can be used only on land or only in space (a land-only Hero will remain on board a landing craft or command ship during space battles and have no
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire the job after writing the novelizations of "The Mask" for Bantam, and "Aliens" based upon graphic novels by Dark Horse Comics, which had been licensed by Lucasfilm to create "Star Wars" comics. In addition to the original "Star Wars" trilogy, Perry read the first spin-off novel in the franchise, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye", to get an idea of how to write for Vader. A prequel novel was planned, to be written by author Charles Grant, but was cancelled due to a Lucasfilm Licensing move from Bantam to Del Rey Books. The comic book emphasizes the destiny of Boba Fett