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: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith state to fight a Sith Lord. These are a few examples of many descriptions of characters' feelings and inner narrative. There are even some humorous lines added in, including extra dialogue in the battle between Grievous and Obi Wan - Grievous says, "I was trained by Count Dooku," and Obi-Wan replies, "What a coincidence; I trained the man who killed him." An official prequel novel, "Labyrinth of Evil" () by James Luceno, was published in 2005. It is set near the end of the Clone Wars and directly before the events of "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith".