Star Wars Zero Company is a great take on the XCOM-like turn-based tactics game, and as I said in my review, it actually pushes the genre forward with a blend of new ideas and excellent execution. But as laudable as that is, Zero Company actually managed to accomplish something much more daunting: it made me care about the Clone Wars era of Star Wars.
I am an old-timer of a Star Wars fan, raised on the original trilogy, and I have distinct memories of watching the prequel films. I enjoyed them, I convinced myself I loved them, but over time the shine of “new Star Wars” faded and I was left with movies that were largely mediocre. I’ve since settled into a position taken by lots of Star Wars fans, and especially those my age: I give George Lucas credit for having some interesting ideas and a distinct authorial vision for his universe–in stark contrast to the Disney era’s cloying emulation and fan-service–but the movies just aren’t very good.
And to be clear, I have engaged in the expanded universe of prequel-era fiction. I read volumes of Star Wars books that have since passed into Legends canon, and more recently, I’ve generally kept up with most of the Star Wars shows, including most of the seasons of the Clone Wars cartoon show. For that I credit the excellent podcast A More Civilized Age, which served as my excuse to finally watch through the Clone Wars cartoon. Like the prequels, I found the cartoon had some neat ideas with mixed execution, but it did show that there was more room to explore this era. Lucas had created an untapped corner of the universe, and the Clone Wars cartoon (and later, Rebels) began to flesh it out and make it more interesting.
At the same time, this era of Star Wars always felt like a runner-up to me. Perhaps more creatively inviting than the sequel era, which has bafflingly been left almost entirely untapped with supplemental material, but still nothing compared to my beloved original classics.
