You can even use iconic Star Wars characters to help swing the battle in your favor. You take part in battles on land and in space and both are a lot of fun. Taking out the Star Destroyer factory and the freeing of the Wookie planet are the most fun in my opinion. When you play as the Rebel side it feels like you have more variety to the missions that you will be doing. The Empire missions pretty much revolve around you making sure the Death Star is getting made properly, of course oppressing the galaxy and keeping everyone in their place is also a goal.
This ranges from the story, the characters, and pretty much everything else. Each side as you have probably guessed plays quite differently. A time period that I love in the Star Wars universe. The setting of Star Wars Empire At War is the period of time between Episode III and Episode IV. You can play as The Empire or as the Rebels. You have two campaigns that you can play through.