EaW leaves a lot to be desired. The graphics are mediocre by today's standards even for a game of this age. If Aspyr is going to constrain us to Intel-only chipsets then we'd better be seeing some MIND BLOWING graphical capabilities and unit caps.
If you're looking for good space combat, go for Homeworld 2. If you want good ground combat (Star Wars style) get Galactic Battlegrounds. Old games, but both deliver on fronts that Empire at War fails.
I absolutely loathe some of the gameplay elements here, especially the artificial game barriers that the game imposes. For example, why can't I land my entire army during a ground invasion? No, in order to land my full force I need to capture reinforcement points scattered across the map. WHY? It makes absolutely no sense.
I should never be scratching my head and chaffing at gameplay barriers. If you can't make a game without these idiotic elements, then don't make the game at all.