Star Wars: Empire at War - Forces of Corruption

by The Watcher
November 01, 2006 00:00 AM PST

There are few better settings for an RTS than in the Star Wars universe; the characters are unique, the vehicles are huge and powerful, and the environments are varied. Besides, who wouldn't want to order around a fleet of Star Destroyers to decimate some puny Rebel scum?

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But for such great source matieral, LucasArts gave us the overly ambitious, but ultimately unimpressive Rebellion, and the atrociously broken and incomplete Field Commander. But the taste of such bitter fruit has largely been forgotten thanks to Empire at War, the most complete and enjoyable Star Wars RTS to be released yet. Still, it wasn't without its faults, namely graphics that were a mixed bag, rather unimpressive ground combat, and a lack of variety in terms of units (Where's the Executor!?).

These Aren't the Games You're Looking For

PROTIP: Corruption is an incredibly effective tool to milk the more powerful players of their credits, just make sure you aren't on the receiving end.

Enter Star Wars: Forces of Corruption, the expansion to Empire at War that makes a relatively good game even better. The expansion focuses mostly on the addition of a third faction, greedily titled the Zann Consortium and headed by the smarmy, backstabbing Tiber Zann. As the title implies, Zann employ his forces of corruption to subvert the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and Rebellion in his favor, both monetarily and politically. And unlike the perennial combat between the freedom-loving Rebellion and oppressive Empire, Zann has no philosophical agenda, except for that of revenge and crime.

With such a dissimilar approach to that of the Empire and Rebellion, the Zann Consortium's tools must also be different. Planetary control is far less important than corrupting your enemies' planets, resulting in stolen credits, sabotaged defenses, or free information; all of them are valuable resources given your weakness relative to the powerful Imperial war machine. The same can be said of the units available both in space and on the ground. You won't be building immense, planet-destroying fleets like you could with the Empire or, to a lesser extent, the Rebels. Instead, you'll be focusing on small hit-and-run guerilla tactics , slowly picking apart your enemies' defensive and offensive forces. Ignore this important fact, and your criminal organization is destined for obscurity.

Wipe Them Out -- All of Them

PROTIP: Stormtroopers become almost costless to produce late in the game, so make a lot, but they're still useless against the heavy artillery.

For the most part, the inclusion of the Zann Consortium offers some fresh gameplay mechanics that aren't found in the other two factions, and the included campaign mode of the game should please dedicated Star Wars fans looking for some more expanded universe lore. However, many of the missions do become rather repetitive, especially if you have difficulty corrupting planets, forcing you to repeat your attempt ad nauseum.

Of course, the Rebels and the Empire aren't left out to dry here either. They, too, get some interesting additions to their arsenal, namely new hero units - Yoda, Garm bel Iblis, and Grand Admiral Thrawn are but a few- while also benefiting from some powerful new space and ground vehicles. Luke and the gang will now be able to use B-wings to more readily destroy those pesky Imperial capital ships, while Darth Vader makes a return appearance with his ginormous death-machine, the Executor, faithfully in tow.

I Find Your Lack of Issues....Pleasing

In all, Petroglyph did a commendable job bringing in a new faction and fresh features and units to an already enjoyable game. The core gameplay mechanics are still intact, which is for the most part a good thing, graphics are still impressive, at least in space, and it still feels like Star Wars. And with so much material to work with, there's no doubt plenty of opportunity for the guys at Petroglyph and LucasArt's to further hone the formula in another expansion pack or sequel. While far from perfect, Forces of Corruption defies the trend of sullying the Star Wars name, and instead does the franchise further justice.