Star Wars Empire At War: Forces Of Corruption Review

By Jim Rossignol Published 7 December, 2006

Like Jabba, it's a bit sluggish.

Version tested: PC

Empire At War might not have stunned us with its mild innovation and even milder Star Wars battles, but it was nevertheless an engaging and time-gobbling RTS-with-tactical-campaign-map-management-stuff. For the rabid few, however, it was a godsend: a Star Wars RTS that wasn't rubbish. Imagine that!

So the towering sales figures might have been a testament more to the number of satisfaction-starved Star Wars fans than to the quality of the game itself, but I doubt many of the people who bought the game were particularly disappointed. It was a solid game. The tactical campaign maps lacked the nuance and versatility of something like the Total War maps, but it nevertheless provided the kind of challenge that keeps you wanting to push forward, defeating intransigent enemies and spreading your colour all over the galaxy. If anything it was the real-time combat sequences that really bored me. They might have been pretty, but they were also utterly unexceptional in a time of demanding, highly accomplished RTS games. Forces Of Corruption does little to change that fact, even though it has suicide bomb-Ewoks.

And no, that idea does not justify an entire game, at least not in this case. Detonated Ewoks are but a sideshow. The Forces Of Corruption expansion actually has an entirely new core premise: a third galactic faction that uses intrigue, guerrilla warfare and criminal exploitation to get what it wants. It's a splendid idea, and makes full use of the Star Wars background materials. There's always been a huge criminal underworld just beneath the surface veneer of Imperial control and Rebel do-gooding that has been underexposed by Star Wars games. Given this general air of independent villainy that pervades the Star Wars universe it's surprising how rarely we get to play with the crime-lord characters. The odd bounty hunter here and there, but not at the level of Jabba and chums. And it's refreshing not be ultimate evil or Rebel heroes, and simply a greedy bastard trying to be top dog. That is Forces Of Corruption.

'Star Wars Empire At War: Forces Of Corruption' Screenshot 1

Bwahaha! The Star Wars music makes victory even more victorious, or something.

What this means for the overall game is that there's a satisfyingly large new campaign to overcome and another faction to deploy in multiplayer games. The Zaan Consortium, lead by cheery crime-lord Tyber Zaan, is the new toy at your disposal. The Consortium brings with it various criminal concepts that you can deploy to make trouble on the various planets. You send out agents and perform specific missions to corrupt various planets. Once successfully corrupted the planets can be sabotaged, bribed and ultimately controlled.

It's Zaan's agents who bring in a stream of cash to keep the criminal syndicate ticking over, at least in the early stages of the game. Piratical activities abound, although I do wonder whether that many people will bother to keep the agents running after your military has built up a decent head of steam. It's cool to have options for various types of naughtiness, but this is still a game about battering the hell out enemies with flying tanks and walking death machines. Thieving a bit of technology is all very well, but why not steam-roller in and simply take what you want? It's a question that Forces Of Corruption doesn't answer satisfactorily.

What it does answer is whether people get to ride Rancor monsters: yes they do, some long as they're 'force witches'. In fact there's a stack of new units that are both intriguing and super-geeky. (It's Star Wars as we know and love/hate it.) And they aren't just additions to the new faction, there's new stuff for both Imperial and Rebel armies too. Imperials get Dark Troopers (from the ancient Dark Forces FPS) for the Imperial ground forces, and TIE Interceptors for the fleets. Rebels meanwhile have a change to deploy Yoda (oh my God it probably goes against the fiction!) and B-Wings. (B-Wings are an awesome Lego model, incidentally, and far better than the X-Wing.) The Zann meanwhile get all sorts of peculiar stuff, including those rolling-ball security droids from the start of Episode One.

'Star Wars Empire At War: Forces Of Corruption' Screenshot 2

The units feel a bit 'miscellaneous', but I like that make-do conquest vibe.

Forces Of Corruption has also made a few changes to the overall structure of the game that will please players who got stuck into the original. This includes the ability to customise bases to allow better defence of key buildings. Of course there's a degree of nerdy self-satisfaction in being able to go in and tinker with this stuff, but it actually makes a considerable difference to which way the result of individual conflicts will fall. RTS gaming chums insist that the Zaan Consortium is overpowered in multiplayer, but since I got my arse handed to me every time I went online I couldn't really tell...

What did make me happy though was the two-sided galactic campaign map can now host three-sided wars. That is undoubtedly how God intended these kinds of games to play out. (See Dawn Of War: Dark Crusade for more evidence of this.)

I've also seen a few people complain that Forces Of Corruption ran slowly on anything less than a top end machine. I reviewed it on a top end machine and it was lovely, so if you struggled at all with the original be warned that his one might prove too much for your tired old circuits.

So there we have it: an expansion pack that delivers what was needed for extending Empire Of War. A bit of a boost for exhausted gameplay, and a stack of new content for those people wanted to send more crawling, floating, bleeping Star Wars things to their death. That's going to be more than enough for the thousands who were thrilled by the original, but for the rest of the world this is simply another commercial footnote.

7 / 10

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About Jim Rossignol

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Comments (31) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • petebritish #1 5 years ago

    Possibly tempted by this,but football manager aside a poor crimbo for PC gaming

  • Zomoniac #2 5 years ago

    So with about 14 hours to go until launch, you've reviewed two Wii games and are now reviewing average PC games? Priorities, people! I need to know if I need COD3 or SMB:BB or Rayman or TH:DJ or other games by the end of the day!

  • Sandbox #3 5 years ago

    Could not agree more Zomoniac, who gives a toss about this?

    EG's Wii offerings have been poor to say the least.

  • richardiox #4 5 years ago

    "So with about 14 hours to go until launch, you've reviewed two Wii games and are now reviewing average PC games? Priorities, people! I need to know if I need COD3 or SMB:BB or Rayman or TH:DJ or other games by the end of the day! "

    Hear Hear! What the hick is going on EG? Less than a day away on 2 game reviews, no features on the hardware, nothing! For comparison look at the amount of features / reviews under the PS3 section which isnt relevant to us until "March".

    I'm, not implying any anti Nintendo bias but it's just not in keeping with the fact it's a new EU Hardware launch - the only one this year.

  • foxy2006 #5 5 years ago

    _____ _____ _
    / | | | \ / \
    / |___ | | \ /___\
    / | | | / | |
    /____ |_____ |____ |__/ | |
    Edited by 1 at 07/12/06 @ 10:07

  • Fozzie_bear #6 5 years ago

    Some people are interested in pc games. The launch of the wii doesn't change that.

    A lot of people couldn't give a toss about the wii launch, you know?

  • krudster #7 5 years ago

    You'll have a Rayman review later today, and a double header Zelda review tomorrow, and a whole bunch of stuff next week.

    Firstly: Nintendo, unlike Sony or Microsoft, hasn't supplied a debug/test. This creates all sorts of problems, not least the fact that we have to wait for boxed code for everything.
    Secondly: Third party publishers have been late with supplying boxed copies (for example, still no sign of Monkey Ball - any third party games are being reviewed from import copies - which is why we're forced to run them next week).
    Thirdly: Zelda is like playing four normal sized games back to back and is a monumental task to review properly. Any attempt to rush a review out for the sake of it would have been dishonest.

    Edited by 1 at 07/12/06 @ 10:13

  • fizzer25 #8 5 years ago

    My heart goes out to you Krudster, try sitting in an office dealing with whinging old pensioners all day, I will swap you that for the monumental task of reviewing Zelda no problem!

  • Sandbox #9 5 years ago

    /orders huge humble pie

  • pauleyc #10 5 years ago

    A lot of people couldn't give a toss about the wii launch, you know?

    Quoted for truth. I'm beginning to think maybe Oasis was right with his opinion on Nintendo fanboys... Then again he was clearly wrong about KotOR 2.

    It's good to see that Jim Rossignol doesn't mark it down just because it's Star Wars. ;-)

  • pretence #11 5 years ago

    0_o..... "Thirdly: Zelda is like playing four normal sized games back to back "

    /gibbers at the gaming utopia ahead

  • Muddtallica #12 5 years ago

    Thanks, krudster. This hijacking of other comments pages to demand the Zelda review was getting ludicrous...I mean, it is a big deal, but people might want to talk about other games too. Plus the difficulty of reviewing a game of that nature...though all this "four times a normal game", "much bigger than expected" and "monumental task" is just maing me more excited about it. :p

    But let's let people talk about other games for a bit, eh?

  • sdrawkcabonit #13 5 years ago

    Yeah lets talk about Star Wars now....

    Link Shot First!

  • ZuluHero #14 5 years ago

    "Thirdly: Zelda is like playing four normal sized games back to back "

    Ack - the wait is killing me! Hurry up tomorrow! ;)

  • Zomoniac #15 5 years ago

    I don't care about the Zelda review. As has been said before, everyone is going to get it who has any interest and no EG review is going to say that. It's all the other games that I'm on the fence about (TH, SMB, COD and Rayman are all between 73 and 78 on Metacritic so I'm very much undecided on all four of them). But Nintendo are twunts for not providing you with any debug hardware.

  • Zomoniac #16 5 years ago

    Although it must be said your comments on the size of Zelda have put me off immensely. I don't have time for an 80 hour game. Any game I can't finish in 10 hours is too long.

  • bunglebonce #17 5 years ago


    A lot of people couldn't give a toss about the wii launch, you know?

    Heresy!

  • Amicus #18 5 years ago

    Without wishing to sound ungrateful, what happened with the Oblivion review? That's got to be at least the size of Zelda, but I don't remember to many delays with that one (I think the reviewer admitted having played it for around 30 hours).

    I'm so pissed off with that game, purely because of the ridiculous leveling system, which is not only fundamentally unfair (the game gets harder as you get better?) but jolts the suspension of disbelief by making the world more dangerous, rather than less dangerous, after you've saved the day.

  • krudster #19 5 years ago

    The Oblivion review arrived on day of launch, just as Zelda will do!

  • floppylobster #20 5 years ago

    Zomomniac,

    We had our Wii launch here last night. And what you don't need is Call of Duty 3. The only reason you might want to get it is if you've never seen another version of Call of Duty on a next generation console. And you've got a lot of patience. What do you want is Zelda, and what you NEED is Wii Sports and an extra remote+Nunchuck. That is all.

    As for Forces of Corruption, it's very average. The space battles are still fun and the ground battles are slightly better. The AI is slightly improved but numbers still win the day, even on the hard setting.

    In that respect it can be called a strategy game in the sense that you have to shift units around a map. But not in the sense that battle tactics will win the day over overwhelming odds (like in Age of Empires 2 for example). For the amount of time it took to come out I would have expected more. It's closer to a 6 than a 7.
    Edited by 1 at 07/12/06 @ 10:56

  • Razz #21 5 years ago

    Where's the bloody Zelda review!:(

  • Muddtallica #22 5 years ago

    Razz: Err...see either of krudster's comments.

    Also, Zomoniac: If your average threshold for a game is ten hours, it surprises me that you were ever interested in Zelda in the first place. I can't think of a single game in that series that comes in at anything less than at least 20 hours...
    Edited by 1 at 07/12/06 @ 11:05

  • Der_tolle_Emil #23 5 years ago

    I read often that Zelda manages to let the player feel the same we as most of the people did when playing Ocarina of Time. Never has a game pulled me in that much as OoT. If Twilight Princess indeed pull it off I would not mind it being 300 hours.

  • Shrike #24 5 years ago

    "including those rolling-ball security druids"

    I live near Stonehenge, and I've never seen one of these.

  • Spanky #25 5 years ago

    "rolling-ball security druids"

    Shome Mishtake. See i'd get this just to exercise my PC a bit, but from the sounds of it it'd be crippled to fork.

  • Spanky #26 5 years ago

    Shrike you poo!

  • Amicus #27 5 years ago

    @ Krudster

    Okay I'll stop whining now.

  • Turrican #28 5 years ago

    - My PC is now 3 years old (2.2ghz P4) and it runs this game fine on medium/high settings. The only problem is one new land map that crawls for some reason.

    - I bought this expansion because the promise of the original had not been fulfilled by patches, specifically the freeform campaign which suffers from crucial AI bugs and is too easy. Unfortunately the same problems are there, the AI won't attack you unless you leave a planet undefended.
    Edited by 1 at 07/12/06 @ 13:49

  • Stickman #29 5 years ago

    Mediocre Star Wars game > Wii.

    That's right. I went there.

  • chupachups #30 5 years ago

    "Zelda is like playing four normal sized games back to back and is a monumental task to review properly. Any attempt to rush a review out for the sake of it would have been dishonest."

    Good for you. Too many sites rush out reviews just for the sake of being first, which almost invariably turn out to also be worst.

  • fost@rd #31 5 years ago

    this game dissapointed me tbh. i really wanted to use the eclipse to wipe out some rebel scum but it only appears in the last level :S SUXOR. good news is the executor.