Star Wars - Empire at war - Forces of Corruption. 'œCome to the Corrupt Side'

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 31 October 2006 03:02

Your IT - Entertainment

Developer: Petroglyph for Lucasarts

Distributor: Activision

Was “Empire at War” finally able to hold fulfil the hopes of Fan-boys every where, by being the definitive great Star Wars Strategy Game?  Or like a few before it (Force Commander springs to mind) will it just be like that Storm Trooper that bumps his helmet on the door, and basically be another embarrassment?

Well partly it succeeded.  “Empire at War” was a polished offering, building on its spiritual father – Star Wars Rebellion, it offered true Real Time Strategy at three different levels, Galactic -the resource building arena-, Space and Ground based conflicts.

Just released, is the first expansion, with a third force to wield; Tyber Zann and the Zann Consortium.  Neither the Dark side or the Rebellion has control over Tyber and his crew, instead it is money that is his motivation.

The campaign covers Tybers tangling with Jabba the Hut (no gold bikini’s in sight unfortunately) as well as his corruption of Imperial and Rebel controlled planets.

Corruption based options introduced to the game, Kidnapping, racketeering and Slavery amongst others that can be utilised to bring planets under the Consortiums control.

The expansion brings new Spaceships, Structures, Abilities and Ground units to all forces.  But most importantly lets players now – within certain restrictions – design the layout of their ground defences.

We still have the cramped space battles and forced ground encounters, but the Zann Consortium is a viable third force that is different enough from the Good and Evil originals, whilst still containing the Star Warsism we require.