Star Wars: Empire at War - Forces of Corruption

Overview

Star Wars: Empire at War - Forces of Corruption is the expansion pack to the 2006 Real Time Strategy title, Star Wars: Empire at War. It builds on the foundations of the first game, adding a third playable faction - the Zann Consortium, new units/powers for existing factions, an updated universe (for example, Alderaan is now an asteroid field instead of a planet) and improved visual fidelity. There has been one patch released for the game as of 2008.

Story

The campaign focuses on the new Zann Consortium faction, and follows the story of Tyber Zann, the leader of the Consortium. The game beings just prior to the Battle of Yavin in Episode 4, and incorporates many elements of the 5th movie into game chronology. Tyber Zann is broken out of his imprisonment on Kessel with the help of Han Solo, escaping on the Millennium Falcon. From here, the player captures planets belonging to Jabba the Hutt (then strikes a peace treaty with the infamous crime lord), clashes with Grand Admiral Thrawn of Expanded Universe fame, destroys an Eclipse class Super Star Destroyer, and unlocks the secrets of an ancient Sith artifact.

Gameplay

The game plays more or less identically to the original game - there are still two layers of combat, one in space and one on the ground, however ground combat has been tweaked in several ways. There is now terrain that Heavy Vehicles may not cross, terrain only accessible to infantry units, and destructible elements in the environment. Other changes include the ability to preselect which unit will be the player's starting unit during space or ground battles, the ability to select the placement of structures and units on a planet's surface, mobile defense platforms (movable build pads) for ground battles,  the ability to repair space station hard-points, the ability to transport units in vehicles during ground battles, and the ability to call in an orbital bombardment when a capital ship is in orbit.

The largest change is the addition of a third playable faction for the game - the Zann Consortium. Equipped with a variety of black market, experimental and Force-attuned units, the Consortium plays very differently from the Alliance and the Empire. This faction is granted abilities such as bribing enemy units, cloaking certain ships/vehicles, stealing credits from other players, slowing enemy unit production, and utilizing the black market for upgrades and purchases. Many of the Consortium's galactic-level special abilities, such as kidnapping, piracy, use of the black market and others are accessed through the use of the Consortium's unique Defiler units, which can be stationed on a planet in a manner similar to Probe Droids. The Consortium also has an array of unique hero units, including Tyber Zann himself and his second-in-command Urai Fenn, as well as two fan-favorite bounty hunters and a powerful, force-using Nightsister.

New units and heroes are added to the existing sides as well, shoring up gaps in their respective arsenals and adding famous figures from Star Wars history. The Rebel Alliance gets hero units like Luke Skywalker, Yoda and others, as well as B-Wing fighters and a ground-based troop transport. The Empire gets new heroes like Grand Admiral Thrawn (aboard the Admonitor, his flagship) and Rom Mohc (aboard the Arc Hammer), and unit additions such as the TIE Interceptor, all three phases of Dark Trooper, and the Juggernaut heavy troop transport. The Empire also gets a new Galactic-level weapon in the Death Star II which, in addition to destroying planets, can also target capital ships with its superlaser.

There were also 13 new planets added to the game, and many of these new planets take advantage of the various new terrain features that have been added in Forces of Corruption. A few of the new planets also grant unique Galactic-level abilities to certain factions. For example, capturing The Maw will allow Empire players to build TIE Phantom fighters and capturing Dathomir will allow the Zann Consortium to build its Nightsister units. These new planets are incorporated seamlessly into an expanded Galactic Map.

Critical Reception

 The game was positively received, scoring slightly lower than the original game (78% on GameRankings). It was praised for added diversity in the form of the unique faction and the new story; it was criticized for the small period of time between the release of the original and the expansion, and the extremely abrupt cliff-hanger ending featured in the campaign mode.

System Requirements

 

System Requirements

• Computer: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible computer required.

• Operating System: Windows 2000/XP required.
• CPU: Intel PIII or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz or faster required.
• Memory: 256 MB RAM or higher required.
• Graphics Card: 32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) Capability required.
• Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible Sound Card required.
• CD-ROM: 8X Speed CD-ROM drive or faster required.
• Input Device: Keyboard and mouse required.
• Connectivity Requirements: 56Kbps or faster connection required for Multiplayer.
• DirectX: Microsoft DirectX 9.0c is included on this CD.
• Note: DirectX may require the "latest" drivers for your particular hardware.
• Installation: 2.5GB of free hard drive space required. We recommend that you have an additional 200 MB of free space available after installation.

 

Supported Chipsets:

• ATI Radeon 8500/9000/9200 family
• ATI Radeon 9500/9600/9700/9800 family
• ATI Radeon X300/X600/X700/X800/X850 family
• ATI Radeon X1K family
• NVIDIA GeForce 3/4 family
• NVIDIA GeForce FX family
• NVIDIA GeForce 6 family
• NVIDIA GeForce 7 family

 
System requirements may change over time, and you may need to upgrade your current system (or obtain a new system) to play the game.