Empire at War, of course, takes place in the times basically matching the lifetime of the galactic empire, from its inception at the end of the republic, to its destruction by the rebels. Forces of Corruption, unlike some other expansions, doesn't expand on this period but instead exists in parallel, so you play a side that exists during the war that the empire and alliance is fighting. Somewhat non-canonically, in that while there was prolific corruption and criminal activities during the period, none of them rose to the power that is commanded by you in this expansion. It's fun nevertheless, especially if you are not as much of a SW geek as we.

The new faction is called the Consortium. It is a criminal empire, founded and run by one Tyber Zann. Through shady dealings and copious mercenaries Zann wishes to corrupt the galaxy for profit, and while fostering rivalries against Jabba the Hutt and the Black Sun Corporation, also vehemently opposes his old captors the Empire.

The rebellion he doesn't have any specific cause against, but simultaneously doesn't have any reason to support either. All of this is introduced in the new forces of corruption campaign, and without giving too much away, basically Zann's empire is in ruins thanks to the aforementioned Jabba's betrayal, and Zann himself is imprisoned by the imperials.

Over the course of the campaign you get back on your feet and reestablish an empire that eclipses the one you had before your fall, to eventually become the true master of the galaxy. During this journey you'll have the opportunity to explore such exotic locations as Emperor Palpatine's archives, and the clone facilities of Hypora. Such things provide an interesting twist on the existing Empire at War gameplay.

The armies of the Zann Consortium are typically mercurial. Your basic troops are mercenaries, either armed with grenades or blasters. They are not too tough and go down easy, but their relatively low cost means that you can build up a large force of quickly and overwhelm better trained troops like Stormtroopers.

After these troops comes a large collection of motley mismatched ground forces, each with a more specific role than the utilitarian forces of the other factions. For example, the night sister Sith renegades ride Rancors into battle, a horrifying sight to be sure, while the Droidekas with their personal shields can be lethal to any enemy not equipped with superior numbers or explosives.

In space, the most distinctive unit at Zann's disposal is the StarViper fighter, a jagged but manoeuvrable one-man pirate vessel that can be amassed to great effect. The rest of Zann's forces are stolen or second hand, and a large Consortium fleet looks very rusty while nevertheless powerful and violent.

The corruption of planets is a nice new gameplay mechanic. It is very satisfactory slowly extending your crime empire throughout the domains of your enemies, a cloud of darkness and filth encompassing their worlds one by one. The way you corrupt a world is pretty cool too, in that you send a special unit called a defiler who, once has arrived, scopes the planet for possible ways to pervert it, after which you get to choose which option to use based on your available assets and strategic goal.

Bribery, racketeering, intimidation, piracy - all of these are potential options. Each has initial costs and payoffs: for example, intimidation will require you to kill or seriously injure a certain official in a land battle, while bribery, though expensive, requires no fighting and will ensure that the troops produced on the planet will never fight you.

Particularly of interest is the black market option, which in addition to corrupting the planet will also allow your heroes to purchase stolen technology from the side you are corrupting, such as disruptor tech from the empire. The whole corruption gameplay mechanic comes off as feeling very well done, and perfectly captures the feel of a burgeoning criminal empire.

In terms of multiplayer gameplay, the addition of the Zann Consortium makes for an interesting turn on the traditional. The empire and the republic were, broadly speaking, identical in terms of how they were played. Different ships, units and heroes, sure, but that was the only difference. However the aforementioned corruption and nature of Zann's units means that existing rebel and alliance players have a completely new thing to worry about.

You may have a mighty empire covering half the galaxy, but if all your planets are corrupted not only will you be losing lots of money, but the Zann player could at any time strike any of your planets from his position, as long as a chain of corruption exists between the fleet's position and its target. This form of stealth gameplay means that traditional tactics may very well prove unsuccessful against the Consortium. The games we had always seemed to go in the corrupt side's favour, whose weakness one to one in ships and troops was always made up by their ability to strike at any of our undefended planets at whim.

So in conclusion, is this a worthy buy for Empire at War enthusiasts? Most definitely. The addition of the new fully featured and unique consortium faction makes a drastic difference to gameplay, to the point where it can revive perhaps flagging interest in that provided in the existing title. The single-player campaign is well written and enjoyable, and to us the use of non mainstream Star Wars characters offered a greater opportunity for creative characterisation on the part of the developers, which was good. Definitely thumbs up from us.