Earlier this year I reviewed Star Wars: Empire At War. It was a game I'd been hugely anticipating but found it to be a rather wanton disappointment. I was genuinely hoping that it would be the sprawling conquer the whole Star Wars galaxy game that everyone had been after for years, but sadly it was poorly put together, badly executed and sorely lacking in creativity. There were some startling design decisions, such as making the space battles 2D, whereas Homeworld years earlier had already mastered ingenious 3D space battles. However, my opinions aside, the game actually did very well, without doubt due to being set in the Star Wars universe. So well in fact that LucasArts have now released an add-on pack called Forces of Corruption, in which you get to play the bad guys, having been a goody in the original. I've always loved the concept of bad guys winning out in the end, such a rare beast in the world of books, film and TV, yet so common in life. So I was a little more upbeat when I booted up the game and was prepared to give Empire At War a second chance.

The game is set around a character called Tyber Zann who's a galactic criminal , smuggler and all-round rogue. He's a nasty piece of work; nothing like the charming Han Solo, having more in common with Jabba The Hutt. What drives Zann in life is his desire for overwhelming wealth and enacting vicious revenge upon the Empire. So basically Zann and his gang, the Zann Consortium, form an interesting third prong in the battle for the galaxy, as they foster no friendship with either the Rebels or the Imperials. This new faction basically spends their time leaching off the other two, stealing money and equipment and crushing anyone who gets in their way. In this new version of the game you play out Zann's story and, believe me, it's actually a belter!

The Zann Consortium is a fantastic and very welcome addition to the already bursting Star Wars universe. As a criminal organisation they don't have instant access to the kind of awesome military firepower that the other two factions have, so they're obliged to make do with older and weaker spacecraft, using ancient blastboats for bombing runs and mercenaries in place of specialised infantry squads. So how do they actually stay alive, I hear you ask? Well, they do so by being exceptionally creative, stealing from their enemies and combining together technology from both the Imperial and Rebel forces to forge a ramshackle army that's capable of standing up to both sides. This new side completely re-jigs the whole balance of the original game, morphing the age-old struggle between the Empire and the Rebellion into a brand new three-way free-for-all. As the Zann Consortium you can conquer planets exactly the same way as the other two factions, but you can also corrupt a planet, hence the game's title. Corrupting a planet doesn't change the ownership, but it does siphon off a significant portion of credit production to the Zann Consortium. You can also embark on corruption missions; these allow you to mess about with a rival's planet in many different ways, such as sabotaging key structures and corrupting the planet's militia before you begin your ground assault.

The Consortium's military units, both space and ground, are really good fun to use. For example, there's a Byzanti cruiser that actually leaches enemy shields to power its weapons, and an Ewok Handler, which is a vehicle that hurls Ewok suicide bombers at enemy targets! All of the units are very refreshing additions to the original game, plus it's great fun to play as the underdog, a force even more screwed than the Rebels, if such a thing is possible. One small issue I did find though is that the Consortium, whilst they initially appear very weak, are actually extremely powerful and this can make playing through some of the missions very easy. Whilst their ships aren't as good as the Rebel and Imperial ones, they can corrupt so many planets that you can have an endless stream of money coming in and can destroy your enemies by literally flooding them with units.

Although Forces of Corruption is a great addition there's only so much it can do to sort the fundamental issues that resided in the original game. Land battles are slightly improved in this new version, although they still feel very flat and way behind even the likes of Command & Conquer five years ago. You can however call in devastating air strikes, which is a great new feature. It plays less clunky and the maps are far more attractive, with everything from vast mountain ranges to dense forests, but I found myself tending to have my land battles generated automatically, as this is still an area where this game really falls down. The space battles are still in 2D (boring!) but remain a lot of fun, particularly with the addition of the new Consortium units. There's certainly no shortage of variety as you fight - in order to win the space battles you have to make full use of the Consortium's unique weaponry, including cloaking technology, buzz droids, cluster bombs, mines, shield leaching and jamming devices. Hopefully as the series progresses they will try and convert these battles to a 3D Homeworld-type environment - if they do, I think this series will become really popular, really fast.

As before, you play out your strategy on the galactic map. The map remains as dull and unwieldy as in the original game, so no changes there unfortunately. Sadly, Forces of Corruption also suffers from performance problems, particularly when you've got a few hundred spaceships on screen in your space battles - I guess this is understandable. However, what still stands out as always is the presentation; the units look and sound absolutely fantastic, true to the phenomenal heritage of the Star Wars series. This game has the huge benefit of being able to draw from the huge catalogue of timeless Star Wars music, composed by genius John Williams. You can bet that every Star Wars game is going to blow you away in these departments, as people have loved everything Star Wars for years and years. I challenge you to name one person over the age of 18 who couldn't pick out the noise of a Tie-Fighter!

Star Wars: Empire At War - Forces of Corruption is much better than the original game. There have been a few minor tweaks here and there, although the same problems exist such as the lame ground battles and useless galactic map. However the addition of the Zann Consortium is a masterstroke indeed - it breathes new life into this franchise without a doubt! With plenty of new and interesting units to play as, and the opportunity to fight both the Rebels and the Empire in one fell stroke, who could be disappointed? Fans of Empire At War should most definitely get involved and I'd say it's worth having a go even if you didn't get a chance to play the original, because this is a great addition to the Star Wars universe of games.

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).