Review #1: Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

I admit am a Star Wars fan. Ever since i watched Episode IV: A New Hope, i fell in love with it. So no doubt that any Star Wars game that i come across will be unplayed by me unless it's Pod Racer.

Moving on.

So this game i am about to review is called Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. It is an expansion to the Star Wars Empire at War game.

Why do a review on the expansion instead of the main game? Cause the expansion is waaaaaaaay better than the main game. Not saying the main game is bad but but.. I played more of the expansion than the main game.

Warning! Potential Spoilers incoming.

Even the cover art looks awesome!

So what is this game all about? SW:FOC is a Real-Time Strategy game created by LucasArts and the timeline is set in the middle of the galactic war between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance but in the midst, you will get to play as a faction called the Zann Consortium. Don't worry, all 3 factions are playable in Single Player and even Multi-player.

Forces of Corruption Gameplay
Credits: IGN

There are different modes in the game, most notably the Galactic Conquest mode. It removes all story cutscenes and also let the player chooses which faction and map they want to play.

Galactic Conquest map as a Rebel Alliance player

Gameplay

As a Real-Time Strategy game, it does not the traditional gameplay mechanics such as building your base, collecting resources or training troops. It is all done before any battles in conquest mode, which lets you decide what troops to garrison to protect the planet and also build the buildings BEFORE any enemy fleets/transports to come into your welcoming fire of doom.

PROS

• Memorable characters.
• Very interesting plot.
• It fits perfectly in the Star Wars timeline.
• Wide variety of units and gameplay choices
• Nothing is "overpowered" ( Looking at you C&C 3 )
• Friendly for newcomers.
• Bored of the main game? The community have created tons of mods for this game. Most notably is the Clone Wars mod!

CONS

• Multiplayer for Galactic Conquest is very very very boring and slow-paced (might be good but mostly bad if someone decided to start with the highest tier upgrade)
• Unit Limit for each faction. ( Limits number of strategies )
• A bug that loses all your main characters.

Judgement

I will only have a few things to look out for, mainly graphics, gameplay, replay-ability.

• GRAPHICS: 10/10 
• For a 2010 game, the graphics are awesome. It's clean and the graphics are absolutely amazing. The particle effects,  explosions and also the colors that depicts the faction is all cleanly shown in the game.

• GAMEPLAY: 9/10
• Sometimes buggy, but it's rare that i got a bug. 
• Bold of not using the traditional method of Real-Time Strategy games and actually succeeding in it.
• Wide variety of units and each units have strength and weaknesses to it, allowing different unit formations to use and think about.

• REPLAY-ABILITY: Totally
• Best when played with friends.
• Story is very well told. I played the campaign 3 times and was still fascinated with it.

• OVERALL: 9/10
• Definitely worth picking up and try it. It is now available on Steam, buy it and play with friends! Or drown yourself with the rich story of Tyber Zann, Zann Consortium and the fate of the entire galaxy!

Thanks for reading. I'll do this on a weekly basis so have a look out for it!

Next game to review: Mass Effect series

Introduction!

Hi guys! Welcome to my review blog!

An little introduction of myself. My real life name is Kai Xiong, i am a student studying in Diploma in Games and Entertainment Technology (now known as Diploma in Games Design and Development) in Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore.

I played games at a young age and my first game was probably a PS1 game called Army Men. You know, those toy soldiers that go pew pew at each other. Since then i fell in love with games and soon was playing many different games on the PC. (i don't own any consoles, the PS1 game that i first played belongs to my relative)

Currently, I still have an interest in gaming and still gaming.

If anyone is interested add up SG Spartan in Steam and that's my ign for like 90% of my other accounts. So if you see that ign somewhere, it's most probably me!

Thanks for reading!