Old Republic at War (Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption mod)

Zach Goodier

I love modding, and mods like this are a good way of showcasing what mods can do. That being said, this is also a prime example of what a mod can do. That might not make sense yet, but trust me, mod fans likely know what I mean, and while reviewing this mod, I will explain how this showcases all that is wonderful, and frustrating, about the mod culture.

Every turret is now a hardpoint, and they area all animated and pivot to face the direction they shoot. Very immersive.

This mod allows players to play as one of 3 factions from the KOTOR/SWTOR era: The Republic, Empire, or Mandalorian factions. Each has units modeled after the actual ships from the period, and even includes some hero units from the series, like the Ebon Hawk and Leviathan. This mod is space only, so no ground units have been made (yet) to finish out the galactic conquest layout.

If I had to pick between ground or space, I’m glad they went space, because space battles have always been such a blast (pun intended) in Empire at War. The models themselves are brilliant, with darker colors and animated turrets making them all incredibly detailed, and the hardpoints are assigned to individual weapons, making your ships truly feel intricate as they are made up of all sorts of weapons, engines, and other components that keep them working. The entire look and feel is much more detailed than the vanilla game, and this is why modding is some of the greatest joy PC gamer can have.

Now onto the not-so-good parts. As I said before, this is space only, so no ground units have been included. However, this is the tip of the iceberg. For one, galactic conquest is a mess, since it keeps all the vanilla units from the game, and your starting units are unconverted. The result is the ability to build ships from the Old Republic, but all of your initial units are Galactic Civil War. This means that if you want to conquer the galaxy as the Sith, or liberate as the Republic, or just kick ass as the Mandalorians, you’re going to have to find some way of coping. The only mode that seemed free from these issues was skirmish mode, so that’s the place to enjoy this mod.

Have Leviathan, will conquer.

Overall, this mod feels like a great idea, and some brilliant execution, that is only half done. This is why mods are simultaneously the greatest and worst thing about gaming. I love the detailed models, animated parts, and chance to play out some fresh and detailed battles from the Old Republic era, but I hate the fact that I can’t play conquest without further updates to fix these issues. There might already be fixes out if you look for them, but the main files don’t provide them from what I’ve seen. If it weren’t for that glaring issue, this mod would probably be, by leaps and bounds, my favorite SWEAW mod ever made, and that’s saying a lot.  

Skirmish battles are chaotic, and there are some balance issues, but the game is still a ton of a fun to play

However, this also captures where a mod can go wrong. Practical incompatibility with the conquest mode and a few technical and menu issues come up, like missing unit info, and some unit balance issues. What frustrates me is that it seems like these guys have everything modeled, animated, and set up, it just needs to be applied to the rest of the game itself. It seems like they only intended to use these units in skirmish mode, and didn’t think (or care) about the possibility that their audience might want to actually assume the role of the entire faction in order to conquer the galaxy. So unless there are fixes or someone else finishes what these guys started, then it might be on the back burner indefinitely, because I haven’t heard news of updates.

Good:

-Amazing models and animation for all the units, with individual turret rotations and increased blaster bolt speed.

-Excellent inclusion of all of our favorite space units from the Republic, Empire, and Mandalorians.

-Retextured menus look amazing, and the game itself feels much more detailed.

Bad:

-Not 100% compatible with Galactic Conquest mode, with all the starting units the ones from the vanilla game (GCW era).

-Minor bugs and such are common, and units are somewhat imbalanced.

Scully Rating: 6.5 out of 10