Customer Reviews
A new take 
2007-07-14
While it seems this game really has nothing to do with the Star Wars story line it is entertaining.
4 stars UNLESS YOU HAVE WINDOWS VISTA 
2007-05-15
My son and I enjoyed the first Empire at War & this expansion is just that--an expansion. There are a few tweeks that make it more interesting, but basically it's more of the same game. Basically, if you enjoyed the original, you'll like this one.
GREAT BIG CAVEAT TO VISTA USERS--
My son's laptop came loaded with Vista--we had no choice (definitely designed by a Sith Lord). It worked okay on Vista at first, but with all the patches and updates Microsoft has since had to put out to keep Vista working, this game no longer works. I contacted Lucasarts tech support & was told via e-mail that the game was NOT made to work on that platform. Either Lucasarts needs to get on the ball & put a patch out to get this thing to work with Vista or Windows needs to go back to XP--now which do YOU think is more likely to happen? This is just another example of how Vista bites--XP was working just fine.
Good game horrible copy protection and Support 
2007-05-14
The game is fantastic if you ever get past the copy protection. I am using Vista x64 and I have to spend over 45 minutes trying to get the game started as SecuROM keeps saying unable to find original disk. Eventually it finds it and I can get in.
SecuROM support is horrible and they send you in circles. They are located in Germany (for obvious reasons) and will only answer to emails. After 3 weeks of dealing with them and them contstantly telling me to do the same things over and over again I gave up as nothing solved the problem.
I conacted Lucasarts and because I filed a complaint with the BBB their first teer support refused to help me and suggested I contact a lawyer. I finally did here from their upper level support via emails and after several days trying to resolve the issue (doing exactly the same thing SecuROM had me do) nothing worked and same problem.
I spent some time searching the web and discovered many others are having the same problem and the way they where solving it is by finding hacks (incredible to play a legitimatly own game you have to download a hack!) to play the game.
Game A+++
Company support F- !!!!
Terrible, but barely worth it. 
2007-04-22
The original Empire at War was, lets face it, initially an underwhelming experience. It had a fairly lengthy learning curve due mostly to the real time galactic map which made juggling the structures and garrisons on all those planets difficult. Especially when other games with the strategic/tactical interface use a turn based system, ie - Total War. And on top of that, the tactical maps felt small and condensed. The real strength in that game lay in the space tactical battles which were AWESOME and the almost the sole reason to own the game. The only reason that the game was rated so highly was that the only SW strategy alternatives were Galactic Battlegrounds, or Force Commander. Two games that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. So given the choices, Empire at War is fun.
The expansion pack gives it new life. New units add new depth to the Imperial and Rebel armies. I mean.... Thrawn and the Executor... common that just rules. And the rebel fleets stand a chance now with their MC-30 frigates and B-wings. Plus the new maps feel larger and are more interesting. When viewed with just these changes, the game is excelent and I highly recomend it. Just take a few afternoons to get the hang of the incredibly unfortunate real time aspect.
And that is not the only incredibly unfortunate aspect of this game. The new faction, the Zann Consortium, is WOEFULLY overpowered. Their fleets steamrole through EVERYTHING the Empire OR Rebellion throw at them, and their ground forces are uber shielded killing machines. They single handedly ruin the galactic conquest portion of the game. They have a "corrupt" ability which they use on planets and is EXTREMELY annoying and requires either the Empeor or Vader to get rid of. For a hefty 1500 credits. A serious setback when you're trying to amass large fleets of Star Destroyers which you'll NEED in order to get anywhere because the Zann Consortium is cheap, cheap crap. It really doesnt fit in with the Star Wars universe. The Empire was dominant. And it doesnt make sense to have a criminal organization conquering planets with ships and units that are STRONGER than the Empires!
The inclusion of this new faction is a serious blow to the games overall worth. Very poorly thought out on the design teams part and doesn't at all fit in with the whole conqure the galaxy thing. They're criminals... how can they control an entire galaxy? LAME.
The units and maps is the only real reason to get the expansion pack. And really... validates buyng to original as well. So if you have a friend that loves Star Wars get two copies and fight it out for the galaxy. 1 on 1 Empire vs Rebellion is where all the fun in this game is at.
Alright but lacking a lot 2007-01-18
This expansion on the orginal game is alright, much like the first it is filled with bugs. Lucas arts has disapointed me with this, it is annoying to have to restart again and again due to errors. Updates are released and address some of the problems but not all. The game itself expands on the oringal, adding another faction, additional units, new campaigns and maps. The online multiplayer, lacks players, and the age group is mostly confined to young teens, as well a lack of people updating means less people to play against. I found I was just as satisfied with this one as I was with the first game and wish I would have saved the $30 or $40 I spent when it came out, price has dropped but I would wait until its around $15-$20 before spending money on the exapnsion.
Sweet Expansion 2008-07-05
If you liked the main game, this is definitely worth getting. The addition of a 3rd faction makes the game more of a challenge than ever. The new units are good additions, though some are a bit overpowered. The new faction brings a good amount of diversity to the game, but the game favors them a bit too much. The one issue I had is that you cannot create a more customized galactic battle scenario, and there are only like 8 to choose from.
How this expanision makes the game even better 2007-12-30
I like the expansion so much and I recommend it to other people. I like to bribe opponents and take planets by by passing them with raid ships. I personally like the Empire the best because they can easily beat the other opponents. I think this game is the best game in the sense that you can command many troops and attack others across the galaxy.
I hope you were swayed by my review.
Fantastically Entertaining. 2007-10-04
I'm not going to go into details as you can read the previous reviewers' posts. This game is extremely entertaining (and difficult) in story mode. But I find myself enjoying the galactic conquests more and more. The add-on to Star Wars EAW has one particular map in which 55 planets are available for you to corrupt, liberate, or conquer. Resectively, you can play as either of the 3 factions. The only drawback to this game is I wish LA (LucasArts) would have made accompanying storylines for the Rebellion and the Empire in story(campaign) mode. Unfortunately you can only play as the Consortium in campaign mode. Otherwise, I have had the game for a couple of months now...I have beat it three times and I have played each of the galactic maps at least one time. Would recommend to any fan of Empire at War.
Fun, That's all that matters 2007-09-21
I had fun playing this one. Mostly for additional rebel/empire stuff. the whole piracy/corruption angle was blah for me. I didn't even bother with the single player storyline.
kid loved it 2007-09-05
My child saved up his money to get this game(he is 12)-and he has really loved it- it is more challenging than the other game, but has played it twice as much- he loves the section where you can design your own maps to play the game-we had to do it over 2 or 3 times to get it right(wound up printing off the entire directions booklet which helped so we did not have to back and forth from screen to screen)-but when we got it-it was great and he has designed several more-we have to give it an A!!!!Do suggest not to get it for a younger child-pretty complicated.
