Star Wars is a series that will probably live on longer than almost any other fraction of our culture, and the universe worth of products and lore it has generated span far, far beyond a set of sci-fi movies. Thus, when a person or group comes forth and sets out to add a contribution to the collective sum that is the Star Wars Galaxy, it should be a good one. Petroglyph, a developer with ties to the Command & Conquer game series, stepped up to that highly pressurized plate back in February when it released Empire at War. With enough freedom, enough quality, and an amazing attention to artistic detail, they managed to do something no one had managed before: create a great strategic Star Wars game.

Now, less than a year later, Petroglyph brings us the game's first expansion called Forces of Corruption. This time around, the main campaign (which is not at all the only mode of gameplay) centers on an entirely new faction: the Underworld. The game still features its amazing Galactic Conquest mode, which allows players to take control of any of the game's three factions and command them in an all-out war for control. The Galactic Conquest mode also comes with a few scenarios, allowing for short or long campaigns, hard or easy foes, and the ability to play out a portion of the Star Wars storyline as you choose. However, this mode does not retain any plot from the campaign mode or the movies. The last mode is Skirmish, which resembles the skirmish mode of almost any other strategy game.

The campaign follows the rise to power of Tyber Zahn, a criminal whose story begins in the prisons of Kessel. He is a smuggler, much like every sci-fi fan's favorite outlaw, Han Solo. In fact, they also share a former employer and current enemy: Jabba the Hutt. After shooting his way out of the Kessel mine and prison, he boards Han's ship and heads off to his secret base to formulate a strategy to build power. With the ever-constant goal of becoming the most influential and powerful man in the galaxy, Zahn begins corrupting and taking over planet after planet.

As with the original game, the very intricate attention to the smallest details, such as the look and feel of each planet's surface and the made-with-this-specific-use-in-mind design of every ship makes Forces of Corruption an amazing game. These are the things that make the game feel good. The rest of the award-winning presentation doesn't hurt, either.