Star Wars Rogue Leader Rogue Squadron - Review - 29th of Decmeber 2002 System: Nintendo GameCube Television System: PAL Publisher: LucasArts Developer: Factor 5 Origin: U.S. Players: 1 Genre: Space shooter Memory Card: 3 blocks Released Japan: 22nd of March 2002 USA: 18th of November 2001 Europe: 3rd of May 2002 Rogue Leader, the sequel to the N64 game Star Wars Rogue Squadron, was released on the premier date of the GameCube in both the USA and Europe. The player is supposed to take the role as Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles, two rebel pilots from the alliance and fight important battles from the the three Star Wars movies from the 70's in a selection of rebel ships as X-wings, A-wings and Y-wings. Story Rogue Leader is of course very dependent on the Star Wars movies when it comes to story. First I must say that I like the movies and I'm fascinated by the Star Wars Universe but I'm definitely not a fan, because of that I might find this game not as interesting as fans would do. The game is divided into more than 10 different missions that takes place during the movies in chronological order. It starts in the end of the fourth movie, "A new hope", when the rebels are about to attack the Death Star. Indeed a good start mission because the objectives are pretty simple, it's very well made and it shows proof of Rogue Leaders very nice graphics. Besides the attack of the Death Star you get to fight many battles for the rebel alliance, missions you can see in the movies as the Battle of Hoth in the beginning of the fifth movie and the Battle of Endor in the end of the sixth movie. But you'll also fight battles you can't see but either know exists or fits perfectly into the main story as Razor Rendezvous where the rebels try to get information from the Empire and Raid on Bespin where the rebels try to get energy in form of gas to their ships. Graphics 9/10 The most impressive GameCube graphics I've seen so far but I've not seen Star Fox yet. :) Some places are extremely alike the movies and sometimes I think it's much better made, like the movement of the AT-ATs. It's superior the movie and the design of the Death Star is also a proof that those programmers are really ambitious. Extremely detailed and realistic. There are also lots of effects. I was impressed for example of the trench run on the first mission, when you fire a laser beam it lights up the whole trench and that really looks sweet. Also the explosions look great. But I have to be a little cranky as well. First I must say that sometimes it's really hard to spot enemies, in that way the graphics lose some functionality. Yeah, it's a part of the challenge and you can use the targeting computer but I would prefer a little more clear view. Also, on some of the missions on planets we see human forces and they really look ridiculous. They run like little lines on the ground, absolutely no animation. But maybe that's a price to pay for the huge, vast areas we get to fly around in. Sound 8/10 Not much complaining to do and not much to be impressed about. The music is OK, there are of course ordinary Star Wars themes in the background and they are mixed into big orchestral pieces. Sometimes it's too much and sometimes you can hardly notice it. I like the sound effects; the lasers sound like lasers should and the explosions are cruel. A pity I don't have a surround system because that would surely add to the atmosphere of the game. The voice acting is good, sometimes they get a little extreme and mostly annoying but for a video game, very well done. Control/Gameplay 8/10 As written before the game is divided into a number of missions. In some missions there are few objectives and pretty straight-forward, in others there are more and demand more or less exploring from the player. Often the objectives are poorly explained and that can be annoying when you're new to the game. But to become a Jedi knight you need patience... The missions vary pretty much. Often you must destroy something or hunt down TIE:s or ground forces as AT-ATs and AT-STs but sometimes you must protect own ferries. To put a little pressure on the player there's often a time limit as well. The battles are intense and there are not many calm moments during the adventure. But the game is sometimes pretty inaccurate and sometimes you have to resolve on luck. This is a major con and something we often find in games with an American origin. If there's something I like then it's the selection of ships. The ordinary rebel ships are unlocked from the beginning and many more are locked. The X-wing is the standard ship which is very balanced between speed and power. The A wing is fast but not strong, the Y-wing is a bomb ship and therefore strong but not fast. And so the B-wing, stronger than the X-wing and more torpedoes but it cannot regenerate its shield as the X and Y can. Moving on with the controls, laser with A, some kind of bomb or torpedo with B, a targeting computer with Y to help you spot enemies, choose between chase and cockpit camera mode with X, boost with R and brake with L. There's also a new neat feature. On the digital cross you can choose your wing mates orders. You can always order them to form on your wing so they help taking out enemies in front of you and order them to flee so they don't steal your precious kills. You can often assign two more orders and those are specialized to certain type of enemies they should hunt down and destroy. Most of the time these wing mates are pretty lame and do more harm than good, but it's a nice thing in the game even though I dislike the position of the digital square. You often must release the control stick to order your fellows and that can be devastating. I must complain a little more. Maybe just a tiny detail but I don't like how badly it's indicated when you unlock something, you just have to find out yourself. Lasting appeal 7/10 One of the worse parts of the game. There're 10+ missions but they're finished pretty fast. Good thing there are lots of bonuses for those who really like the game. But those who just want to finish the game won't be sitting long. To unlock these "exstras", medals must be achieved or cheat codes must be taken from the net. For every mission there are three kinds of medals, Bronze, Silver and Gold. You get medals depending on how long time you use, how many enemies you gun down, how accurate you are and such likes. The difference in difficulty is pretty well balanced in my opinion. Bronze is not much harder than finishing the mission but to achieve gold several hours must be put on each mission. So the lasting appeal isn't better than you make it. Total 8/10 A very good game indeed. Intense, sparkling and lot's of variation. Suffers from a few cons but the force is with this game. Spoilers Warning, spoilers about stuff to unlock below! You wanna know more? When you get enough medals you get to unlock 5 missions more than the 10 original. Here you get to sit by the Millennium Falcon's turrets and shoot chasing TIE's, hunt rebels as Darth Vader in his TIE Advanced and why not test your patience in the sadistic Endurance where 99 waves of TIE fighters must be gunned down. An exercise that take around 3.5 hours to just finish. To get a taste of the unlockable vehicles I can say, how about cruseing around in your very own Falcon, steal Bobo Fett's piece of junk, Slave 1 or quickly fly around in the agile Naboo N-1 and it's even rusty to demonstrate how long time it has passed since it was flown. Why not see how long you can survive with a TIE fighter ship which doesn't survive more than a few laser shots. When getting 15 golds an Ace mode opens up which is the same mission but a tad harder. Also, avoid cheating, if you must, do it on a separate memory card. The file will be glitchy and some cheats can't be turned off. Besides it's worth the satisfaction to get those fifteen golds. © 2002 Christian "Twink" Wall