ANOTHER Star Wars game?! Oh wait... (Star Wars - Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron II (GC))

Member Name: Geneson

Product:	Star Wars - Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron II (GC)
Date:	06/08/02 (247 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lucasarts gets the Star Wars universe down to near perfection , gorgeous graphics, every detail is given attention, fun action sci-fi shooter even if it didn't have the Star Wars license

Disadvantages: Too few stages

This one's worth playing. Before I start, let me say that this is the best Star Wars game ever made. Hands down. Better than Jedi Knight 2 (PC), Obi-Wan (Xbox), and Return of the Jedi (SNES). And Jedi Knight 2 is an excellent game.

This game shows how powerful the Gamecube can be, being launched along graphical beauties such as Luigi's Mansion, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Wave Race. Many times I would see a scene and wonder "Wait, am I watching the real movie here?". Lucasarts outdid themselves here.

I bought my Gamecube on the US release date along with this game and Luigi's Mansion. I've always been one to play the Mario game first on launch date. This time I chose Rogue Leader. From the moment I saw the short clips from the trilogy itself, I knew Gamecube could match up graphically with the PS2 and Xbox. The movie clips were so smooth and flawless, I found myself watching them for minutes before actually starting the game.

Lucasarts really tried their absolute best to please the Star Wars fans. They did that, and then some. The real voice acting was done expertly, I question myself whether or not what I just heard was taken the directly from the movie, but this is impossible because there are several stages that never appear in the movies. In fact, there are only four if you don't count the bonus stages, everything else was made up by the brilliant minds at Lucasarts.

The game spans through the short period of the original Star Wars trilogy. Four stages were masterfully recreated and look just like they did in the movie, the others are clever stages between the four to make more sense of the Star Wars universe. From the movie, the game has the attack of the Death Star I from Episode IV, evacuation of the planet Hoth from Episode V, battle near the moon of Endor from Epsidoe VI, and the final run at Death Star II. The game has recreated the trilogy's ships in perfection, this is a difficu
lt task indeed considering we knew so little about them from the movies. The ships stay so true to the movie's form, if it fired dual lasers it'll fire dual lasers, if it had concussion missles it'll have concussion missles. And don't get me started on how good these ships look.

You'll get to pilot the Rebellion's main fighter the X-Wing, the Rebel's bomber the Y-Wing, the speedy Rebel ship the A-Wing, and the versatile B-Wing, just for starters. Eventually you'll unlock such ships as Han Solo's Millenium Falcon, Darth Vader's Advanced Tie Fighter, Boba Fett's Slave II, and many more. Changing to a different ship will greatly benefit you in certain levels, it addds an entirely new kind of variety. Most ships will have a secondary weapon to fire, which are all true to the movies. While piloting the ships, you'll get two wingmen to boss around and tell whatever you want them to do. Attack enemy targets, fly in your formation, defend the target, whatever. That gives the game another sense of teamwork among the Rebels, working together to thwart the Empire's plans.

You'll earn tech upgrades to upgrade your ships, making you come back to re-search levels, which adds a tad bit more replay value. However, it's the game's medal system that will make you come back for more. Each time you meet the level's several requirements, you'll earn one of three medals, Bronze, Silver, or Gold depending on how well you did. These medals earn points, which can ulimately be used to unlock new bonus levels. And if you get all Gold, you'll unlock a different mode named Ace Mode, which will offer even more challenge.

The game is your standard flying shooter. In the main levels you play as the Rebellion, which must defeat the Empire for their own survival. This game affected me in two different ways. First being the sheer gameplay and graphics alone, second being how amazingly similar it i
s to the different battles in the movies. Your first stage will be the attack of the Death Star I, flying as Luke Skywalker with your wingmen Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter. Luke, Wedge, and Biggs were all in the famous Death Star I attack, all the things that happened to them in the movie happened here. Biggs gets shot down by Dark Vader, Wedge is damaged and is forced to return to base, and Luke delivers the final blow to the Death Star I. The memorable quotes from the movie on this attack such as,

"Squad leaders, we're picking up a new group of signals, enemy fighters headed your way."

"Luke, I can't stay with you."

"The force is strong with this one"

"Luke, you've turned off your targeting computer, what's wrong?"

"Yee-haw! You're all clear kid, now lets blow this thing and go home."

All from the movies. All with perfect voice acting that you couldn't tell whether it was from the movies or this game. All in the right spots at the right time. You could play this game and get a firm grasp on what the movies were about. Not just the voices, the locales are so well re-created. Death Star I has the same deflectin towers, and I swear, the trench looks EXACTLY the same.

The next few movie stage re-creations are just as impressive, but not as memorable. The Battle of Hoth is ideally the same as it was in the N64's Shadows of the Empire, but improved dramatically. The snow looks so real, the walkers move exactly as they do in the movies. The third re-creation is the second last stage, the Battle of Endor. This happens to be my personal favorite. 20 Rebel ships, versus an oncoming 200 Tie Fighters. You've also got Admiral Ackbar in Home One, with Lando Calrissian piloting the Millenium Falcon. B-Wings moving in formations firing at the Ties, while you've got a Y-Wing and A-Wing by your side as you struggle to survive.
Does that not sound exciting? Eventually, the stage moves on and you have to take on two Star Destroyers, all while protecting Admiral Ackbar's Home One and dodges the endless fire. So perfectly re-captures the excitement of this scene from Episode VI. Then we've got the finale right after this, Wedge and Lando flying straight to the core of Death Star II and blowing it up.

The new stages range from a prison rescue to stealing an Imperial Shuttle. All stages are very well thought up and could very well be fit into the Star Wars timeline. Ison Corridor Ambush gives you your first use of the A-Wing against the Tie Interceptors. Prisons of the Maw lets you pilot a Y-Wing through an asteroid field, then go on a bombing run to help some prisoners. Razor Rendevous lets you pilot a B-Wing for your first time against the Imperial cruiser The Star Destroyer. Vengence on Kothlis is a multi-task job involving a X-Wing, Speeder, and Y-Wing to get info from the fallen Star Destroyer. Raid of Bespin is a GORGEOUS stage, one of the most stunning and radiant levels I've ever seen in a game, it has a beautiful red background as you fly over Cloud City, knocking out guns and keeping the gas canisters safe. Then finally in the game's last originally thought out stage you fly a Y-Wing by day or a Speeder by night to steal an Imperial Shuttle right from an Imperial base, not an easy task at all.

And then there are the bonus stages, which are all an absolute blast. Two stay true to the movies, them being Han Solo's escape from Death Star I after rescuing Princess Leia. Use Luke to shoot down the TIEs chasing you. Second also lets you pilot the Millenium Falcon, this time it takes place after the evacuation of Hoth, flying through an asteroid field and hiding onboard a Star Destroyer. Two of the ones made up involve piloting as Darth Vader, and changing Star Wars history by taking down the Rebels attacking Death Star I, and destroying Rebel transpo
rts on the moon of Yavin. The final one is an endurance test, battling 100 waves of TIE Fighters with limited lives.

This was THE standout title on the Gamecube's launch. With endless variety to try around, brilliantly crafted stages, and some of the best graphics you'll ever see, Star Wars: Rogue Leader is a definite buy for every Gamecube owner. It's case is even greater with the unbelievable job done on making it look and sound like it did in the movies, hardcore Star Wars fans will eat it up. Even if it weren't a Star Wars game, this would still be a superb game worth buying. But when you throw in all the advantages of a Star Wars license, then make it exactly like the movies, you can't go wrong. Bottom line is, get this game. I don't know if there will ever be a more accurate interpretation of the Star Wars universe than this.





Platform: Gamecube
Developer: Factor Two/Lucasarts
Memory card: 3 blocks
Multiplayer capabilities: None
Type of game: Action
Rating: **** out of *****
Length of gameplay: 10 hours (all features)

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