Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II

"Glam-Metal may never get old but this game sure does."

Star Wars: Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron 2 is a direct sequel of the game with the same name on the Nintendo 64. And when I say direct sequel that’s just what I mean. This game is almost identical to the first game, which is inherently similar to every star wars space shooter that has ever existed. When I think about the guys over at factor 5 I can’t help but picture them in burglar suits carrying bags with dollar signs on them. This game is just a pretty rehash made to get Lucas Arts more jingle.

Graphics 9/10:
I won’t kid myself and pretend this isn’t a pretty game because it’s just visually breathtaking. The first few levels don’t really do the game justice in the visuals department though so you’ll have to get deeper into the game before you are wowed by levels like Cloud City. The ships also look very pretty but that is to be expected; if they couldn’t even get the ships to look good then you’d know the programmers who made this game weren’t even worth their cans of Mountain Dew and bags of Skittles.

Audio 7/10:
How much you love the sound in RS will depend almost totally on how big a cream dream Star Wars is for you. If you hum the main Star Wars theme when you shower and can’t get enough of the episode 1 soundtrack then you’ll most likely spit on my 7/10 rating. Besides the choice in music the overall quality of it is a mixed bag. For the most part the music and sound FX work well in immersing into the Star Wars universe. There are a few glitches though, such as audio being cut off if you finish a mission late. This gives the game a disjointed feel and there are a few moments of confusion because of it.

Story 6/10:
The story of RS is also a mixed bag and your enjoyment will depend totally on how often you pretend your Mark Hammel and how often you randomly yell out “You’re not my father!” Rouge Squadron takes you through all the space action that occurred in the original three movies and some that didn’t but may have happened in the same timeline. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies already. I didn’t need this game to remind me of my brother spilling a coke all over me during the Death Star trench run.

Gameplay 5/10:
I believe this is where RS really drops the ball. All you do spin and shoot, spin and shoot over and over again. I don’t know about you but I got sick of playing this game back when it was called Tie-Fighter. This games gameplay dynamics haven’t evolved past Wing Commander or any other PC space shooter for that matter. The fact that this game got such high scores from most people just shows how desperate everyone is to play any half-way decent Star Wars game, which, with the exception of the first Jedi Knight, we haven’t seen yet. Overall the controls are pretty decent and the medal collection system adds a smidgen of replay value, but its not enough to save the game from being a boring romp through deep space.

Replayability 4/10:
This game is slow and annoying enough for you to not want to finish it the first time let alone come back and do it again. One might think the medal collection system might bring you back for “just one more game!” but unless you have the urge to drive the Millennium Falcon through the same boring levels you just beat with an X-Wing you won’t even bother.

Buy or Rent?
I’d definitely have to go with rental here. Although if you’re wearing a Yoda shirt while you read this you should run out and buy this game, since you’ll ignore all the games problems and just focus in on the FMV intro showing scenes from the movies. But if you’re not a big Star Wars fan this game doesn’t have nearly enough going for it to warrant a purchase. Sadly, I bought into the hype and now own a 50-dollar copy of the game. I forced myself to beat it so I would get my money’s worth and now I’m selling it and buying something else with the coin.

If this is the best game for the Gamecube then there was no reason at all to buy the system this early in its life span. And while I was let down by Super Smash Brothers Melee being a Street Fighter 2 Turbo style update to the original its still the best game on the system right now. (With the exception of Super Monkey Ball which is my favorite game on the system by far, but Monkey’s flying around in Gerbil balls isn’t for everyone.

Overall Score: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/02, Updated 01/02/02