Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike

"Star Wars from every aspect"

Graphics: 10
Gameplay: 9
Sound: 10
Story: 6
Multiplayer: 10
Overall: 9

Introduction:

Following in the still hot footsteps of Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader, Rebel Strike is the next game from Factor 5. Coinciding with RL and the Original Trilogy, the game takes place in between the destruction of the first Death Star, and the assault on the second one. You assume the roles of Wedge and Luke primarily, but also get the chance to play out levels based directly off the movies, using characters such as Han and Leia.

Gameplay:

Of course, the most important factor in a video game. It's why we play them. Which is why Rebel Strike is so popular. The joy of blasting TIE Fighters from inside your cockpit cannot wholly be explained. This is an arcadic game, where the basis is to have fun playing. The use of the AT-ST is probably my favorite new gameplay addition. It's fun to walk through a group of Stormtroopers, crushing them and shooting them as they flee. I only wish we got more of the AT-AT. The on-foot levels have taken the most criticism, since the moment of their announcement. Are they as fun as flying? No. Do they make the game worthless? Far from it. Remember, this is an arcadic game. The on-foot levels are extremely arcade-like. Just keep this in mind as you play, and don't take things seriously, and you'll enjoy it a lot more.

Graphics:

Every kid out there aspiring to work in the creation of textures and visuals, should admire those who working on Rebel Strike. The fighters, capital ships, stations etc, were all given the highest detail. All sorts of bumps and whatnot can be seen on every craft, bar-none. The game maintains an impressive 60fps in singleplayer mode, and though there were small hints of dropping in co-op, it seems to remain at that there too. Oh yeah, and the high quality movie scenes make me want to kidnap George Lucas, and force him to release the Original Trilogy on DVD.

Sound:

Duhh duh duh-duh-duh-duh duhhh.. Ah, the ever pleasing tune of Star Wars. In this game, the music is fully orchestrated, and the background music at the game menus, which I never really liked, finally sounds pleasing. The music during the levels rise to the occasion, and places you comfortably inside the realm of Star Wars. The Luke voice acting is surprising good in most SW games, and this is no exception. Dennis Lawson is missed as Wedge, but half-way through the game, you are likely to forget that it isn't him. And the disco..almost annoying at first, then highly addictive..

Story:

The weakest point of the game, to me. When I was playing, I was absolutely not interested in this, and just played the levels for the fun of it. They seem to have done a lousy job focusing on this aspect, and instead focusing more on other parts of the game. I would rate it lower, but since it takes place during the OT, I'll keep it a 6.

Multi-player:

Ohh baby. You might finish the singleplayer portion, and feel the game is a bit lacking. Then you try out MP, and you want to go out a buy a second copy, in case anything should happen to your original. Since Rogue Squadron on the Nintendo 64, we have hoped and thought of what MP would be like. Amazingly we were not disappointed. Dog fighting can become stale briefly, when your both trying to do tight turns and find the other. For dogfighting, Star Fox 64 still remains the victor. However, the other versus modes are more entertaining. I love getting mad at my opponent when he captures one of my bases. Or when he sneaks up behind me in his AT-ST to catch me off guard and blast me to nothingness. While these are all neat features, the real gem is the RL co-op. It contains all the old levels with a new revised engine, and it is all the better. TIEs are smarter, objectives are harder, and going for even Silvers will takes lots of skill and provide an amazing challenge. If I could rate higher than ten, I would. This ranks up with Goldeneye, SSBM, and Star Fox 64 as my favorite multiplayer gaming experiences.

Overall:

Rebel Strikes is not just a sequel with new levels. It incorporates new gameplay, and includes a very well done Multi-player mode. Fairly weak story, and reports of freezing(happened only once to me during Endurance), but this game should keep you busy for some time. If you liked RL, get this. If you like fun games, get this. It makes a great holiday gift. Will be highly recommended by me for a long time to come.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/03