Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

"Blast those blobs"

I am a big Star Wars fan, and when I heard that a game was being made that would take the best of Shadows of The Empire's aviation action, I rushed to rent it. It took very little time for me to get hooked on this game.

Graphics and Sound - 8 out of 10: The graphics are detailed, but for some reason, the enemies blend in with the background. Stormtroopers appear as little white blobs that run around in circles, creating an extremely difficult target to destroy while all the while blasting the living day lights out of your ship. Similarly, on one level ''ghost'' turrets and targets that are either holograms, invincible, or game glitches (I'm thinking the latter) can take out the entire squadron without taking any damage whatsoever. However, the game is generally free from many serious glitches and the fighter and building sprites are done in incredible detail... at least for a n64. The sound effects are crisp and clear, but not very original. The music includes many of the the wonderfully dramatic star wars overtures, but it gets old rather quickly.

Gameplay- 9 out of 10: The overall ''fly around, shoot the ties, blow things up, and protect the rebels'' is good, but there is always the little things, like how you die, and then you are forced to watch a video of the thing you are protecting getting the heck blown out of it. Also, the missions go from too easy to extremely hard, but in no order. Most of the codes on this game just help you in ways such as powerups, more ships, and more lives. The ships that you fly on the game are as follows: X-wing, Y-wing,A-wing, V-wing, Naboo starfighter (code), Snowspeeder, Millennium Falcon (code), and a TIE intercepter (code). There is also a code to fly a Buick Electra instead of a V-wing.

Replay value- 7 out of 10: all you can do is attempt to get all the medals, and mess around with codes. Whoo-hoo, big deal. Once you reach the highest rank on there, it is no longer worth playing.

Rent or buy- Good to rent it, great to buy it. I finally bought my copy this year; it was the best video game I have ever bought. I would suggest renting it once or borrowing before you buy though. It is not a game for everyone.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/01, Updated 06/17/01