"Star Wars from a different perspective"

Shadows of the Empire is a Star Wars game that starts around the time of the Battle of Hoth. It occurs between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and the main character is Dash Rendar, a close friend of Han Solo.

Story: 10

The story is great. It's actually based on a Star Wars book called ''Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire'' by Steve Perry.

Throughout the game, you play as dash Rendar, Han Solo's old friend, and a fellow Corellian. Dash just happens to be on Hoth when the Empire attacks Hoth Base, and sticks around to help. In the opening level, Dash pilots a snowspeeder against the Empire's invasion forces. Then, he has to explore Hoth Base (crawling with Stormtroopers) to reach his ship and get off the planet.

The game follows the book, from Dash's escape from Hoth to rescuing Luke Skywalker from brigands on Tatooine, and up the the three-way space battle between the Alliance, the Empire, and Prince Xizor's forces at his skyhook.

If you're a Star Wars enthusiast and have read the book, you pretty much know the plot of the game.

Gameplay: 8

I personally like the first-person mode the best, it plays a lot like Goldeneye that way, except you can also jump. You have an assortment of weapons besides your blaster, including homing missiles and other types of ammo for your blaster.

You play on several different planets, going through the story, and at times pilot a craft (like the snowspeeder, or Dash's starship, the Outrider, which is a lot like Han Solo's Millennium Falcon.)

The controls are very responsive, except it takes just the teeniest amount of time before a jump kicks in (though this small amount may annoy you sometimes when you need to jump for something.)

Graphics: 9

This game certainly looks great, especially when you're piloting a ship. Dash looks good, but like I said before, I think playing with the first-person view is the easiest in the missions you have with Dash exploring worlds.

Anything that has the ships looks awesome. The space battles and the snowspeeder battle on Hoth are some of my favorite parts of the game.

The bosses also look great, I really like the way the AT-ST looks at the end of the Hoth Base level.

Music: 10

A lot of classic Star Wars music and things that SHOULD be classic Star Wars music. The sound effects sound awesome too, many of them are taken from the movies (like the trademark sound that TIE fighters make.)

The music fits the mood, let's put it that way.

Replay: 10

There are codes to play as Imperial Stormtroopers, wampas, and other things, and the levels in this game are worth playing over, they're so much fun. It's a mixture of shooter and puzzle game, with some flight sim thrown in there too.

Overall: 9

A superior action game with Star Wars themes. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, this is BEFORE Star Wars had Jar Jar Binks in it, so that's a DEFINITE plus.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/02, Updated 02/24/02