Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

"Star Wars EU At Its Finest"

Quite a few years ago, Lucas Arts, Lucas Books, and a variety of other ''Lucas'' industries got together and started working on a little project we Star Wars fans like to call ''Shadows of the Empire''. This project included the writing of a novel, a comic book, and a video game. As you may have guessed, I am reviewing the game. Anyway, Shadows of the Empire was one of the first games for the N64, and the first Star Wars game for the system as well. Shadows also started up another very successful series: Rogue Squadron.

Gameplay 10/10: This is a shooter/flight sim game. For the shooting part of the game, all you really do is walk around, and blast the life out of whatever you desire. But you get to do it with an extensive arsenal, adding to the fun. You can get everything from blasters to seekers, to the legendary disruptor rifle, but unfortunately, no lightsaber. The control is okay for the shooter part of the game, and the only real complaint I have is that it takes too long for Dash to turn around. As for the flight sim parts, these are the best points in the game. The first flight level, the Battle of Hoth, is a perfect example. It was so well done, that it inspired Lucas Arts to make a series of games using the same basic flight sim gameplay as was seen in that level: The Rogue Squadron series. The control for these levels was flawless.

Challenge 10/10: This game is hard, especially the shooter levels. Heck, even on the easy settings the game can still be difficult. Some of the boss fights, such as the gladiator droid fight take many, many lives to complete.

Story 10/10: This game has less to do with shadows than it does with the Empire. Shadows of the Empire takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The complete story is about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and a smuggler named Dash Rendar, trying to get the imprisoned Han Solo out of the clutches of the bounty hunter Boba Fett. The novel mostly focuses on the main characters (Luke and Leia). The comic's pretty much about Boba Fett, and the game is completely from Dash's point of view. That's pretty much it right there.

Graphics 9/10: Even though this is an early Nintendo 64 title, the graphics still look pretty good. If you can get over the way everything is so polygonal, then you should be able to notice how detailed everything is. The stormtroopers look the best out of all of the characters in my opinion. The lasers could have been done a little better too.

Sound 10/10: Everything sounds great in this game. The blaster shots sound great, and the wampa roars actually sound a little scary! Throughout the entire game, that same old John Williams soundtrack is playing clearer than ever. The sound is awesome.

Playtime/Replayability 10/10: SotE doesn't get boring very quickly. After you beat the game, and if you want to see how good you are, then try playing it on ''Jedi'' mode. Another thing you might want to try is to collect all the challenge points that are scattered throughout the game.

Rent or Buy? Buy! This is certainly one of the best Star Wars games Nintendo has!

That's it, my review for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. Just in case any of you were confused by my title, EU stands for Expanded Universe, which refers to all things Star Wars that aren't in the movies. Now, go down to your nearest GameStop, and get this game!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03