Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire

"Good for a Star Wars fan.."

Star Wars: Rebel Assault II was one of my first PSX games, and seeing as i'm a Star Wars fan, i liked the game quite a bit and it was enjoyable for a few hours of fun. The first Rebel Assault game was released on the PC, but since the release of the PSX, they decided to bring the sequel to the PSX and see how well it will do on that console, could it top the PC versions? Find out in my review of Rebel Assault II :).

Graphics
The FMV's and in-game graphics are all pretty good, and i have no problems with the graphics in Rebel Assault II. All the characters look real, the spaceships and everything else looks good. I don't understand why everyone thinks the graphics aren't good, but they look fine to me. I admit that the FMV's look cool, with characters such as Darth Vader and his men all looking like they do in the movies. When you get to the in-game graphics, you might think that there is a few bad faults, but nothing too major to worry about. You can also drive the Millenium Falcon, which also looks great and like it does in the movies, so everything looks realistic and okay. Good graphical features.

Sound
Of course, you have the Star Wars theme in the game, which is a good sign. But the only problem i can see is the people's speeches. You can hardly hear them speak, and you'll have to turn up your sound on the TV to hear them. Quite annoying, but nothing too big. When you shoot, it will make that sound like it does in the movies, that ''laser'' type shooting sound, which is also good. The other music is also great, and it's the same music as in the movies. No major problems yet again with the sound in the game, and it's all okay. The only problem is the character speeches, maybe they could of included subtitles to be at the bottom so you can actually read what they're saying? Instead of turning the sound way up on your TV to hear it.

Gameplay
Very easy to control, all you basically need is the directional buttons, the 'Select' button and the X button. You press Select to change your view, so you can see inside the ship in first-person, or have a third-person view, which is harder in my opinion. It's totally fun if you're a big Star Wars fan, as you will like this game a lot, no matter how many times you finish it. You can go to different locations in the game, from a space mine field with asteroids, to a desert island and you're attempt to steal the Millenium Falcon. Extremely fun, but yet again, for a Star Wars fan. I'm not sure if you'll enjoy the game if you're not a big Star Wars fan, but you will have hours of fun with the game. It sometimes it quite annoying though. For example, when you're flying a space-shuttle around, it will bump into a lot of places and damage your ship, so as well as firing at enemies in front of you, you also must control your ship by moving the shooter cursor up to the desired location. For example, if you move your cursor to the right-side of the screen, you will fly right a tiny bit, thus dodging a big rock or something on the left-side of the screen. Get my point? Still a fun game, for a Star Wars fan ;).

Story
Well, you basically start out as this Rookie, and attempt to move yourself through the ranks. A simple and easy storyline, but hard to complete on the Hard difficulty. You experience the most realistic Star Wars game to date, and control a Luke Skywalker-wannabe character. You have to try and take out the Empire once and for all, but can you do that? You go from becoming a trainee to a man who everyone's hands rely on. That's basically, er, it?

Replayability
The game does have three difficulty levels. Of course, Easy; Medium and Hard. So once you complete it on either Easy or Medium, you could attempt the Hard level, but watch out. And once you do it on all three levels, that's it basically, i doubt you'll play it again. It'll just be the same, so there really is no point. But, if you have nothing to do and want a few hours of fun, just input Rebel Assault II and have a crack again.

Buy or Rent?
Can you actually buy this game in the shops anymore? I'm not sure, but if you see it anywhere, i'd Rent it first. It depends how much of a Star Wars fan you are. If you're a big fan, you'll enjoy the game, but if not, i doubt you will. So i say Rent, but this game is Rare now-a-days, or so i think, so if i were you, i'd buy it and save it as a piece of History. I still think to the day i wrote this review that it is the most realistic Star Wars game to date, but Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles is coming close up.

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Overall, great for a Star Wars fan, but i'm not so sure about non-Star Wars fans. Rent it first in my opinion, but i don't think you can buy this game anywhere, so you could buy it and save it for History. A good game in my opinion, one i still play and have the odd hours of fun today :).
Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/21/03, Updated 06/21/03