s18-gamma's Full Review: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for Nintendo 64
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire follows the tale of a mercenary captain named Dash Rendar. The story takes place in the time period spanning from the beginning of 'The Empire Strikes Back' to sometime during or after 'Return of the Jedi'. As Dash, you spend most of the game searching for Boba Fett, as well as trying to protect the best interests of the Rebellion. The plot goes a bit deeper than that, but not by much. If you truly want to enjoy the game, read the book in supplement.
SW:SofE is a shooter at heart. There are certain levels that vary from that theme, such as the first, in which you fly a snow speeder in the battle of Hoth, but a majority of the levels are you walking around (in first person, third person, or 'camera' mode), shooting things. The enemy variety was a bit disappointing. Off the top of my head, you face off against Stormtroopers, Wompas, probe droids, automated turrets, and officers of varying ranks of the Empire. That's quite sad. Of course, not all of the game's levels are played as a 'shooter'. Aside from the Battle of Hoth level, you man the turrets of your cargo ship, the Outrider (imagine the Millenium Falcon, except sleeker), control the entire ship itself, and fly through the streets of Mos Eisley on a Swoop Cycle. These are all fun levels, and the number of 'shooter' levels isn't so high as to make you bored with the game. The shooter levels take place in environments such as the inside of Echo Base, the garbage heaps of Ord Mantrell, and the deep canyons of Gall. The level layouts are really impressive, and along with the graphics, give you the feeling as if you really were in that location. The environments look spectacular, but the enemies, as well as yourself (Dash) often look VERY polygonal. That's not very noticeable, as you are usually blowing up what ever you are looking at. Furthermore, a bit more detail could have been added to some levels, especially the Battle of Hoth level, where it looks like you're flying on a sheet of printer paper.
Weapon selection is also very poor in my opinion. Weapons include the Blaster, Pulse cannon, Missiles, Stun Gun, and the all-powerful Disruptor. I guess that's all right though, as the only hand-held weapon you see in Star Wars is the blaster (other than the lightsaber of course). They could have taken the science-fiction license a bit further however.
Controls were really not an issue in the game. The only thing i want to point out is that in the 'Swoop Cycle' level, the controls were terrible. You'll find yourself becoming increasingly frustrated as you start going to fast, and hit a wall, then loose ground on your opponents while you slowly back up. The same problem lies in if you try to make a jump, but can't back up straight. However, this was probably the most complicated level in the game. While that's not an excuse, it is a bit understandable.
Music was so-so in the game. Actually, when you think of all the great tracks that were in the Star Wars films, this was a bit disappointing. While some tracks fit the mood well, there are no real exciting tracks, and the 'boss' track barely gets the job done. This area could be improved upon greatly.
There was NO multiplayer. This was a feature included in most First-person shooters, but oddly excluded from SotE. This seriously detracted from the replayability factor. There's not much else to say.
Overall, SW:SotE was a fun game, there's no denying that. For its time, it was phenomenal. But after going through it once or twice, it looses it flavor. There is little replayability, and the only reason you'd play a level again is to find the 'challenge points', which on different difficulty levels, reveal certain hidden features. A list of 'times' is given at the end of the game, and you could try to beat those times, but otherwise, i found myself putting the game in the corner after about a month. While this is a good game, and I certainly recommend that you play it, I think you should give serious thought about whether you actually want to buy it.
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