theres genuinely a lot good about this game, but its very jank
not necessarily the bad jank (beyond dealing with a shoddy pc port bc i dont wanna deal with the fucking n64 version)
but its not that good jank either
it almost hits that sweet spot of good jank
but it doesnt
leaving this with a managable jank that still adds a level of tension, and immersion that really makes you feel like dash rendar
like for all its awkward clumsiness and clunk
its making me play cautiously, the autoaim is gracious enough that while i still need to line up the shot, i dont need to land the pixel on it, its kind of like goldeneye or timesplitters shooting, at least on foot
and the very VERY jank controls do add a certain tension to things, making the set pieces FEEL cinematic, and not in the modern sense of the word, but in the genuinely immersive way like im in my characters shoes
so like theres one moment where ice starts breaking apart in the second level, and the clumsy awkward jank and weird controls had cost me 2 or 3 of my 4 lives earlier in the level due to platforming, so when the ice started to break, my immediate reaction was OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" as i was running and jumping down the rapidly separating hall, only to be greeted by 2 troopers as i was on 5 health, which just made me mash my mouse button before they could land one shot on me
its such a feeling that i genuinely havent felt in games in a long time, the genuine rush of a tense setpiece. not just a hard moment in a game, but a moment that catches you off guard, keeps you on your toes and doesnt hold your hand to show the character do all the cool shit, it lets ME have the cool action movie escape
its something i think games have kinda lost
but im making the game sound better than it is. it's genuinely a mixed bag, leaning on absolute mess
let's start from the beginning;
the opening level is a flying level, and its pretty fun, albeit slow. you remember those levels in star fox where you're not on rails but youre in an aerial dogfight arena? think that, but you shoot star wars shots. you do a section where you take out a couple droids and theyre piss weak, but hey its to get you used to the controls and feel so whatever. then you need to take down walkers, and theyre spongy, but not hard, though you might die crashing into them when you just want it to die already. then... you get to the camels and this becomes a problem. do beat the camels, you can either go back and forth around the arena shooting it for 5 minutes as each shot does a third of a percent of damage... or you can hook its legs. now, the game obviously wants you to hook its legs, but there are limited hooks. more than enough for the amount of camels, but, the camera, annoyingly, switches views when you hook the line to the leg, and you just need to deal with the clumsy controls and rapid camera change. ive lost so many lines from just being disoriented from the switch, you have no idea. after that, you get a stage with 2 camels, 4 walkers and several droids... its not hard but my god it takes forever, and god help you if you lose all your cables before you take down all the camels. so yeah the level loses some of its luster after you take down that first camel.
the next level is an on foot level, and these are the best parts of the game, this is the level i played when i described the feel of the game at the start of this. theres some simple fun in running around, blasting storm troppers, and having an on foot boss with one of those walkers from the first level but in an enclosed area... and then you can just cheese it by strafing around it from behind and shooting. it did not land a single shot on me. still kinda cool though
the next level is a short on-rails shooter where you can look in any direction and you need to shoot down like 60 ships or so and the controls are so terrible on pc, i dont even know how to describe it. its only 4 and a half minutes thankfully and i didnt die, so thankfully its not much of an issue
the next level is another on foot level but youre on a train and need to jump over obstacles and jump to other tracks... i dont want to talk to this level
the next level is another on-foot level but with an emphasis on platforming as well as shooting, and you get a jetpack. its fun, but i game over'd at the end, which kind of killed my enthusiasm, so i cheated my way to the next level
and im pretty sure this is further than i ever got as a kid, so i was curious to see what this biker level would be like
i played this level for 3 minutes, and decided to drop this game entirely
i really dont want to talk about it, its one of the worst levels ive ever touched in a game
i could just skip past it, sure, i used a code to unlock all levels, but the level was so bad it just killed any enthusiasm i had for the game
not necessarily the bad jank (beyond dealing with a shoddy pc port bc i dont wanna deal with the fucking n64 version)
but its not that good jank either
it almost hits that sweet spot of good jank
but it doesnt
leaving this with a managable jank that still adds a level of tension, and immersion that really makes you feel like dash rendar
like for all its awkward clumsiness and clunk
its making me play cautiously, the autoaim is gracious enough that while i still need to line up the shot, i dont need to land the pixel on it, its kind of like goldeneye or timesplitters shooting, at least on foot
and the very VERY jank controls do add a certain tension to things, making the set pieces FEEL cinematic, and not in the modern sense of the word, but in the genuinely immersive way like im in my characters shoes
so like theres one moment where ice starts breaking apart in the second level, and the clumsy awkward jank and weird controls had cost me 2 or 3 of my 4 lives earlier in the level due to platforming, so when the ice started to break, my immediate reaction was OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" as i was running and jumping down the rapidly separating hall, only to be greeted by 2 troopers as i was on 5 health, which just made me mash my mouse button before they could land one shot on me
its such a feeling that i genuinely havent felt in games in a long time, the genuine rush of a tense setpiece. not just a hard moment in a game, but a moment that catches you off guard, keeps you on your toes and doesnt hold your hand to show the character do all the cool shit, it lets ME have the cool action movie escape
its something i think games have kinda lost
but im making the game sound better than it is. it's genuinely a mixed bag, leaning on absolute mess
let's start from the beginning;
the opening level is a flying level, and its pretty fun, albeit slow. you remember those levels in star fox where you're not on rails but youre in an aerial dogfight arena? think that, but you shoot star wars shots. you do a section where you take out a couple droids and theyre piss weak, but hey its to get you used to the controls and feel so whatever. then you need to take down walkers, and theyre spongy, but not hard, though you might die crashing into them when you just want it to die already. then... you get to the camels and this becomes a problem. do beat the camels, you can either go back and forth around the arena shooting it for 5 minutes as each shot does a third of a percent of damage... or you can hook its legs. now, the game obviously wants you to hook its legs, but there are limited hooks. more than enough for the amount of camels, but, the camera, annoyingly, switches views when you hook the line to the leg, and you just need to deal with the clumsy controls and rapid camera change. ive lost so many lines from just being disoriented from the switch, you have no idea. after that, you get a stage with 2 camels, 4 walkers and several droids... its not hard but my god it takes forever, and god help you if you lose all your cables before you take down all the camels. so yeah the level loses some of its luster after you take down that first camel.
the next level is an on foot level, and these are the best parts of the game, this is the level i played when i described the feel of the game at the start of this. theres some simple fun in running around, blasting storm troppers, and having an on foot boss with one of those walkers from the first level but in an enclosed area... and then you can just cheese it by strafing around it from behind and shooting. it did not land a single shot on me. still kinda cool though
the next level is a short on-rails shooter where you can look in any direction and you need to shoot down like 60 ships or so and the controls are so terrible on pc, i dont even know how to describe it. its only 4 and a half minutes thankfully and i didnt die, so thankfully its not much of an issue
the next level is another on foot level but youre on a train and need to jump over obstacles and jump to other tracks... i dont want to talk to this level
the next level is another on-foot level but with an emphasis on platforming as well as shooting, and you get a jetpack. its fun, but i game over'd at the end, which kind of killed my enthusiasm, so i cheated my way to the next level
and im pretty sure this is further than i ever got as a kid, so i was curious to see what this biker level would be like
i played this level for 3 minutes, and decided to drop this game entirely
i really dont want to talk about it, its one of the worst levels ive ever touched in a game
i could just skip past it, sure, i used a code to unlock all levels, but the level was so bad it just killed any enthusiasm i had for the game
I remember the Hoth level being awesome and pretty much nothing else.
Just came out a bit too early in the N64 to have the polish for it to hold up. The Slave Zero fight almost made me drop the entire game, and there are absolutely other frustrating lowpoints on account of being a 3D game with flight released in 1996. That being said, within the context that it came out, this game kinda owns. This was well before the fatigue that the prequels/sequels/EU inundation would bring, and there were a lot worse Star Wars games coming out around this point.
Are the large levels obtuse and kinda empty feeling? Yeah, now, but if my only comparison to other 3D games on the N64 was SM64, I'd probably have a blast. It was still a fun enough ride to see all the way through. Apparently, this game had a ton of delays during its production, it honestly could have used another 6 months to turn into something special with a bit more polish.
Are the large levels obtuse and kinda empty feeling? Yeah, now, but if my only comparison to other 3D games on the N64 was SM64, I'd probably have a blast. It was still a fun enough ride to see all the way through. Apparently, this game had a ton of delays during its production, it honestly could have used another 6 months to turn into something special with a bit more polish.
Some good times here, but man those controls...
Gall spaceport and Gall canyon suck. But the Hoth levels were cool and the Skyhook for sure.
It's always been fun whenever I've picked it up. Never gotten around to beating it, though.
This game probably has the best version of the Battle of Hoth in a video game. Other than that, it's a pretty cool game. The first-person sections are kinda annoying. Whenever I pick up a 64 this game is always my go-to.
This review contains spoilers
Shadows of the Empire was a big “Expanded Universe” multimedia event with this story getting a novel, soundtrack (for the novel), comic book, toys and, of course, a video game. Shadows of the Empire was released on the N64 on PC. I was originally going to use the PC version for this, as the game is identical, but it has video cutscenes with voice acting, but controller support is poor (and the HUD goes tiny). With the help of remapping buttons, I was able to create a good setup that uses modern using the strafe setup.
I played this as a kid and I do remember enjoying it.
The game starts off during the Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes back, with you controlling a snowspeeder. This section is great, with the snowspeeder feeling great to control and toppling AT-ATs with the tow cable is great. Unfortunately, the level isn’t very long and it’s the best part of the game (you may notice the large amount of lives – that’s more for the poor platforming in later stages). If the entire game was like this, it would be a great game, but most of the game is on-foot.
You play as Dash Randar, who in this game is essentially a Han Solo clone (the novel expands the character’s personality a lot). You’re armed with a blaster that recharges, and you can get special ammo for it (best saved for bosses). The game heavily relies on autoaim, which is especially necessary as you can’t really aim up or down in any reasonable way (the aim button lets you, but it’s far too sensitive).
Trying to setup so you can flee Hoth, you start by watching the Millenium Falcon leave (shouldn’t Vader be standing nearby?) then blast your way through the stormtroopers attacking the rebel base. The shooting isn’t very satisfying and the movement is wonky.
After blowing up an AT-ST, you make your way off Hoth and blast TIE fighters in an asteroid field in a dreadful turret section with awful controls. The game at least gives you plenty of time to react as the bombs from the TIE bombers are really slow, and you have infinite missiles – they just reload between batches of 5.
Hunting for Boba Fett, Dash heads to a junkyard planet to get information from IG-88. I absolutely hate this level as a kid due to the controls but I didn’t find it too bad – I think the ability to strafe helps a lot with lining up jumps, and I never figured that out the first time round. It’s still a very ugly planet, though – Shadows of the Empire was definitely ahead of its time for its use of greys and browns. At the end of the level you take out IG-88, who gives you information on where Boba Fett is.
This is where the platforming really does take a nosedive. Dash’s jump is incredibly floaty and not difficult to control, and the narrow paths of this level are built for you to fall off constantly. You get a jetpack half way through which helps a bit, but is not as fun as a jetpack should be due to being slow and only possible to use for short bursts.
You fight Boba Fett and the Slave 1 at the end. I ran out of ammo, but found a spot where Slave 1 couldn’t hit me, so was able to hit it a few hundred times to destroy it.
Some text explains that after this, Boba Fett escapes and an assassin tries to kill Luke, so it’s up to you to help protect him.
As Luke chills out at Obi-Wan’s home on Tatooine, Dash hears of a swoop gang heading to kill Luke. Speeding through this level is great, but it’s much better to go slowly to take out enemies. You find out information that an Imperial ship contains the necessary information.
As Luke waits outside in his X-Wing, Dash assaults the imperial ship on his own (this game makes Luke seem weak). Most of this level is messing with door switches in a large cargo hold. There’s some secrets to find, but you need to work your way, then fighting a big droid near the end. The jetpack you found earlier would have been handy, but Dash left it on his ship. On a side note, I do really like the Outrider.
In order to infiltrate a base, we need to go through a sewer. Dash has absolutely no issue diving though massive amounts of excrement as you have to find a few different items to progress. The boss fight at the end is a horrible experience, with respawning tentacles and the poor jetpack controls underwater.
Going through the base your job is to find a reactor to place charges to blow up a space elevator. Luke is also infiltrating this base to save Leia, but that’s just background information and you never get to see them during gameplay. This is another dull level.
After another bad ship turret section, we get to actually fly the Outrider, and it’s great. You don’t get to focus on shooting other ships, though: your mission is to shoot four turrets then fly into the base and blow up the reactor, Death Star 2-style. The game ends with Dash seemingly not making it (but then reveals his fate in the final cutscene).
Shadow of the Empire is not as fun as I remember. The genre has evolved a lot, and the controls are just strange and floaty. The full story is probably good, but this isn’t a good adaptation as important points are relegated to scrolling text.
I played this as a kid and I do remember enjoying it.
The game starts off during the Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes back, with you controlling a snowspeeder. This section is great, with the snowspeeder feeling great to control and toppling AT-ATs with the tow cable is great. Unfortunately, the level isn’t very long and it’s the best part of the game (you may notice the large amount of lives – that’s more for the poor platforming in later stages). If the entire game was like this, it would be a great game, but most of the game is on-foot.
You play as Dash Randar, who in this game is essentially a Han Solo clone (the novel expands the character’s personality a lot). You’re armed with a blaster that recharges, and you can get special ammo for it (best saved for bosses). The game heavily relies on autoaim, which is especially necessary as you can’t really aim up or down in any reasonable way (the aim button lets you, but it’s far too sensitive).
Trying to setup so you can flee Hoth, you start by watching the Millenium Falcon leave (shouldn’t Vader be standing nearby?) then blast your way through the stormtroopers attacking the rebel base. The shooting isn’t very satisfying and the movement is wonky.
After blowing up an AT-ST, you make your way off Hoth and blast TIE fighters in an asteroid field in a dreadful turret section with awful controls. The game at least gives you plenty of time to react as the bombs from the TIE bombers are really slow, and you have infinite missiles – they just reload between batches of 5.
Hunting for Boba Fett, Dash heads to a junkyard planet to get information from IG-88. I absolutely hate this level as a kid due to the controls but I didn’t find it too bad – I think the ability to strafe helps a lot with lining up jumps, and I never figured that out the first time round. It’s still a very ugly planet, though – Shadows of the Empire was definitely ahead of its time for its use of greys and browns. At the end of the level you take out IG-88, who gives you information on where Boba Fett is.
This is where the platforming really does take a nosedive. Dash’s jump is incredibly floaty and not difficult to control, and the narrow paths of this level are built for you to fall off constantly. You get a jetpack half way through which helps a bit, but is not as fun as a jetpack should be due to being slow and only possible to use for short bursts.
You fight Boba Fett and the Slave 1 at the end. I ran out of ammo, but found a spot where Slave 1 couldn’t hit me, so was able to hit it a few hundred times to destroy it.
Some text explains that after this, Boba Fett escapes and an assassin tries to kill Luke, so it’s up to you to help protect him.
As Luke chills out at Obi-Wan’s home on Tatooine, Dash hears of a swoop gang heading to kill Luke. Speeding through this level is great, but it’s much better to go slowly to take out enemies. You find out information that an Imperial ship contains the necessary information.
As Luke waits outside in his X-Wing, Dash assaults the imperial ship on his own (this game makes Luke seem weak). Most of this level is messing with door switches in a large cargo hold. There’s some secrets to find, but you need to work your way, then fighting a big droid near the end. The jetpack you found earlier would have been handy, but Dash left it on his ship. On a side note, I do really like the Outrider.
In order to infiltrate a base, we need to go through a sewer. Dash has absolutely no issue diving though massive amounts of excrement as you have to find a few different items to progress. The boss fight at the end is a horrible experience, with respawning tentacles and the poor jetpack controls underwater.
Going through the base your job is to find a reactor to place charges to blow up a space elevator. Luke is also infiltrating this base to save Leia, but that’s just background information and you never get to see them during gameplay. This is another dull level.
After another bad ship turret section, we get to actually fly the Outrider, and it’s great. You don’t get to focus on shooting other ships, though: your mission is to shoot four turrets then fly into the base and blow up the reactor, Death Star 2-style. The game ends with Dash seemingly not making it (but then reveals his fate in the final cutscene).
Shadow of the Empire is not as fun as I remember. The genre has evolved a lot, and the controls are just strange and floaty. The full story is probably good, but this isn’t a good adaptation as important points are relegated to scrolling text.
For being an early 3D/Nintendo 64 game I thought they did a very good job in creating a good atmosphere and setting the right Star Wars vibe.
This game is definitely more than just the Hoth battle level that helped popularize the game: it features a very interesting story (I'd almost movie worthy) and levels with gameplay variety. The gunplay was a bit clunky, as well as performance making some levels a bit frustrating to navigate. The difficulty was also all over the place with certain spikes here and there but overall this a very enjoyable action adventure set in the Star Wars universe and I'm glad I was able to experience it early in the life cycle of the Nintendo 64.
This game is definitely more than just the Hoth battle level that helped popularize the game: it features a very interesting story (I'd almost movie worthy) and levels with gameplay variety. The gunplay was a bit clunky, as well as performance making some levels a bit frustrating to navigate. The difficulty was also all over the place with certain spikes here and there but overall this a very enjoyable action adventure set in the Star Wars universe and I'm glad I was able to experience it early in the life cycle of the Nintendo 64.
Probably the most famous thing to come from George Lucas' Shadows of the Empire multimedia project to create a movie level Star Wars story without making an actual movie. The game launched a few months after the launch of the Nintendo 64 and was one of the first fully 3D shooter titles. But putting nostalgia aside, time has not been too kind to this game.
Star Wars Shadows of the Empire is fairly tricky to pin down to a single genre. While the main gameplay portions are the third person shooter segments, there is a variety of different gameplay styles present in different missions, including 2 arcade shooter style missions taking place from the Outrider's turrets, the infamous Swoop bike race, and of course the starfighter segments which would partially inspire the Rogue Squadron series. While many agree that the Battle of Hoth opening mission was revolutionary at its time and remains a high point in the game, most of what follows is held back by a combination of awkward controls, questionable level design, and janky physics which sometimes seems like its actively trying to get the player killed. For the sake of this review I played the PC version, though these points apply to both versions of the game.
The game has an awkward control scheme. While some of this can be attributed to being such an early game and being designed around the Nintendo 64 controller, the PC version has these as well as some of its own strange quirks including one of the most unintuitive default control layouts I have ever seen in a game. Thankfully you can rebind your controls in that version. However you cant do much to fix the aiming system which feels like no matter what you're doing, you're just firing around blindly until the auto aim finally lines up the shot for you.
The game's physics are another source of problems. THere are instances where you will expected to do platforming and jumping puzzles which would otherwise be simple in most other games. However, Shadows' inertia and momentum physics can sometimes make the simplest jumps into unnecessarily huge dangers. The Ord Mantel train level is particularly bad for leaving the player at the mercy of the game's inertia physics for almost the entire stage.
Besides these, there are a few odd problems that pop up, from levels having an abundance of enemies appearing behind doors or on top of elevators giving them no chance to avoid taking damage, to some bizarre enemy hitboxes such as the one for the Slave-1 boss battle which seemed like a coinflip whether or not you would hit it in either version of the game.
Despite all of these flaws i spent this entire review going into, there is an enjoyable, or possibly even a good game hidden underneath. However the game demands a lot of huge asks of the players if they wish to actually enjoy the experience and for some the game is demanding too much for too little payoff.
Star Wars Shadows of the Empire is fairly tricky to pin down to a single genre. While the main gameplay portions are the third person shooter segments, there is a variety of different gameplay styles present in different missions, including 2 arcade shooter style missions taking place from the Outrider's turrets, the infamous Swoop bike race, and of course the starfighter segments which would partially inspire the Rogue Squadron series. While many agree that the Battle of Hoth opening mission was revolutionary at its time and remains a high point in the game, most of what follows is held back by a combination of awkward controls, questionable level design, and janky physics which sometimes seems like its actively trying to get the player killed. For the sake of this review I played the PC version, though these points apply to both versions of the game.
The game has an awkward control scheme. While some of this can be attributed to being such an early game and being designed around the Nintendo 64 controller, the PC version has these as well as some of its own strange quirks including one of the most unintuitive default control layouts I have ever seen in a game. Thankfully you can rebind your controls in that version. However you cant do much to fix the aiming system which feels like no matter what you're doing, you're just firing around blindly until the auto aim finally lines up the shot for you.
The game's physics are another source of problems. THere are instances where you will expected to do platforming and jumping puzzles which would otherwise be simple in most other games. However, Shadows' inertia and momentum physics can sometimes make the simplest jumps into unnecessarily huge dangers. The Ord Mantel train level is particularly bad for leaving the player at the mercy of the game's inertia physics for almost the entire stage.
Besides these, there are a few odd problems that pop up, from levels having an abundance of enemies appearing behind doors or on top of elevators giving them no chance to avoid taking damage, to some bizarre enemy hitboxes such as the one for the Slave-1 boss battle which seemed like a coinflip whether or not you would hit it in either version of the game.
Despite all of these flaws i spent this entire review going into, there is an enjoyable, or possibly even a good game hidden underneath. However the game demands a lot of huge asks of the players if they wish to actually enjoy the experience and for some the game is demanding too much for too little payoff.
4.5 stars for the Hoth level I legit have no clue what the rest of the game is but I assume it's all just as good
As a big Star Wars kid I was really excited for this. The first few levels felt pretty promising too, but then I remember just getting more lost and confused in later ones. I don't know if this one is worth a revisit, as when I watch gameplay of it it always looks even clunkier than I remember. But I appreciate the ambition of an original Star Wars story from this era
So this game is kind of bad actually but it's also like 5 different great game ideas at once. I love it.
Whompa Stompa
Sure, the PC version's 60 FPS mess up a few things and make them either much harder or easier than they're supposed to since the game was made with a healthy, low N64 framerate in mind, but it's usually not a big deal and most of the time I was actually enjoying myself quite a bit while running around as Han Solo knockoff Dash Rendarr, blasting stormtroopers thanks to some pretty good level design which was usually linear enough as to never risk me getting lost, but also hosting a lot of secrets to be discovered along the way and off the beaten path. They're not the best levels ever or anything, but they get the job done and no level ever felt like it dragged and the difficulty felt pretty reasonable throughout (at least when playing on Normal), outside of Boba Fett's stage where Dash would just slip off the path and fall to his death seemingly at random, and then the Slave 1 fight that felt barely playtested.
The issue for me, unfortunately, comes in the form of the game's various vehicular stages. The first stage on Hoth is of course iconic (for some reason) and I guess it's fine, but the others are just awful, with the Speeder that is both too fast and slippery for its own good, and the auto-pilot sections where you can't really see what's shooting at you since so many ships attack from behind which means you'll just end up taking damage basically when the game wants you too. Even when you can see them and are able to shoot them down, the aiming feels awful enough that it's still a real hassle. Not like the spaceship sections where you're in complete control are much better either, especially not the final stage where you have to destroy turrets that constantly regenerate and I basically had to sacrifice an extra life for each one since a sort of kamikaze approach was the only way for me to deal enough damage to destroy them.
So not really a game that has to be played before you die or anything. The third person sections are fine, sometimes even pretty good, but not ever remarkable enough to really stand out, and the vehicles all control terribly. Honestly, what sort of makes playing this game interesting today is if you're taking part in the entire Shadows of the Empire multimedia project with the book, comic book and album. You almost have to at least read either the book or comic to get any sort of grasp of what's really going on with the story (and the book is actually surprisingly good, so I guess I can recommend it over the game?)
The issue for me, unfortunately, comes in the form of the game's various vehicular stages. The first stage on Hoth is of course iconic (for some reason) and I guess it's fine, but the others are just awful, with the Speeder that is both too fast and slippery for its own good, and the auto-pilot sections where you can't really see what's shooting at you since so many ships attack from behind which means you'll just end up taking damage basically when the game wants you too. Even when you can see them and are able to shoot them down, the aiming feels awful enough that it's still a real hassle. Not like the spaceship sections where you're in complete control are much better either, especially not the final stage where you have to destroy turrets that constantly regenerate and I basically had to sacrifice an extra life for each one since a sort of kamikaze approach was the only way for me to deal enough damage to destroy them.
So not really a game that has to be played before you die or anything. The third person sections are fine, sometimes even pretty good, but not ever remarkable enough to really stand out, and the vehicles all control terribly. Honestly, what sort of makes playing this game interesting today is if you're taking part in the entire Shadows of the Empire multimedia project with the book, comic book and album. You almost have to at least read either the book or comic to get any sort of grasp of what's really going on with the story (and the book is actually surprisingly good, so I guess I can recommend it over the game?)
cool game, but really confused me as a young kid because Dash Rendar wasn't in the OT
surreal game doing like 10 different things and doing every single one poorly.
Wow this game was ridiculously hard, probably one of the hardest I've played in a while. I know people beat this in like an hour and a half to two and a half hours, but I took almost six and that was with me using guides on and off (which I highly encourage in hindsight with the last three missions in particular, the bike chase cause you gotta knock into people and not shoot them, and figuring out how to destroy the AT-ST in the first mission), only on medium difficulty mind you and I have a lot of experience with FPS's and these old style of shooters as well. I'm not saying I'm some kind of beast at these games, but I think I've learned enough to be considered above average without needing to learn all the ins and outs of a game just to cheese or speedrun them. Idk how they expected us to figure out certain features ourselves. It has bad hit registration, wonky controls, and some levels have very slippery terrain. I don't know if that was intentional or not. It's still a cool story though and experience you won't get anywhere else, but man I really wish somebody could make a single Star Wars game that doesn't have any of these issues I just mentioned. I don't think I could subject myself to the challenge of beating this game again ever. If you think this game sounds too difficult and off putting, then I'd highly recommend watching a walkthrough instead that's much shorter to watch versus playing it. You'll save a lot of hair trust me. Oh well, at least there's the comics and books that supplement the games. Glad I still played it though.
Just Make the Shadows of The Empire Movie, Already! What's Your Problem, Disney?
Shadows of the Empire, which was a fully fledged Star Wars marketing cycle minus the movie, is unjustly overlooked nowadays. This would-be Episode 5.5 is absolutely SICK for a number of reasons. It goes deep into the criminal underbelly elements of the original trilogy and features characters like Boba Fett, IG-88 and some freaky green dude named Prince Xizor. Since Han is down for the count in between Empire and Jedi, we get a different renegade gunslinger type named Dash Rendar, a guy so cool he had to be disappeared immediately after the events of Shadows so as not to distract too much from the main event. This game has everything you could want in a Star Wars game in '96: OG trilogy vibes, jet packs, a Hoth stage, a Boba Fett boss battle, space battles, blowing up a Death Star type thing. Yes it's on the N64, so everything looks like garbo by today's standards but man what a time.
Shadows of the Empire, which was a fully fledged Star Wars marketing cycle minus the movie, is unjustly overlooked nowadays. This would-be Episode 5.5 is absolutely SICK for a number of reasons. It goes deep into the criminal underbelly elements of the original trilogy and features characters like Boba Fett, IG-88 and some freaky green dude named Prince Xizor. Since Han is down for the count in between Empire and Jedi, we get a different renegade gunslinger type named Dash Rendar, a guy so cool he had to be disappeared immediately after the events of Shadows so as not to distract too much from the main event. This game has everything you could want in a Star Wars game in '96: OG trilogy vibes, jet packs, a Hoth stage, a Boba Fett boss battle, space battles, blowing up a Death Star type thing. Yes it's on the N64, so everything looks like garbo by today's standards but man what a time.
A game so inspirational, it even inspired another big hit within the franchise, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, with its very first mission: escaping Hoth. The very first mission you’re flying a Snow Speeder and taking out Imperial Probe Droids and tying up AT-AT’s, and it was a blast. But what makes Shadows of the Empire great is the fact it not only incorporates aerial combat, but also ground combat. You even fight on foot and you’re shooting at things. No force powers or lightsabers, you’re a god damn wanna-be Han Solo type with a blaster and a jet pack (later on). But playing this felt like a cool mini-movie with its narrative. Shadows of the Empire had this whole thing back in the 90’s that was actually a side thing for the franchise, but they wanted to hype it up like a film. Releasing a bunch of a merch, like toys, video games, even a decent soundtrack that was composed. Not by John Williams sadly, but man was it good enough!
And of course, they released a game that went along with the book’s and comics release. Two versions though: one on PC and on the N64. I played the N64 but the PC one has actual cutscenes and real dialogue. The N64 only had some slideshows, but I was ok with it. I was just enjoying the combat and gameplay. And the fact I could play a level where I hunt down Boba Fett himself, or even fight in a huge space battle alongside the Millennium Falcon, was enough for me.
To this day I have yet to see a Star Wars game that makes me feel like I’m not playing a Jedi, or a Sith, or some clone soldier or rebel or imperial. I just wanna be a rogue man. And this so far has felt like the only game to really bring that feeling. I’m hoping Star Wars: Outlaws will fulfill that feeling again.
And of course, they released a game that went along with the book’s and comics release. Two versions though: one on PC and on the N64. I played the N64 but the PC one has actual cutscenes and real dialogue. The N64 only had some slideshows, but I was ok with it. I was just enjoying the combat and gameplay. And the fact I could play a level where I hunt down Boba Fett himself, or even fight in a huge space battle alongside the Millennium Falcon, was enough for me.
To this day I have yet to see a Star Wars game that makes me feel like I’m not playing a Jedi, or a Sith, or some clone soldier or rebel or imperial. I just wanna be a rogue man. And this so far has felt like the only game to really bring that feeling. I’m hoping Star Wars: Outlaws will fulfill that feeling again.
Had a blast playing the first few levels of this in early '97, but I never got past the train level fighting IG-88. Those unforgiving cameras were just too much for me. I did get the PC port much later and played (once again) until I hit a similar wall of camera-induced doom and gave up. I wonder if this game would benefit at all from a Nightdive remaster?
This may be the best non-Jedi Star Wars game. Bring back Dash!