I battle with the "is this game actually good, or was it just good for its time?" question whenever reviewing older games - especially the early 3D era, it seems.

Shadows of the Empire suffers from what are surely the most common issues among this era - poor controls. The camera is terrible and slow to react, and the jumping is floaty and awkward.
Then there's the aiming (when not in a ship, but just using the main character, Dash) which is honestly the biggest downfall. The aiming mechanic constantly pulls your view back to the center, so as you're attempting to look up to shoot the Droid that's about to kill you? The camera is desperately trying to pull back down to "center" itself.

I absolutely loved this game as a kid. Too bad it aged like milk in the sun. I find it almost unplayable these days. But give credit where it is due - the space levels are still pretty great, and the Hoth level showed us all what Star Wars games could eventually be.