Cruising down a narrow trench, you release your proton torpedoes, and with the weight of the alliance resting on your shoulders, you pray they hit their mark.
Rogue Leader, “Rogue Squadron II” for the Nintendo GameCube platform is a visually stunning addition to the Star Wars Universe. Pilot more than 11 ships as you wage galactic battles in a multitude of settings. Whether its taking down AT-AT walkers on Hoth, navigating an asteroid field in the Millennium Falcon or swarming Intergalactic Star Destroyers, this game offers missions taken right from the trilogy and several original missions that would challenge even a Jedi.
The game-play allows you to experience six degrees of freedom in your craft and is slicker than James Bond on ice. Each craft has its strong points and its weak points; for example, Boba Fett’s beast of a ship is slow and cumbersome but has a missile system that can wreak havoc on packs of TIE fighters.
On the other hand, the A-wing is fast and maneuverable but has limited missile capabilities. Due to the differences in each ship, you must pilot different ships for different types of missions. This feature, as well as being able to change ships in the middle of a mission, are key aspects of the game’s play-ability.
Although this title holds many similarities with its predecessor, the detail, light, shading and the dazzling environments make this an excellent video experience.
For those of you who don’t ritually wear Star Wars underwear, this game may be a little harder to get into. The only complaint is the difficulty in obtaining gold medals in the missions.
If you pass a mission and satisfy certain criteria such as accuracy, kills and time, you earn medals based on your performance. These medals also earn points that are needed to unlock new missions and ships.
Often you may find yourself missing the gold medal by one second or one accuracy percentage; this frustration may cause one to lose patience with the game, but all in all, this game is great.
