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(More customer reviews)Those of you who have played X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, or any of the classic sims, take note: this is NOT a simulation. This game is solid proof that LucasArts Star Wars products aren't Star Wars canon, as evidenced by the occasional wrong-colored projectile in comparison to how they appear in the movies. That said, it is a very nice shoot-em-up, set in the Star Wars universe.
As it says on the box, this is a 3-D shoot-em-up, and the graphics are quite impressive. Most of the things you see that you would want to blow up, you can, and they explode into big bright fireballs with chunks of shrapnel and debris. You will also get to trip up AT-ATs, which is what I've wanted to do for a long time. As far as I know, the only other game that let you do that was Super Empire Strikes Back (SNES) and that wasn't nearly as graphically imposing as Rogue Squadron is.
The game is single play only, and for obvious reasons. It is very much an arcade game, from your too-rapid fire to the relatively [dumb] enemies (a.k.a. things to nuke) and the explosions that are way bigger than they should be. For some missions, your ships are modified to carry different (more devastating, of course) weapons, some of which- for those who have played SW sims or have passing knowledge of the spacecraft- really shouldn't be possible. Of course, anything that helps you wipe out bigger swaths of Imperial bootlickers is more than welcome.
The various ships have different strengths and weaknesses, and some missions require you to use a particular one. One of my complaints is that you are often stuck with the snowspeeder, which although fun to use against AT-ATs, gets a bit old after a while. You would think you could knock over AT-ATs with proton torpedoes too, but they are apparently invincible to such attacks in this game. More open-ended missions allow you to use other craft depending on your rank and how far you have progressed in the game. You can also fly the Naboo starfighter once you have completed a mission unless it's one that specifies the speeder. Despite its being about thirty years older than any of the other ships, it holds up remarkably well in battle.
As with most arcade games, your lasers are unlimited but your special weapons- bombs or warheads- are not. You get promoted by several factors: time in mission, accuracy, enemies killed, and other bonuses. For a certain mark, you'll get a bronze medal. Next comes a silver, and then a gold- just like the Olympics. This promotion is important, because it lets you go back and cream the Imperials with more powerful (or at least different) starfighters, which is about the only replay factor in this game. For those of you that can barely keep your nose out of the dirt, there are cheats available to unlock all the ships. The problem with replaying missions is that the objectives don't change, you'll know exactly what to look for and do ahead of time, and the new ships aren't really going to make much of a difference. It is a bit fun to see the nicely detailed models flying over the very nicely done terrains, however.
Through the course of the game, you'll visit many Star Wars worlds, most of which are only mentioned in the movies or the books. The maps are relatively large, but outside their playing field area, there's usually nothing but flat land (you can't go there, anyway). Your pilots and Luke- who you are supposed to be playing as- sometimes make chatter, but it's usually repetitive. You also magically respawn when you die, up to three times per mission. There is no penalty for picking up where you left off at your last crash.
On the difficulty side- some of the missions were really tough, but simply because there were too many enemies to mow down or the things you had to protect were too easy to kill. If you are tasked to guard something, NEVER leave it for long, or some lucky Imperial will blow them all away. The enemy AI is pretty lousy- TIE fighters will shoot at nowhere in particular just because you're nearby, and maneuver as if their pilots can barely keep the things in the air. Sometimes, they literally can't- I've seen TIEs plow straight into a hill for no particular reason. Your allies aren't much better. If you want anything done, it's definitely going to be you that does it. I rarely ever got hit by enemy starfighters, it was the gun and missile emplacements that were the real danger.
As for problems, ground units are often a pain to attack, because your guns have a strange inability to depress beyond a certain point. I also experienced two mysterious and highly annoying deficiencies with the engine. The first was that the view would occasionally change without me asking it to- zooming out until I could barely see anything. This is solvable by switching views until it comes back, but it's annoying to have to do in the midst of a battle. The second was that in cockpit mode, the movement got very jerky. Of course, cockpit mode is little more than eye candy, as the cockpit doesn't show much of importance and blocks out big parts of your view. My other big complaint was the sensor- which is quite nearly useless. It doesn't give you much indication of where you should be going, no indication of whether the enemy is in the air or on the ground, and nothing about the type of vehicle you're chasing after. Then again, this isn't X-Wing, so I suppose that's forgivable.
Aside from the few technical issues, stability is excellent and the missions are almost completely action. There is little in the way of brain power necessary for this game, and even those who might have trouble with the Star Wars sims should be able to tackle Rogue Squadron. For the price, this is a good deal of fun. Especially if you're a Star Wars fan, you should definitely check this out.
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