Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

When LucasArts released Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on the N64 almost two years ago, it received somewhat mixed reviews. Many gamers liked it for its immersive feel and the way it brought Star Wars to life in full 3D, others were disappointed by the controls and the lack of balance. But everyone agreed: The Hoth mission kicked ass.

If you've been craving for a game with similar type of gameplay, then your search is over. Planetary battles is what Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is all about -- but with some serious upgrades, more enemies, better sound, and stunning second-generation graphics.

Gameplay
Based on the novel and comic book series by the same name, Rogue Squadron follows the adventures of a daring group of pilots led by Luke Skywalker and (later on) Wedge Antilles. In Rogue, players take on the role of Luke Skywalker (and Wedge in the last mission) and set out to fight the evil Empire in more than 15 missions in familiar and new Star Wars locations.

The battles all take place in extensive 3D worlds on planetary surfaces (there are no space battles) ranging from the hot sands of Tatooine to the spice mines of Kessel and even the oceans of the Mon Calamari. There are 15 regular missions, plus a few hidden ones:

• Tatooine: Luke's desert homeworld.
• Barkhesh: A neutral world with hi-tech settlements. Excort a convoy.
• Chorax: Protect a downed shuttle and shoot down lots of TIEs.
• Corellia: Evolved city-planet. Officer Madine defects to the Rebellion. Home of Han Solo (who has a cameo).
• Gerrard V: Beautiful planet being looted. The most annoying level in the game.
• Loronar: Imperial Shipyards on Loronar's Jade Moon. Gorgeous night level with lots of low-flying.
• Balmorra: Industrial world with Imperial Weapons Factories. Speeder mission.
• Kile II: Ex Rogue Squadron station. Take out an Imperial Spaceport.
• Kessel: Spice mines and Imperial prison.
• Taloraan: Cloud city, like Bespin. No planetary surface in sight, so it's a bit more vertical than the other missions.
• Fest: A Hoth-like snow planet. Lots of walkers.
• Chandrila: Agricultural planet. Home to Mon Mothma.
• Sullust: Volcanic planet. Home of Nien Numb. Bombing runs.
• Thyrerra: Forest-planet, much like Endor. Save the bacta.
• Mon Calamari: Water world. Home of Admiral Ackbar. World Devastators.

The gameplay is very similar to Shadows of the Empire. You steer your craft with the analog stick from a default third-person viewpoint, you can roll with the R-Button, shoot your primary weapon with B, speed up and slow down with A and Z, and use the C buttons to switch your firing mode, close the wings on the X-Wing, fire the tow cable on the Snowspeeder, drop cluster bombs in the V-Wing and so on. The first missions are still rather simple. Get rid of some probe droids and take out TIE fighters, but not much in the ways of mission objectives. It gets a bit tougher later on, with multiple tasks and the necessity to protect certain installations/crafts.

Rogue Squadron offers the following ships for selection (one default ship is assigned to each mission. You can go back after completing an "episode" and try the level with the new ships you have unlocked):

• X-Wing: The Rebellion's finest ship combines high maneuverability with four powerful laser cannons. An R2 unit behind the cockpit makes sure that everything works smoothly.
• Y-Wing: Most notable for their spectacular explosions in the movie, Y-Wings are primarily used for bombing and attacking ground targets.
• A-Wing: The super-fast, one-man fighters were introduced in the third movie -- best for intense dog-fighting.
• Speeder: Essentially the same model as the snowspeeder in Empire Strikes Back, this fast two-man craft is great for low altitude combat.
• V-Wing: Reminiscent of the Cylon ships in Battlestar Galactica, these new Rebel hover fighters are sure to penetrate Imperial defenses.

There are also additional weapons for each ship that have to be uncovered in the levels.

The control takes a little getting used to, but it's responsive and each craft actually handles a little different. In comparison to Shadows, the ships can all ascend to much higher altitudes although we have to say that the more floaty feel of the Shadows Snowspeeder felt a bit better than the Rogue controls. There a number of camera views, including a 3D cockpit view (causes slowdown, though) and a first-person view (without cockpit), but the third person views are still the most playable.

The single levels are much bigger than the Shadows stages. For example, the Tatooine level is so vast, it includes all the major landmarks from the three movies. Blasting Imperial TIE Fighters and Probe Droids, you fly from Beggar's Canyon to the Sarlacc Pit, from Mos Eisley to Luke's homestead, and pay an early visit to Jabba's Palace. You will see landspeeders drive around, Skyhoppers race in the canyons, and even find the droids' escape pod from A New Hope in the sand dunes. The attention to detail is outstanding.

The missions can roughly be divided into four categories:

• Search and Destroy: Find a major Imperial target and light up the Dark Side.
• Reconnaissance: Find out what evil plans the Empire is hatching by retrieving vital information.
• Rescue Missions: Fly into hot zones and rescue key members of the Rebellion.
• Protect: Protect crashed spacecraft or installations.

Ship AI ranges from typical Imperial stubbornness (ie flying on set paths) to devilishly smart TIE-D attack patters (following the player -- not confined to paths). Your team mates also help you quite a lot in some of the missions, shooting down targets and trying to stay out of trouble. However, if you don't take out ground defenses, most of them do get shot down rather quickly.

Although it's a lot more balanced and focussed than its predecessor, Rogue does have a few flaws. For example, as soon as you mess up one of your vital mission objectives, the game unceremoniously "wipes" away and aborts the level, instead of informing you that you screwed up and letting you fly around "just for fun". This problem becomes obvious in missions like Gerrard V, where a few missed homing missile turrets take out your Y-Wings before you know it. The ability to explore the level even after their demise would have helped a great deal and only added to the experience.

Another potential downer is the overall speed of the game. If you're expecting to rocket over the planets' surfaces Wipeout style, then the more "relaxed" speed of the game may leave you cold. On the other hand, the game is mainly about ground assault, so cranking up the game speed could have raised all kinds of problems.

Finally, the lack of a multiplayer mode is a real bummer. As great as the one-player game is, four-player battles with Star Wars vehicles would have been an awesome feature to lengthen the replay value of the game. Still, if you're thinking 15 levels and five vehicles is all you're getting, then think again.

Depending on how well you did when you complete a level, you are awarded with one of three medals, bronze, silver, or gold. Naturally, gold medals, which you can only get by solving secret mission objectives, will open up all kinds of hidden goodies, such as extra ships or even new missions. Not to give away too much, but what Star Wars fan hasn't dreamt of flying a Skyhopper, blowing up a certain "small moon", or piloting the ship Lando lost in a card game... Do not stop playing until you've seen these missions. Secrets galore.

Graphics
Until now, no company has tried to run 3D hi-res graphics on the N64 while maintaining a decent framerate and pump out surround audio with speech and music at the same time. For Factor 5 and LucasArts, the developers of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, there was no try -- only do, or do not. Lucky for us, they did.

However, if you want to experience this game the way it was meant to, you need to get the 4MB RAM Expansion. After playing the game in the optional high resolution mode (640x480) once, it's impossible to go back to the still respectable standard resolution (320x240), even if the framerate is a little lower in hi-res.

That said, framerates are definitely an issue. Because of the amount of detail and number of objects on screen, it's inevitable that the game slows down. This is especially noticeable in the city stages or when faces with larger craft, such as the Rebel Blockade Runner or a World Devastator. Had the framerates been consistent throughout Rogue Squadron, this game would have gotten a perfect 10 in its graphics rating. So if slowdown is not a problem for you, add 1 to the graphics rating.

The 3D ship models are absolutely gorgeous and even put those seen in previous PC and arcade Star Wars titles to shame. From the accurate decals and Rebel markings down to the R2 units, realistic 3D cockpit views (you can even look around) and exhaust flames -- everything looks so authentic, even the pickiest Star Wars fans should pee their pants with delight. The enemy crafts are equally impressive and the TIE Fighters, AT-ATs, AT-STs, and attack droids have never looked more realistic. Developer Factor 5 seems to have found a way around the limitations of the console's texture cache and pumps out highly detailed textures that really shine in hi-res. On the effects side, the programmers managed to squeeze some incredible real-time lighting and particle effects out of the 64 that even put Acclaim's Forsaken to shame. The landscapes have a much more rounded look than most games and there is a lot going on at all times. You will see speeder bikes whizzing by, ground troops disembarking from boats, and even banthas in the dunes. There are also more than 20 minutes of cut-scenes in between the missions, all in hi-res, of course.

Unfortunately, there is also quite a lot of fog on the screen, but it's mostly confined to the middle of the screen and when flying low, you can see fairly far into the distance. And there is no light way to put this: the water sucks. Luckily, Rogue more than makes up for this with its amazing 3D poly ship models and the best sky and cloud textures we have ever seen on the N64 (take a look at the screen-shots). Wait till you see the city in the clouds...

Overall, Rogue Squadron in combination with the RAM expansion is visually one of the most impressive titles on the N64. Everything rings true to the Star Wars universe and shows what's possible on the N64 if you get the right developer for the job.

Sound
As any fan of the trilogy will know, the Star Wars phenomenon reaches further than just visuals. Watch the movies with the sound muted, and you'll know what we're talking about. What would Star Wars be without the roaring engine sounds of the TIEs and the booming John Williams score? While Shadows of the Empire succeeded on one level with its digitized soundtrack (it sounded pretty good on mono TVs), many audiophiles were put off by the tinny quality and lack of stereo separation. Well, Rogue Squadron fixes all that.

In our opinion, the music and sound effects are all the way up there with H2O's Tetrisphere. The Star Wars theme blares in full force out of your stereo speakers -- and for those lucky enough to have a Pro Logic surround sound setup, you will be treated to full 3D sound. Shoot down a TIE Fighter and the unfortunate fellow will pass you not only on screen, but also in your room and crash with a wailing engine sound behind you. But the surround sound separation is not only for effect, you can also determine your enemy's position by listening for the direction of the laser blasts. Audiophiles will also notice that surround effect is actually a little more accurate than Zelda's, for example. You can virtually follow a sound source around the room in a complete circle without ever experiencing any of the radical "speaker-switching" prevalent in stereo games. (For best effect, turn down the music in the options menu.)

If you are impressed by the dynamic music of Nintendo's Banjo-Kazooie, Rogue Squadron's soundtrack will blow you away. When flying over certain key locations, the music undergoes subtle changes. For example, while you're fighting TIEs on Tatooine, the regular Star Wars battle tune plays -- take a detour over Luke's farm and it changes into a variation of Luke's Theme. Thanks to the expertise of the old-school sound experts Stember and Huelsbeck, it's probably the best and most extensive orchestra/symphony soundtrack outside of real CD music. Impressive new compositions fit in perfectly with many John Williams pieces from the movies.

The story is moved ahead with around 40 minutes of voice samples, mouthed by sound-alikes that do a remarkably good job at sound like Luke, Han, and co. Factor 5's voice compression is so efficient, the 16MB cart even had room for fully narrated character biographies that supply extra information about the Rogue Squadron pilots.