| Stat: |
Score: |
Notes: |
| Graphics |
10 |
Rebel Strike does an excellent job rendering the detail of each Star Wars vehicle used. The X-wings, Y-Wings, Snowspeeders, and everything else look identical to their movie counterparts. The laser effects are very good looking and the explosions are impressive. Also, larger capital ships now seem to show their health levels by fire trails from their engines and the like, giving you a better idea of when to stop mucking around with TIEs and to get over to protect them. Explosions are nice, and the frame rate stays steady most of the time. There are a few frame skips and jumps here and there, but they are infrequent and typically last less than a second. |
| Play Control: |
10 (In Flight)
7 (On Ground and Speeder Bike) |
Highly intuitive flight controls, sensitive throttle/acceleration, and well mapped buttons make for an excellent flying experience. The only problem can come from the occasional "clip" where your craft might nick an obstacle the wrong way and you die. It hardly ever happens, but it's worth mentioning. The physics in the air and in space are great and you can make some real fancy flying if you can handle yourself well. On the ground, you get the occasional clip of the Speeder Bike when you make a jump. This tends to pile up your damage quickly. Walking controls and shooting Stormtroopers can be a little difficult, considering the camera doesn't like to be cooperative when you're jogging around on your feet. As well, LucasArts didn't impliment a camera control when you're on foot, so you have to learn how to deal with it. For controls, Factor 5 should've kept Rogue Squadron where it belonged: the wild blue (or black) yonder. |
| Sound: |
8 |
Blasting and Star Wars Music has become trademark of this series, and it still stays true to the original trilogy. There is also quite a bit of voice acting, most of which is pretty decent. Luke Skywalker's voice is pretty well acted, though you can tell it's not Mark Hamill doing it. Most of the other voice actors are decent, including the game's antagonist. However, it was a rather big disappointment that LucasArts didn't get Denis Lawson to do the voice of Wedge Antilles again. (Denis Lawson was the actual actor who played Wedge Antilles in the original Trilogy.) The substitute voice actor is too peppy to be as good as the original; Wedge isn't really supposed to be a cheerful character. This new voice actor just damages the presentation of RS3:RS a little. |
| Value: |
10 |
The Value of this Rogue Squadron game is far better than its predcessors for four reasons: Tougher Gold Medal requirements, the new "Best Ever" requirements, Multiplayer Dogfight, and Multiplayer Co-Op. Factor 5 managed to squeeze ALL of Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader in as its Co-Op mode, and appropriately stepped up the difficulty because of it. Multiplayer Dogfight comes with several options, including location, the presence of wingmen, extra AI targets, powerups, and any ship upgrades. This allows a more custom dogfight and allows for balancing. For example, a novice could be in an X-wing armed to the teeth while the veteran is in a piddly TIE Fighter armed with nothing but basic cannons. Multiplayer was a great addition to Rebel Strike and it made the game considerably better. Even more, Factor 5 managed to squeeze in the classic StarWars vector arcade games Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. Playing these little arcade games is fun and adds just that much more depth to the purchase. |
| Gameplay: |
8 |
It's the same style as before in Rogue Leader. The new additions include piloting ATSTs, an ATAT, a Speeder Bike, and walking around on foot armed with a blaster pistol. Most everything works well, although the on foot camera controls are clunky and shooting Stormtroopers is a task. The ATST and ATAT work very well, but the Speeder Bike has a tendency to clip obstacles as you fly past. Take care not to run into walls while on this Imperial speeder. Most of the flying levels are still great and are the true strength of the game. |
Overall Rating: |
8 |
A great game overall, Rebel Strike sports some fun bonuses, multiplayer, tough medal requirements, and more of a story than the previous Rogue Squadrons. It has its fair share of weaknesses, but they're tolerable for the most part. Mostly, it's the on-foot areas that cause the game to slip up. The flying is flawless and is as fun as ever. |
It was nice to see a new installment of LucasArts' Rogue Squadron series on the GameCube. I've always found Rogue Squadron games to be good in general and usually worth the purchase. This game is a nice addition to the series, although when I buy a Rogue Squadron game, I expect flying around in the air or in space as opposed to running around on the ground. The Speeder Bikes are fine, but just hoofing it around isn't as cool as soaring through the atmosphere is. That aside, I feel that this is another good addition to the series.
One of the main problems I had with previous Rogue Squadrons was that getting Gold Medals aside, there wasn't a lot of replayablity involved. Now with Multiplayer, there's a bit more of a reason to pop the game back into your system. Although multiplayer is limited to two individuals, the addition is more than welcome. The Value's decent, but the replayability of single player mode can still be an issue.
There's lots of blasting, so of course it's fun. ^_^ Lots of shooting, explosions! And its constant action. Great stuff.
Ugh, does Triad enjoy subjecting me to such mindless drivel? I swear if I have to play one more stupid action game I'm going to smack someone.
Oh yeah. Flyin' round, shootin' stuff, it doesn't get any better than that. And the Arcade in the Options screen has the coolest games ever made. Oh yeah, the graphics of everything blow your mind.
Typical sounds and musics of a Star Wars game. What I expected for the most part. I don't like Wedge's voice though. They need the guy from the first Rogue Squadron if they couldn't get Denis Lawson.
*Drooling*
I don't have anything to say that hasn't yet been covered, except this game is worth at least a rental if you like anything in the action/shooter genre.