Star Wars Rogue Squadron was co created by Factor 5 and LucasArts and released on the Nintendo 64 on December 7th, 1998. Before this game was released however, another Star Wars game had already rooted itself on the Nintendo 64, Star Wars: Shadow's of the Empire. While Shadows is a good and very challenging game I still find the very first level to be the most exciting. For those of you who have never played the game, I am talking about The Battle of Hoth. Piloting the Snowspeeder left me craving more and when Rogue Squadron myself was seen in stores, myself and many others got their wish... An entire game like that first mission in Shadows!
The game centers around the creation of the group known as Rogue Squadron, The leaders of this squadron are Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles and their objective is to defend the galaxy from the Empire. The game has 16 main missions and a few unlockable levels as well. The time period for you Star Wars fans of this game takes place pretty much through and in-between episodes V and VI and concludes after The Battle of Endor in episode VI. I'm not going to any further into the story as that is for you, the player, to discover and enjoy. Yes many reviews, myself included will go more into the story normally, buuuuuuuut I'm choosing not to do so for this review.
The game centers around the creation of the group known as Rogue Squadron, The leaders of this squadron are Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles and their objective is to defend the galaxy from the Empire. The game has 16 main missions and a few unlockable levels as well. The time period for you Star Wars fans of this game takes place pretty much through and in-between episodes V and VI and concludes after The Battle of Endor in episode VI. I'm not going to any further into the story as that is for you, the player, to discover and enjoy. Yes many reviews, myself included will go more into the story normally, buuuuuuuut I'm choosing not to do so for this review.
In the game you will be able to pilot many of your favorite Rebel Alliance spacecraft. The ships that you can fly include the X-Wing, A-Wing, Y-Wing, Speeder (pretty much the Snowspeeders seen in The Battle of Hoth), and the new V-Wing. Each ship handles differently, has different setting for attacking, and secondary weapons. Also included in the game are a few unlockable ships as well. What those ships area and how you unlock them I'll leave up to you to figure out. All I can say is no two ships really even feel similar. For example the horrendous speed of the Y-Wing in my opinion is far and away okay on most missions given the sheer amount of hits it can take.Then you've got the V-Wing with it's insane boosters and rapid fire mode, At first you can only use certain ships per mission, but eventually you'll be pretty much able to use what you want when you want with the exception of missions involving AT-ATs as only the Speeder can take them down.
I'd have to say that the controls are pretty good in this game. First time players may find them a little odd, especially given that each craft handles a little differently, but once you are used to them they are actually pretty good. You can play the game in 3rd person (best), first person cockpit (causes a noticeable slow down), or first person. There are also times when the game will slow down a bit regardless of your view. Basically this is caused by the sheer amount of detail that they put into the game. When too much is happening at a time it slows down for a bit. I noticed this mostly on heavily populated levels, but again, it's not like it lasts long or anything. Now I am never one to say that graphics make the game, but the graphics in Rogue Squadron are simply put, awesome. I mentioned the detail that can sometimes cause slowdowns, well check this out.
I'd have to say that the controls are pretty good in this game. First time players may find them a little odd, especially given that each craft handles a little differently, but once you are used to them they are actually pretty good. You can play the game in 3rd person (best), first person cockpit (causes a noticeable slow down), or first person. There are also times when the game will slow down a bit regardless of your view. Basically this is caused by the sheer amount of detail that they put into the game. When too much is happening at a time it slows down for a bit. I noticed this mostly on heavily populated levels, but again, it's not like it lasts long or anything. Now I am never one to say that graphics make the game, but the graphics in Rogue Squadron are simply put, awesome. I mentioned the detail that can sometimes cause slowdowns, well check this out.
See what I mean? There's so much going on here. You've got an extremely good looking X-Wing along with several TIE Bombers, a city in which you can see the doors and windows, the canyons off in the distance, people running on the ground, and even dirt roads. That's a ton of stuff going on given what the Nintendo 64 was capable of doing. Not to mention the fact that among all of what's on screen, the TIE bombers are also shooting lasers and often times dropping bombs as well. So much stuff, it's understandable that the game may slow a tick during it. It's not just during gameplay though that things look so gosh darn beautiful!
Even selecting which level and craft you want to play/fly is a beautiful and detailed experience. Now if you've read any of my previous blogs you know I like music in video games and that I think music does a ton to help a game be something great. Here is no exception. From the moment you load this game up you are immersed in the Star Wars universe at the main menu thanks to the music. The classic Star Wars theme is of course in the game, but most of the music is new or remixed versions of songs you may have heard before in the Star Wars movies. The music will also often change slightly based on what's going on around you. When engaged in battles, the level's music will often shift. Other times, such as flying over the farm on Tatooine, will also cause the music to slightly change. It's such a small thing to have in the game, but it adds so much to it. I still remember the first time I played this game and I was wowed by the musical changes throughout that I would literally just fly around certain areas to hear the music. (Yeah when I was younger I would aimlessly fly around in this game when bored)
Speaking of sounds, the sound effects themselves are also extremely good. The lasers sound straight out of the movies, the explosions sounds like small explosions for the most part, there is a ton of speaking that can be heard in the game, which for a Nintendo 64 title, was not all that common, and surround sound allowed things like shooting down a TIE fighter to become as if the thing was passing you while it crashed. It all sounds brilliant, and hey it looks brilliant to boot too.
Now there is a ton of good to me seen in Rogue Squadron, but there are also a couple issues that I have with the game. One of them I've already mentioned, that being the random slowing down of the game. Another minor issue I have with this game is how it ranks you. The rankings are in the form of medals and they are bronze, silver, and gold as you may have expected, but the requirements for obtaining these medals are sometimes quite frustrating. Your completion time, enemies destroyed, friendly saves, bonuses collected, and accuracy determine which medal you receive. My biggest issue with this is the accuracy as I can't count how many times I've missed out on a gold medal by missing 1% accuracy. In a game where you have unlimited ammo and have many crafts that basically have a slow rapid fire, in my opinion having accuracy as a requirement to unlock things is just a little bit, well, unneeded. Honestly I love just firing as many shots as I can into a mass of TIE fighters as opposed to trying to focus on one and basically fire one laser at a time so I don't have to worry about my accuracy. I will say though that there are fewer satisfying things in the game than seeing this...
Now there is a ton of good to me seen in Rogue Squadron, but there are also a couple issues that I have with the game. One of them I've already mentioned, that being the random slowing down of the game. Another minor issue I have with this game is how it ranks you. The rankings are in the form of medals and they are bronze, silver, and gold as you may have expected, but the requirements for obtaining these medals are sometimes quite frustrating. Your completion time, enemies destroyed, friendly saves, bonuses collected, and accuracy determine which medal you receive. My biggest issue with this is the accuracy as I can't count how many times I've missed out on a gold medal by missing 1% accuracy. In a game where you have unlimited ammo and have many crafts that basically have a slow rapid fire, in my opinion having accuracy as a requirement to unlock things is just a little bit, well, unneeded. Honestly I love just firing as many shots as I can into a mass of TIE fighters as opposed to trying to focus on one and basically fire one laser at a time so I don't have to worry about my accuracy. I will say though that there are fewer satisfying things in the game than seeing this...
Other than that I really can't find much wrong with the game. Some people say that the lack of multiplayer is a huge problem. I disagree with this as yes it would have been great to fly alongside a friend, but given that the game has that slowing down issue, I feel that it would only cause that to become more frequent. Would a battle mode have been nice? Sure it would have been cool to be able to take your favorite Rebel Alliance crafts and pilot them against your friends in 4 player combat, but hey at least we have Star Fox 64's battle mode to pilot against eachother right???? RIGHT??? Sadly though that mode does not exist in this game, but the lack of it I don't think hurts the game at all.
I am happy to say that I can give Star Wars: Rogue Squadron a 9 out of 10. The tiny issues of occasional slow downs and the frustration with the medal system are such minor things in the grand scheme of this game. If you are a Star Wars fan and have never played this game, I highly suggest you check it out. Don't have a Nintendo 64? Give Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D a shot on PC then!
Final Verdict: 9 out of 10!
Thanks as always for reading! Coming up next I will be taking a look at Disney's The Lion King for the Super Nintendo followed by returning to the Kirby Series for Episode V: Kirby's Avalanche!
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