By Elias Dounis on October 25th, 2003

Genre: Action Flight
Developer: Factor 5
Publisher: LucasArts
# of Players: 1 – 2
Memory: 5 blocks
ERSB: Teen
Released On: October 21st, 2003
Supports: Progressive Scan, Dolby Pro Logic IIX
Features: Game Boy Advance Connectivity, Co-operative Multiplayer
MSRP: $49.99
Also On: None
Website: www.rebelstrike.com

George Lucas’ Star Wars has helped mold the imaginations of millions upon millions of people on this planet for more than two decades. However, sixteen years after the release of The Return of the Jedi, the phenomenon known as Star Wars had been destroyed by the hand of its creator with the latest movie projects under the Star Wars brand. For that reason, I can never forgive the once esteemed and idolized science-fiction writer.

The Star Wars prequels have easily and sadly been the most disappointing aspects of my godforsaken life. They have consumed my heart and soul with hate. They have turned me to the Dark Side. Now, the words “Star Wars sucks!” flow from my lips far too often; words that I fought against many years ago with all my heart. I also know that I’m just one of the many who feel this way. But the Classic Trilogy still lives on in our hearts. Because of this, with every new Star Wars video game LucasArts releases, I cannot help but hold some sort of interest. With the latest title being Factor 5’s Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike.

Factor 5, is a well known development house, especially amongst GameCube maniacs. With the GameCube launch title Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, Factor 5 proved to everyone that the GameCube is a visual beast; thus, easily becoming a GameCube fan’s number one, exclusive third party developer. Two years later, Rogue Leader STILL looks better than practically seventy-five percent of the games you’ll find on the market, no matter which home console’s library you browse through.

Upon the announcement of a sequel, many fans cringed at the thought. How many times could we go back to the icy planet of Hoth? How many times do we have to fly through the Death Star’s trench?

Well, things aren’t exactly the same this time around…

Presentation
Most GameCube owners have (at one point or another) gotten their hands on Rogue Leader; many of which have played the game to death. With that said, you’ll have to forgive me when I say, Rebel Strike basically feels like the same game.

The game’s menus, title music, level select screen, hangar bays, etc… are exactly the same as Factor 5 left them two years ago. At first, I felt as if I was being treated to a fifty dollar, EA Sports-like yearly rehash. While, in some respects that statement may be true, Rebel Strike still has its worthy additions.

The sequel takes a more cinematic approach than its predecessor, featuring DVD quality scenes ripped from the Classic Trilogy movies and in-game rendered cutscenes depicting Vader and Emperor Palpatine speaking to one another with Vader kneeling down to a holograph of Palpatine, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Other additions/enhancements (aside from graphics) are minor things altered with the in-game radar and HUD.

Gameplay
The core gameplay aspect of the Rogue Squadron series hasn’t changed much from its debut on the Nintendo 64. They’re shooters, not exactly fast paced ones either, and over the years minor enhancements have been made with each on-going installment. The only thing that really distinguishes Rebel Strike and Rogue Leader from the original N64 game is that, instead of being based on an original Expanded Universe storyline, Rebel Strike and Rogue Leader have taken the path of recreating moments from the Classic Trilogy movies, and in all honesty most Star Wars fans would prefer that.

Rogue Leader did a beyond excellent job of recreating those movie experiences, whether it was blasting your way through the Death Star’s trench, taking down an AT-AT walker with the Snowspeeder’s tow cable, or leading an attack on the Imperial Fleet with the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Endor. However, we return to these scenarios once again in Rebel Strike and not all too gloriously.

Rebel Strike is the first title in the Rogue Squadron series to ever approach on-foot missions. Unfortunately, developer Factor 5 failed at delivering a worthwhile experience. The game’s on-foot missions basically involve the continuous tapping of the A button, firing your character’s blaster mindlessly across the screen taking out Stormtroopers and other Imperial enemies; something which ends being rather unfulfilling. On top of it, you’re also tortured by irresponsive controls and a horrendous Resident Evil-like fixed camera, which often leaves you questioning where to go and where to attack. Personally, I’ve enjoyed 3rd person Star Wars shooters like Shadows of the Empire and Bounty Hunter, but Rebel Strike’s on-foot missions are just horrible. Luckily though, they aren’t too abundant in the game. These missions are often tossed in between flight/vehicle missions, which overshadow them greatly.

Flight missions are more of the same in Rebel Strike. Each stage gives a selection of ships or ship to choose from for each mission. During these missions the required tasks you must complete can range from destroying all enemy fighters onscreen to protecting a Rebel convoy from Imperial fighters. Compared to Rogue Leader, Rebel Strike’s flight missions don’t seem as grand, partially due to the fact that the game’s difficulty has been toned down extremely. Now, earning Gold Medals and even higher awards isn’t much of a difficult task. After just a few tries you’ll be able to earn high ranking awards, whereas in Rogue Leader you had to hone your abilities to point where everything you did had to be accurate, quick, and near flawless.

Other vehicle missions are land based. Surprisingly, they’re just as good, if not more enjoyable, than the game’s flight missions. The tasks of these land missions are just the same as the flight, except in a few instances a bit slower paced, but in others much faster. In missions which require the use of the Speeder Bike’s, you’ll be hesitant at blinking. With all the trees that consume the forests of Endor, going incredibly fast into one of them on your Speeder Bike easily spells out forthcoming doom.

Appeal
As I mentioned earlier, Rebel Strike isn’t as difficult as its predecessor. Many who thought Rogue Leader may have been too hard will be pleased to hear this. I on the other hand have become a bit disappointed. It’s far too easy this time around and I feel as if much has been taken away from the game’s potential replay value. Making things more difficult would have added a challenge that Rogue Leader veterans would’ve loved. Luckily for us, the entire Rogue Leader game has been included in Rebel Strike.

Seeing how Rebel Strike feels like an Expansion Pack or sorts, Factor 5’s choice of including Rogue Leader in two player, co-operative play was a wise decision. Co-operative Rogue Leader is a blast, requiring a great deal of teamwork between players. Unlike the single player Rebel Strike, Co-operative Rogue Leader is extremely difficult, but in the way that you’ll coming back for more and more, until you finally succeed. This addition alone makes Rebel Strike worthy of purchase. However, there are also additional multiplayer modes found in Rebel Strike. While not quite as addicting a Co-operative Rogue Leader, racing against a friend on Speeder Bikes and dog-fighting is quite fun.

Now…What would a Factor 5 game be without some awesome extra features?

I wouldn’t know, because Rebel Strike has some great unlockables. Of course, you have a Video Documentary as with Rogue Leader, but the cream of the crop is easily the inclusion of the classic Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back arcade games from the eighties. While newer gamers may not appreciate the classic gameplay of these titles, hardcore gamers like me will just eat them up; more-so than even Factor 5’s visual masterpieces.

Graphics
Factor 5 knows how to use the GameCube hardware like no other. Not even the amazing artists at Nintendo’s own Retro Studios (responsible for Metroid Prime) can pump out visuals like those found in Rebel Strike and arguably even those of Rogue Leader. Every graphical effect that the GameCube can perform has been included and even others that we never knew existed. One, being a technique created by Factor 5 known as “Light Scattering;” a graphical effect that projects light across an entire area, instead of just concentrating it into one spot.

While ship models don’t seem to be changed much from Rogue Leader, everything else looks to be amplified to the extent where you’ll mutter many words of astonishment. Shadows can be found on everything. Textures are rich and plentiful. The draw distance is never-ending. The lighting is sometimes near blinding. And the level designs, especially that of Endor, are realistic enough that not only could you mistake them from being ripped from the original films, but also from a revisited Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition. Oh, did I also mention that the game runs at sixty frames per second at all times? No? Well, it does... The only time you’ll see any type of drop in frame rate is while playing the included Rogue Leader in two player cooperative mode, but even then it still holds up extremely well; better than even the original single player version of the game. However, not all is perfect (even though it’s damn close). While on-foot missions are just as beautiful as any of the rest, the animations of the character you control seem a bit robotic and unfortunately, just like the actual on-foot portion of the game itself, it hinders the overall experience of Rebel Strike.

Despite that last tidbit, Factor 5 has once again has raised the bar for a GameCube game. Rebel Strike is graphically superior to any GameCube game on the market today and if its predecessor was any type foreshadowing, we won’t see anything better looking on the GameCube for a long, long time…

Sound
Featuring Dolby Pro Logic IIX to mimic 7.1 Surround Sound, Rebel Strike features one of the best aural experiences on the GameCube. Blaster fire, explosions, ship engines, etc… are loud and clear, immersing the player into the game’s atmosphere when coming into effect during battle. Voice acting is also well done. However, it leaves much to be desired by Star Wars fans, who probably won’t be satisfied with anything other than voice-overs from Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamil, Anthony Daniels, and the rest of movies’ cast… In addition to the mentioned, all of the original music compositions from Factor 5 are fully orchestrated, unlike the MIDI themes featured in Rogue Leader. Of course, the classic John William’s Star Wars compositions are included as well. Without them a Star Wars game would feel empty and unfulfilling, leaving fans deeply disappointed.

Final Thoughts
I have to admit that I enjoyed Rebel Strike a great deal. Even though it feels like an Expansion Pack to Rogue Leader, the game has its moments. And for those lucky enough to have a buddy around often enough, you can experience the co-operative two player Rogue Leader included in the game. However, when comparing single-player experiences between Rebel Strike and its GameCube predecessor, Rogue Leader stomps all over it.