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Retro Reviews:Star Wars:Rogue Squadron(N64)

Let's go back in time to the year of 1998.

At the time I was 4 so I didn't learn about this game actually until the next year and this was actually the 2nd game I owned. Star Wars Shadows of The Empire to Star Wars Rogue Squadron, you can tell what I was a fan of at the time.

So of course this game was in my sights, simply look at the cover.
So instantly at first glance this grabbed my interest, I got the game, put it in the console and so many days of finishing my homework, coming home from school I would pop this game in and enjoy myself.

I was in my Star Wars zone, I would blast through the levels of the game in the X-Wing.

Was it great for the time and is it still great now?

Story

Taking place six months after Star Wars Episode IV, the Rebel Alliance has created a squad of the most skilled Rebel pilots to form Rogue Squadron, led by Luke Skywalker to defend other systems in the galaxy from The Empire and hit The Empire hard when the opportunity arises.

Honestly...that's it to the story.

There isn't much else of a story to the game so much a individual level plots.

This isn't a bad thing, the game is an arcade styled game anyway.

Presentation


Rogue Squadron is actually still visually impressive. Considering how much is going on in the world and how fast you can fly some of the available ships.

The frame rate is consistent and there is still a good amount of detail put in the ships, turrets, Imperial Walkers and even the buildings you see in the game.

Firing your ship's blasters, it lights the environment and even when different color of blasters are fired at the same time, the environment will light up according to the mixture of colors.I was playing a mission when I was firing my blasters, the color of the fire was red, the enemy blaster fire color was green.

I got a mild Christmas colored array of lights, nearly purple with the environment color and the blaster color combined.

The environments scream Star Wars, and if you're a dedicated Star Wars fan, this will be nothing but eye candy.

Gameplay


This is where Rogue Squadron truly shines.

The action is fast paced and smooth, the ships move easy and clean.

The controls are easy and almost anything you can imagine doing with these ships, you can.

Barrel rolls, Summer Salts, flying side ways, upside down, diagonal, straight up or straight down, you can do with an easy to learn control scheme.

You blast through Imperial walkers, TIE fighters and turrets, doing so the Star Wars way. Firing Proton Torpedoes to break off target and move on to the next, taking down AT-AT walkers with the Snowspeeder harpoon and blasting through the environment with the X-Wing S foils closed.

It's an arcade styled game where you need to complete the level you are on to unlock the next, the level styles vary from Search and Destroy, Rescue and Protect or Reconnaissance. At the end of each level, the game ranks you on your performance, based on how long it took you to complete the level, how many enemies you destroyed, your accuracy, friendlies you protected/saved and if you found the secret bonus item in the level.

Depending on your performance the game rewards you with a medal, Bronze Silver and Gold. Depending on how many medals of the certain color you'll receive will affect your in game rank. Which to be quite honest doesn't matter at all unless you're aiming to be the best of the best, it's a challenge that's present for players to accomplish that doesn't affect the game at all, which is something I appreciate.

The Verdict

Star Wars:Rogue Squadron is a game for Star Wars fans. Whether you're a new fan or an old fan of Star Wars this is a game you want to play.

The controls are smooth, the gameplay is exciting and fun that offers players a good challenge, both in level difficulty and unlocking Gold medals so player skill is recognized.

The only thing I will be taking a point off of the game will be the weak story.

Star Wars Rogue Squadron gets an excellent 9 out of 10

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