*** THE CASUAL GAMER ***
| Main | Rating: Transcendent |
Star Wars: Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II
Rogue Leader is a great game that will appeal to both Star Wars fans and shooter fans alike. It has a good balance of graphics, gameplay, and challenge. This is one Star Wars game that actually lives up to the original trilogy of movies.
One of the first things you will notice when you play Rogue Leader is the fantastic graphics. Every ship, person, gun, and planet is well detailed and is very faithful to the Star Wars universe. All the effects are done nicely. You will see cool explosions, lasers, and engine effects that look like they are straight out of one of the movies. There is also authentic audio sampled from the movies. Aside from some minor slowdown in some busy areas, the experience this game gives you is nothing short of amazing. You really feel like you are part of the SW universe.
The gameplay of Rogue Leader is also very solid. The control is nice and responsive, and the GameCube controller is put to good use. If you are familier with flight based shooters, then you will adapt easily to the gameplay of RL. Once you put in a little time with this game, your increasing skills will open up the true enjoyment of kicking the Empire's ass all over the galaxy.
Although pretty easy to get into, it is no easy task to beat this game. The missions start out just easy enough for beginners, but the difficulty shoots up after a handful of missions. This game forces you to become a better pilot and strategist in order to progress through the later missions (there are 10 main missions, with 5 bonus ones). And while it is one thing to beat the missions, it is quite another to earn medals on them. To earn medals on a mission, you must meet certain performance requirements specific to each mission. Earning medals (from bronze to gold) gets you points that you can then use to open up bonus missions. Getting the medals is no easy task. You will have to figure out the best way to beat a level, while doing it quickly and relatively mistake free. It can be a frustrating experience. You will often feel the urge to throw your controller at the wall or at the TV when you see that you missed getting a medal by 2 seconds. In other words, if you plan on opening up everything in this game, prepare for a real challenge.
Overall, Rogue Leader is a very solid, addictive game. It blends the Star Wars universe with great gameplay and is hard to put down, regardless of its difficulty. I recommend that everyone who is a fan of videogames and Star Wars check this title out. If you don't plan on getting every secret, you could probably get your fix by just renting it. If you just want a great game that will give you many hours of great looking, sounding, and challenging gameplay you need look no further than this game. I don't know if it is worth buying a GameCube just for this game, but if you already have one, Rogue Leader is a must play.