Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Shadows of the empire was originally a novel. I guess it was so damn good they decided to make a Video game out of it.

Anyways, the game follows the beginning of episode 5, all the way to before episode 6 starts. in the game, You are in control of rebel dash rendar, who just happens to have a ship quite similar to Han solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Anyways, after the 3rd level, the story starts.

I'm not going to spoil the story, but i can tell you this - don't play this game if you haven't read the novel. because the novel is very different.

But however, this game is for the Experts. It took me a freaking month to pass the levels 5-9. but believe me, level 10 is easy.

Here's another thing. There's several modes you play in. there's fixed camera levels, where the camera follows the person's back. There's Flight simulator mode, and there's also a mode where you shoot at enemy ships from inside your own. the ship moves automatically, courtesy of your robot.

Anyways, this is a game for all star wars fanatics.

This game was a childhood favorite of mine as both a gamer and a hardcore Star Wars fan. What makes it so revolutionary is not only that it's the very first fully 3D Star Wars game, but also one of the first fully 3D third person shooters ever created.

The music was amazing, from John Williams legendary soundtrack from the original trilogy to the new music by Joel McNeely. In fact, this was one of the few N64 games with a fully orchestrated soundtrack. The sound effects were superb, with classic sounds from the movies like blaster fire and creature sounds that sounded clear and intimidating.

Admittingly, though, the game hasn't aged too well. As typical for early 3D platformers, the controls for Dash were clumsy and frustrating with his floaty jumping. Many of the levels required well timed jumps over bottomless pits that made them tough to beat, especially when collecting certain challenge points. The levels look empty, have few details, and are as coarsely textured as the enemy models. But the combat still holds up fairly well as you fight enemies like Stormtroopers and probe droids with your blaster, seeker missiles, pulse rifle, and other weapons. The games generous auto aim really helped.

The vehicle-based missions, like the asteroid field and the final battle against Prince Xizors Skyhook were way more fun and less cumbersome. My favorite was the first level in which you pilot a Snowspeeder and toppled over AT-ATs during the Battle of Hoth, which was like a dream come true for me as a kid. It even set the stage for the Rouge Squadron series. The bosses were challenging, ranging from original Star Wars figures, such as Boba Fett and IG-88 to more original ones like Xizor's Gladiator droid and the terrifying Giant Dianoga that undoubtedly gave many gamers nightmares.

Flaws, aging, and difficulty aside, this game is still worth playing today if you're a Warsie who enjoys classic games. You can try it on the PC on Steam and experience the game that marked the Star Wars franchise successful leap into the realm of 3D games.

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is probably the most ambitious and overly-stretched game of the franchise in terms of gameplay styles, but it actually adds to the sense of gaming variety; at least its non-conventionality worked in favor of it as opposed to something like Superman 64 did (which was the opposite of innovative or well-done), and Nintendo was still testing the waters of 3D video-gaming in general. So historically speaking, Shadows of the Empire was probably too far ahead of its time and not meant for the right system technically speaking (the N64 cartridges could only manage mere 12MBs) but kudos to Lucasfilm for pushing the boundaries of a young technology and medium in 1996.

Shadows gets 4/5 stars.

I loved how this was a multimedia release and had read the books, comics and had the tie ins years ago. But alas, nothing to play the game on! Well GOG finally released it and I just finished it on 'easy'. I did NOT find easy to be easy! But I enjoyed the way its story ties into the book and comic. The only thing really stopping me giving it 10 is 3 little details. 1. Some of the scenes were too dark. Whether it was an age thing or what, it made it hard to see to navigate. 2. auto aim was atrocious. Never worked if the robot shooting at me was beneath me.

3. Dash has an annoying habit of running off cliffs. Hitting back space, crouching, sometimes nothing stopped him. Finally I found a Logitech Gamepad worked better than the keyboard.

I did find the swoop riding fun when I got the hang of it and the space combat was great!

The graphics are dated. But that's okay because those dianoga monsters in the sewers are one thing I do not want greater detail on.

Given its age it was a great game and reminded me a lot of the Dark Forces series. I just wish it had let me do the aiming!

I liked Shadows of the Empire. The gameplay and storyline are very well used. The story came from Steve Perry's Star Wars novel released by Bantam Books. I liked to see a story explaining the events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

This game couldn't be played by anyone other than Dash Rendar. Leia hired him to protect Luke. That was the goal. The graphics aren't that great in the N64, but the PC version is very good. The sound and music are excellent, but Rogue Squadron is already my new favorite Star Wars N64 title. Shadows got old quickly. That doesn't make the game bad. I like it. Getting all the Challenge points is a real challenge worth seeking.

And it's definitely a Star Wars worth playing, even with grand games like X-Wing vs Tie Fighter or Jedi Knight.