Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

This was a game I rented multiple times back in the day, as it was pretty fun and quite frankly there were not all that many fun games for the Nintendo 64. It was this one and Turok, both rather fun games and both had a flaw to them that made them less than ideal. Extreme difficulty. Well to be fair, a person can easily win this game on the lowest difficulty selection. The problem? Well, you do not get much of an ending on this setting. "No problem," You are probably thinking to yourself, "I won the game easily enough on the easy level, I can probably handle the next one up". Well I do not know about anyone else, but neither my friend or me could handle it on the next difficulty level and I applaud anyone else who could. My friend could not make it past the first level, I got to the boss in the ice cavern stage where the boss took me out in like two shots and I pretty much sat there with my jaw opening wondering how in the world can anyone survive the game on such a insane degree of difficulty and there was at least one more degree of difficulty beyond the one up from easy, there may of been two! Still, it is a fun game on the easy mode as you play as some made up character that is buddies with Han Solo so unfortunately no light saber here. Still, some of the levels are a blast to play (unless on the aforementioned higher difficulty). I especially enjoyed the level where you were on the desert planet and you could see enemies far off and I used to blast them before they even saw me coming. I also liked the level where you had to fight that strange creature that was underwater in a sewer like stage. Of course, I made it all the way through, but I have no idea if Dash survived, because you had to be the best of the best to see beyond the shabby ending you get on the easiest section. I guess George Lucas wanted you to earn it!

This comment is for the N64 version of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire!

When Nintendo launched its 64 bit system in 1996, the world at the time seen some of the greatest graphics ever on a video game console and even though Sony's Playstation and Sega's Saturn were competing, this new competitor in the gaming arena quickly became a superstar! With it's unique analog controllers, unbelievable games, and it's Nintendo Expansion Pak, Nintendo clearly had a system that would remain champion in the console stadium for years!

My Take: As a huge Star Wars fan and big gamer this was a must to play! The graphics are excellent and the ships look like they do the films and even the ones that wasn't still look very real! It has great characters, incredible action, game play, and music! Read below for more!

The Story: In between Episodes V & VI, It is yet still a dark time in the galaxy, Prince Xizor has a terrible plan. The green skinned leader of Black Sun is at his most powerful state. While Han Solo is frozen in carbonite and being taken by the legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett, Solo's good friend Dash Rendar comes on to the scene to not to only rescue him but also must achieve many other deadly obstacles such as the deadly android bounty hunter IG-88, the Swoop Gang, meat eating Wampas, the Empire's Tie-Fighters and Star Destroyers. Will Dash succeed and defeat the odds or will the universe be covered by a very dark shadow?

Game Play: The game play is hard at first but give it a bit of time and it becomes natural. It has many camera angles including first person. The controls are smooth. There are several types of modes being Dash in action, flying his Outrider, driving an extremely fast swoop bike, and more!

Graphics: The graphics, while not flawless is excellent and is some of the greatest ever put in a game. The AT-AT and the AT-ST Walkers look nearly identical like their counter parts. The Snowspeeders, Probe Droids, Boba Fett's Slave I, Tie-Fighters, Ties Bombers, and Star Destroyers look very real as well! The Storm Troopers and Snow Troopers look good also! The cut scenes really look awesome with the pictures of the characters! Very cool art! The whole graphics category is tremendous!

Difficulty: The game has many difficult stages and has many options for the novice players to the experts!

Music: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire has one of the most explosive scores ever! Its all performed by an orchestra and underrated composer Joel McNeely takes this to new heights! Some of John Williams composing is here from the original films but most of it is new music. In My opinion some of McNeely's score sounds similar like the music James Horner has composed in the past but that doesn't mean anything bad by a long shot and that means its that great! In the last level the music even has a choir! There are only a handful of games that can compete with this epic monster when it comes to music in a video game! Its simply amazing!

Sound: The sound is great and clear! Very realistic Tie-Fighter, Probe Droid, AT-AT and AT-ST Walker sounds! The game really has dynamic sound!

Overall: In My opinion this one of the greatest Star Wars games ever and with its plot, characters, and musical score it could have easily been a motion picture! Its a great fun game and even if you have beaten it on all difficult modes its still worth playing simply because of the marvelous score! If you are a Star Wars fan and have an N64 get this game now! I strongly recommend it!

To purchase Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for the Nintendo 64 stop by Amazon.com!

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.

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.

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.