NOTE: I originally posted this review on my own personal Blog
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Based off the books, Star Wars: Shadows of the empire was one of the
earliest N64 games, and follows the exploits of Dash Rendar a smuggler
similar to Han Solo.
I remember renting this game back in the
day, and not thinking too highly of it. I just didn't quite understand
exactly what the game was trying to be. It just seemed like a cluster
you-know-what of different styles of games to me, so I left it at that,
and would cringe at the mere mention of the game.
However, it's
been over a decade since I first played the game. I've gotten older,
and, due to the high praise people still give this game years after
it's release, I decided that perhaps I really didn't give the game a
fair shake the first time, so off to ebay I went, and for a mere $5.36
(shipping included) bought the game to see if perhaps my own narrow
mindedness didn't keep me from enjoying a really good game.
The
game starts out in the Hoth battle scene with your character flying a
snow speeder, and taking on Imperial probe droids, At-Sts, and even the
giant At-Ats. The scene's not that bad, but having played the Hoth
scene about a million times since in other Star Wars games, it's not as
thrilling today as it would have been when you first played it. It was
one of the first, if not the first 3D star wars game to allow players
to play that scene, and I'm sure it would have been more thrilling in
1996 as opposed to 2009.
The game then moves into a third person shooter, and that's the mode
that I found it to be most enjoyable in. In all honesty, I'm not the
type of gamer who likes a lot of blending of genres. I don't need the
cliche rail shooter, or vehicle scenes in my shooters, I just want a
shooter, but, on that note, having played newer games that have done
similar things, Shadows didn't seem like the cluster you-know-what that
it used to. If anything, it was a little ahead of it's time in that
regard, because every shooter nowadays has some sort of similar style
scene.
Shadows has the space flight levels that are similar to
games like Rogue Squadron (which did it better), rail shooter scenes,
and even one very hard to control Speeder Bike scene. Some may argue
that such scenes add variety to the game, but I'd have to disagree. To
me, such scenes always take you away from the real action, and feel
like they're forced upon you because the developer ran out of ideas.
The scenes aren't bad (except for the speeder bike scene which I
thoroughly disliked), they're just not the portion of the game I want
to play. They say that a jack of all trades is a master of none, and
this game is proof of that.
It's not that these scenes are
terrible, they're just unspectacular when compared to full games in a
comparable genre. They're OK, but they didn't define the experience for
me like the on-foot levels did.
The on-foot levels make up six of the game's 10 levels, and are really
the best parts of the game. Though the gameplay is your typical shoot
everything shooter, the levels have a nice variety to them that keep
the game from seeming too repetitive. Objectives still mostly come down
to kill stuff, flip switch to open door, and maybe do some platform
jumping along the way. There are some levels like the train portion of
the Junk yard that forces you to jump from one moving train to another,
and dodge low or high bridges that throw out that formula, and give the
game some much needed variety. There are even a few times where you'll
even have to use your brain to solve a puzzle or two. However, the
majority of the game is still just a repetitious shooter.
There's
nothing wrong with repetition, however. Sometimes you just want
something simple, but fun, and that's where I found this game to be
enjoyable. It doesn't have a deep narrative in the storyline, but it's
basic fun, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Make it through
each of the game's large, and action packed on-foot levels, and you're
greeted with a boss fight. Each boss (one of which is the infamous Boba
Fett) requires their own strategy to defeat. This also adds some more
variety and strategic gameplay to the game.
There are also a
number of hidden challenge points (who's full collection of will give
you a secret ending) in the game that you must find, and three
difficulty levels that add some replay value to the game.
Though I found the game to be enjoyable, it's far from perfect. There
are many flaws in the game that hold it back. First and foremost are
the controls. SW:SOTE borrows it's control scheme from Tomb Raider
where pressing up and down on the N64's analog stick moves your
character forward and backwards while pressing left or right turns your
character left or right as opposed to having them walk left or right.
Now, this control scheme works just fine for Tomb Raider because of one
detail that the developers of Shadows forgot, Tomb Raider uses the
D-pad for movement, and it works perfectly for that control scheme.
Shadows does not allow you to control Dash with the d-pad, so instead
you're stuck using the N64's overly-sensitive analog stick to move.
This means the you'll constantly be over correcting in the game, and it
makes landing many of the jumps the game requires a lot harder than it
needs be.
Some of the over correcting issues can be sorted out
by using the strafe efficiently, but another thing that makes
controlling and jumping hard is the fact that the game is very floaty.
In fact, Dash could show Master Chief a thing or two about floaty
jumping. It's like every planet he visits is one with low gravity. This
also complicates in-game jumping.
The controls aren't the only
issue I have with the game, the auto-aim is very much hit or miss. In
fact, it's more miss than hit. At times you'll have a hard time getting
Dash to hit an enemy standing right in front of him. The enemies,
however, don't share this same weakness. Especially the many turrets
that pop out of the walls. The enemies have dead on accuracy, even on
easy. This can lead to a lot of frustrating deaths on account of you
constantly taking fire from all sides. This is made more frustrating on
the harder difficulty levels where they take off a lot more damage.
Graphically,
the game looks dated even for an N64 game. There our old friend fog on
the N64 is out in force, as it his cousin blur. Is it any wonder why so
many people used to get motion sickness from the early N64 games? The
frame rate seems to be fairly solid aside from the floaty feel to the
game. There are also multiple camera angles in each mode of play. You
can play the game from a first person view, or third person. There's
even a completely useless cinematic camera angle system that has no
practical use in the game whatsoever.
Shadows' sound effects and
music are top notch. From the blaster fire, to the epic themes played
in each level, the game delivers the goods that help add to the
authentic Star Wars feel of the game.
Bottom Line:
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a second chance game that I ended up enjoying despite it's flaws. That being said, those flaws will drive away everyone except hardcore Star Wars fans, and nostalgic N64 gamers. Anyone else who's looking for a quality third person shooter with a strong sci-fi influence on their N64's will be better off looking into Jet Force Gemini. Those looking for a good space flight game on the N64 should look into Rogue Squadron. The jack of all trades is truly a master of none, and the only thing Shadows masters is how to be average.