DASH IT ALL Star Wars N64 game casts Shadows on enjoyable gameplay

Shadows of the Empire
from LucasArts Entertainment
for the Nintendo N64 system

     Let's be honest here; if you're reading this Emag, and you've got a Nintendo 64, nothing I can say or do will stop you from going out and buying Shadows Of The Empire. You need to have it. And since you're going to go and spend your money anyway, do it. Right now. I'll be here when you get back.

     You bought it yet?

     Starting to feel disappointed?

      Well, you won't at least not at first. SOTE 64 is actually four games in one, and since the first game is the best of the lot, the awfulness of this little stinker doesn't start to sink in for awhile. Matter of fact, if the entire game were as good as the first level, I'd be headed off to LucasArts right now to genuflect. And since you can't get to the next levels without finishing the first, you're likely to be thrilled for awhile.

THE GAME STARTS - SO FAR, SO GOOD

"Dashing" Dash Rendar

     The game starts on Hoth, and you, in the guise as Dash "I am not a pale Han Solo imitation" Rendar, are in a snowspeeder, flying around trying to take out the enemy AT-ATs, Probe Droids, and AT-STs. The Hoth sequence is well-done and looks ... well, I was gonna say "real", but since there is no "real" Hoth, I'll have to just say "pretty darn impressive". They're full 3D figures, so the AT-ATs stomp towards ya in full, metal-clanking color. It's scary careening wildly by one of these house-sized mothers, your shots exploding against the armored hull, veering off at the last second as the headguns blaze past your bow.

      The AT-AT scenario(s) are set up so that you fly around in a big mountain-rimmed bowl. It takes awhile to get the controls down because you can't stop the snowspeeder; you're continually flying past things, then turning too tightly so you overshoot them again. Everything's at high speed and it looks fantastic.

      You have two choices for taking down targets (the afforementioned Walkers and their smaller cousins, the AT-ST or "Chicken Walkers," plus more probe droids than could fill a space cruiser). You can shoot your speeder's blasters (which will destroy a Walker eventually), or, in the case of the Walkers, you can release a tow cable and fly around their legs. (Well, there is a third option: you can also smash head-on into them, as you're likely to do if you get greedy and think you can finish off that AT-ST in just this run if you stay on target just that bit longer. This option is not recommended. ) However, since it takes a hundred shots to down an AT-AT (as opposed to three for a probe droid or around twenty for an AT-ST), the tow cable's the only quick choice.

Reverse Angle Flight w/tow cable

      But using the tow cable is a BIG problem. You normally have your choice of two views: cockpit and rear view (also known affectionately in my house as the "buttcam"). However, the moment you drop a tow cable the screen switches to a new, THIRD viewpoint, which is nearly unflyable. I've tried to drop tow cables at least forty times and only done it once, and that more by luck than anything else. If I had just been able to stay in my cockpit or buttcam, I would have been able to do it EVERY TIME. This is really frustrating and kind of senseless.

      Another problem is that there's no time limit. I've watched newbie pilots fly around for twenty minutes and the AT-STs never got any closer to the shield generator (the item you're supposed to be protecting, remember?) They just walked about randomly, daring you to shoot them. And you find out in SOTE 64 why the Stormtroopers are such lousy shots; the Rebel grunts aren't any better, at least not the way you are allowed to play them. Theoretically you have three other snowspeeders flying at your side, and there are two blaster turrets in the back letting loose a steady stream of blue gunfire . but they never hit anything. I watched my father fly about aimlessly for half an hour trying to take out two measly probe droids and all the while the Rebels, firing continuously, could not manage to land a single hit on either droid. I realize LucasArts is trying to make things interesting, but hey guys don't put in other snowspeeders and gun turrets if all they're going to do is serve as targets.

     While the Hoth part of the game has minor flaws, it's the closest thing I've seen to being in a Star Wars movie, Rebel Assault included. Truly awesome.

      But eventually you have to go to the next level.

DASH ON FOOT: DOOMED?

      And SOTE keels over and dies at your feet.

      Because six-tenths of the game is spent in a pathetic Doom-style clone. You'd think that since LucasArts developed one of the best Doom-clones ever (Dark Forces, anyone?) they could make the N64 version killer. But no.

     How do I begin to trash this? Well, let's put it this way I was doing badly at the second type of game until I had a friend over to play it. And he kicked butt on these levels with a simple strategy: he fired blindly down every corridor for thirty seconds and moved a bit. Fired blindly and moved a bit. Fired blindly and moved a bit.

      This works wonderfully for several reasons: first, there are no ammo limitations on your main weapon (a laser), so you can keep firing forever. Furthermore, the enemies are dumb enough to walk into your line of fire. Further furthermore, you really can't aim your weapon you just point it in the general direction and Dash fires at whatever he feels like. There is nothing more frustrating than rounding a corner, seeing a Stormtrooper, hitting the fire button three times and missing all three times, allowing the Trooper to take a shot at you. Nothing. Even if you're standing stock still and the gun's pointed right at the target, some of the shots will not hit. Guaranteed.

      And further further furthermore, and most importantly, there's no way to avoid a blaster shot. The enemies shoot in random directions without warning and the shots are instantaneous so you can't dodge them; your only choice is to shoot first and faster.

      Understand this: The most valid strategy in this Doom-section of the game is to fire blindly down hallways and wait for the monsters to walk in front of you. Whoa, does this sound like a fun game or what?

      Of course, there are other aspects to this which bite: your control of Dash is very spongy and imprecise, so you can walk off cliffs and catwalks extremely easily. And the wampas, which in the movies are fast enough to blindside Luke and swipe him down are, in SOTE 64, large bouncy creatures which lope around the halls so slowly they might as well be the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man. I am a firm believer that although luck should play a part in rewarding a player, luck should never make the difference between life and death in a game. And yet it does, and all the time, in SOTE's Doom levels.

      And it doesn't even look that good. Dark Forces looked better. Admittedly, the polygon count on the Stormtroopers is to die for, but if you stop to look at the troopers, you die. The walls are flat and lifeless. And this is three-quarters of the game.

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