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Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II Preview
Mark Simons
00/12/0000
Hands on preview of this highly impressive Star Wars GameCube game.
Rogue Leader seems to be to some extents the flag ship title for the GameCube in the west, yes Luigi looks excellent as does WaveRace and Pikmin could be rather innovative. The simple fact that this is Star Wars ā“ not that Episode One thing either ā“ and it looks practically as good as the movies. This means that this sends shivers down the spine of practically every gamer that wishes ill on Jar Jar Binks.
There were only two booths for Rogue Leader at The Nintendo Show and because of the aforementioned popularity it was rather time consuming to wait for a turn. However out of a sense of duty, and damn, itās Star Wars, we waited our turn. There were four levels on offer, Hoth, Bespin, Death Star assault and Asteroid Field. The first level that we decided to try out was Hoth, mainly because of the bump mapped snow that was so alluring, well, that and the prospect of downing some AT-ATs with a bit of rope.
Taking the controls of a Snowspeeder for the first time felt unnaturally natural, if that makes sense, the GameCube pad felt right, everything accessible and smooth. However in an attempt to see a shadow accurately cast over the bump mapped snow my Snowspeeder inadvertently got a bit too close to the ground and exploded. Not a great start, but damn, that snow looks nice, bump mapping definitely adds a lot to texture work. Once the initial shock of the graphics has been successfully traversed you can get to grips with the game. The Hoth level played very much like Shadows of the Empire on the N64, no bad thing as that was the best thing about that game. The shoulder buttons with their trigger click action allow you to safely navigate around the legs of the AT-ATs as your towrope brings them down. Avoiding the legs, ground and laser fire whilst keeping the rope at the right state of tension is quite a balancing act, but the control scheme works so well that any mistake is most definitely yours.
Destroying the AT-STs is a slightly easier experience, as you just need to use your lasers to blast them into the snowy ground of Hoth. Thatās not to say it is simple, you need to balance your speed and vulnerability paying attention to what is going on around you. In order to complete the mission you need to be moving quickly, so you have no time to dawdle and this adds extra pressure to taking down those enemies. You also need to pay attention to the mission structure, we went straight for the AT-ATs trying to take them down, then when the mission failed screen came up a bemused look took over and then the Nintendo representative explained we needed to take out the AT-STs first. Oops, however this returned us to the main screen where we could try another level.
This time, Bespin, a completely different experience to the Hoth level, as you would naturally expect. To start with you have to take out balloons that have gun placements on them and to do this you need to approach them from below and take out their gas tanks, which results in a rather impressive explosion. This level showcases the lovely volumetric fogging effect as you fly through the clouds, but this has the side effect of hiding the marauding Tie Fighters from view. This presents you with a good opportunity to use your targeting computer that highlights the enemies for you and makes it easier to find and destroy your enemies. Sadly we did not get to see the actual city of Bespin itself, due to the long queues and the strict enforcement of the ten-minute time for gameplay.
