Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II Review

The original Rogue Squadron title impressed N64 owners with its slick arcade gameplay and impressive visuals, the fact that it was based on the original Star Wars movies as opposed to Episode 1 couldnât have hurt.



Rogue Leader takes the same formula, tightens the gameplay and showcases the best visuals seen in a videogame to date. 



Like its predecessor, Rogue Leader is based upon the original trilogy, starting off with the first Death Star attack featured at the end of Star Wars. The various missions take place over well known locations and some not so well known, youâll also switch between controlling Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles throughout the game, Denis Lawson i.e Wedge recorded sound samples specifically for the game.

The missions have been closely knitted together unlike previous games, so you get a real sense that you flow through the game and each mission leads onto the next, thanks to some superb narrative. One level sees you taking out a starship destroyer that contains important data, complete the mission and youâre treated to a very special cut-scene showing the ship crash onto the nearby planet, the next mission sees you escorting some troops to the nearby planet so that they can recover the data from the fallen starship destroyer.



There are 10 different missions, which on initial impressions may seem a little shallow, however like Rogue Leader before it youâre given a medal depending on your performance. Whilst Bronze medals are fairly easy to achieve, obtaining all of the Gold medals will definitely challenge even the most hardened off games players. The medals now give you points to collect which open up sub-missions within the main ones, collecting six points will open up the first levels sub mission which allows you to take Han Soloâs position in the Millenium Falcon for the Death Star mission. 



Thanks to some clever AI youâll also have a hard time with the TIE formations. On later levels these now pose some threat to you as they seek you out in packs, and swarm all over your tail, correctly using your wingmen is essential on these levels. 



As youâd expect the game gives you a wide selection of craft to pilot, including; X-Wings, Y-Wings, B-Wings, A-Wings and the Millennium Falcon amongst many others including secret craft. Thanks to the wonders of the GameCube controller, flying each and every craft is an absolute joy, special mention must go to the use of the D-Pad to control your wingmen and the targeting computer, but be careful overuse of this will knock down your force rating!

Despite all of the improvements to the actual game, the major thing that will make people get up and look is the gob smacking visuals and sound, this is Star Wars. Itâs also a great showcase to the GameCubeâs power, every little trick in the book has been used to make Rogue Leader one of the best, if not the best looking game out there. Bump mapping, self-shadowing, high-resolution textures, volumetric fogging, you name it this games got it. Every craft has been detailed to the minuteness detail, a true fans dream at times youâll just wander around the hanger taking in the beauty of the Millennium Falcon in all its glory.

The games environments arenât too shabby either, sporting luscious bump mapping on the ground textures that is beautifully realised in the Hoth stage. When the game cuts to recreations of the movie sequence on the fly, you just canât but help scrape your jaw off the ground. There are times when the games 60FPS does occasionally drop, but it never interferes with the game. 



To truly appreciate Rogue Leader in all itâs glory, youâre going to need to invest. The game supports progressive scan, so a component cable and a HDTV is all you need to witness one of the most magnificent things youâll see in a while, unfortunately the game doesnât offer a normal wide-screen mode for those unlucky people like me who donât own a HDTV. 

Hmmmm...... Bump Mapping!

Thereâs always been the dispute between gameplay and graphics, and whilst gameplay always comes first, the truth is when a game looks this good and recreates what so many of us love so perfectly it just helps to create that captivating hook. Itâs like being a kid again; all I need now is my light sabreâ¦



Thanks to Nintendo ditching cartridges, weâre also treated to masses of authentic speech and the wonderful music score lifted straight from the movie. Factor 5 helped to develop the sound system behind the GameCube and are rather clever at sound compression systems, this shows, as in Dolby Surround 5:1 you wonât hear a better game, every blast, shot and R2D2 chirp is wonderfully recreated. As with the visuals this just helps to immerse you in the game, this IS Star Warsâ¦



One minor complaint is the lack of a multi-player option, we all love Star Wars and when itâs been so accurately recreated, what better fun could there have been then four player dogfights???