Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Reviewed by MyCorner7
This short review is written after playing SOTE all night. I will state
my honest opinion of the game, with NO embellishment. Feel free to
send me your comments.
Graphics: 9.0
Sound FX: 10.0
Music: 8.0
Gameplay: 9.5
Replay Value: 9.0
Addictiveness: 9.5
Overall Value: 8.5
GRAPHICS
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SOTE has stupendous graphics, with my only complaint being the
blockiness of Dash Render. His features are all there, and
watching him from a third-person perspective as he crouches
and looks around is a real treat, but he still is a bit blocky. (You
will usually be in the 1st person perspective anyway...) Otherwise,
everything else is very immersive, especially flying around
those AT-AT's with a tow cable! Pixelation is almost non-existent,
and I saw only one instance of pop-in. Depth perception is
outstanding...the developers obviously used all 255 levels of
transparency available from the N64.
SOUND
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All SFX are directly from the movie. The first ten minutes of playing, I
kept saying to myself 'Yep, that's how a speeder sounds' and 'Yep, that's
exactly how a laser bolt sounded in the movie'. They are stupendous.
In the first-person shooter sections of the game, the SFX help you determine
where enemies are, much like DOOM. They hit the nail on the head with SFX.
MUSIC
-----
The lowest score from me...The opening music is fantastic, what with the
John Williams movie theme and everything, but then it goes downhill from
there. After hearing music on any level ONCE, you quickly tire of it and
will be adjusting it to 'soft' or 'Off' rather quickly. (Then you can hear
the SFX better!) Also, the stage music is harsh when it repeats, which it
does too often/quickly. Could of done better, but not really a big deal.
GAMEPLAY
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Gameplay is fast and furious in some stages, slower and more 'sneaky' in
others, but is great all around. All methods of control are very easy to
learn but difficult to master. I picked up the controller and started
playing without looking at the controls and was reasonably good at flying my
speeder/controlling Dash/shooting TIE fighters in 5 minutes. Very intuitive.
The analog joystick works beautifully with all stages but the Mos Eisley
Spaceport, where you have to fly through the streets on a hoverbike.
It's a wee bit more difficult to get used to there.
REPLAY VALUE
------------
The ten levels are divided into multiple stages. This game is NOT small.
Not monstrous, but not small. As the manual will tell you, more secrets
and surprises await the player that chooses a higher difficulty level. I had
a GREAT time playing last night on Easy, and it was still a challenge.
Seeing as I have Normal, Hard and Jedi to go through, I think replay value is
excellent. Details change during gameplay at higher levels as well. For
those gamers that say "Well, I play on the most difficult setting the first
time I play"...good luck. I tried it. They kill you.
Quickly.
ADDICTIVENESS
-------------
Well, let's put it this way; I woke up, took a shower, sat down and started
playing the SOTH battle on HARD...then realized that I was late for work! An
hour! I played for 1:15, when it felt like 10 minutes. Whew...you gotta be
careful. This game is VERY dangerous. Very immersive. I know that I will
go play instead of eating lunch.
OVERALL VALUE
-------------
I must complain at least a little bit about the price. It cost me $84 @ Kay
Bee, but I admittedly did not check prices elsewhere. Regardless, EVERY
other store within a 50 mile radius (EB, TRU, BAB's, Soft Etc.) either did
not get it in yet or was out of stock already. (My local EB has a wait-list
of 32, but only got 1 DOZEN copies in!) If I pay $84 for a game, I want one
I know I will keep. Almost forever. But I know that I will be selling SOTE
back after beating it on 'Jedi' difficulty. Boy, it'll be fun though.
Fellow N64 addicts: You can buy this game without renting, it's good enough.
Some STAR WARS fanatics will make it a permanent addition to the video
game collection.
I gotta run...gotta go PLAY some more!