Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Reviewed by Mr. Smooth
There's been quite a few mixed reviews for SOTE (Shadows Of The Empire)
and I thought I'd try and clear a few things up by writing this review.
Hope you enjoy it.
GRAPHICS:
Ahh yes, the eye-candy. We all love it, whether we admit it or not,
graphics are one of the most important elements of any game. Wave Race 64
has some of the best, Mario 64 has some of (if not the best), and now SOTE
steps in to take a shot at creating new killer graphics for display on the
"3D Powerhouse"....the N64. Did it make the leap that Wave Race and Mario
did? No. But that doesn't make it bad. You see we've been spoiled by the
graphics of some of the games available and now are standards are so high
that we're BOUND to be disappointed.
Anyway, let's start with the negative side of SOTE's graphics. Perhaps
the worst and most noticeable flaw is the fogging in the Doom style levels.
It's just too damn close to the action and gets annoying after awhile. I
guess it's there to keep the framerate silky smooth, but I mean most of the
enemies aren't THAT detailed, and the architecture isn't THAT
sophisticated, so why does the fogging have to be THAT close?!? In some of
the darker levels, you could just look ahead and the fog would light the
way for you in front. It would show the enemies clearly in the fog so you
could shoot them, and perhaps hide some doors or ramps until the last
second when you've almost walked by them.
Also, I have a complaint about the darkness in a few spots. Obviously in
some levels you have to have dark rooms and corridors, but the lengths that
LucasArts went to in a few spots are just unbelievable. They made it pitch
black in some corridors. PITCH black. If the corridor was long enough,
the fogging could sort of light the way for you, but when you are working
in close quarters.....it's just plain frustrating! Good thing that only
happens in a few spots.
Now onto the positive aspects of SOTE's graphics. The space levels are
nice but nothing too fancy until the last level when you fly by the
deathstar freely and fly in and out of a space station to destroy the
reactor core. The first level is impressive with all sorts of baddies
flying around. Lazers are blasting everywhere, you're using tow-cables and
blasters to destroy the Imperial buggers. There's great explosions in that
level, with enemies falling down in fire and rubble....it's just plain
impressive.
On the up-side, the Doom style levels are large and complex with great
looking bosses and some okay enemies. They could be more detailed but I
guess the frame-rate factor kicked in again and designers decided not to go
the extra distance.
Perhaps one of the most impressive things in my opinion was the underwater
sequences. In the Imperial Sewers, you can go underwater and it is VERY
realistic looking. It's murky, green, and somehow manages to capture that
underwater feel better than Duke3d, Mario 64, or Quake did. The swimming
isn't very well done (in fact there's not really any swimming at all) but
the underwater sections are impressive nonetheless.
One final downside before I move onto the next section. I very VERY much
dislike the manner in which the cutscenes were done. Stupid comic book
style drawings mixed with 3D elements (such as spaceships) just look
awful. I was really disappointed with the cutscenes in general. The
style is just NOT effective at all.
SOUND:
In just about every game there's one section that people seem to know
about already before reading a review. In Mario 64 it was the graphics, in
Wave race 64 it was the 3D generated waves and real physics, and in SOTE it's
the sound.
Somehow Lucasarts has managed to cram MOVIE STYLE SOUND onto a cart.
Don't ask me how they did it, but they did......and man does it sound good.
I swear to you that a few times when I was playing the game, I seriously
thought I was listening to a Star Wars movie. It's that good. No
wait....it's not good.....it's INCREDIBLE. Crusin' USA designers TAKE
NOTE: THIS IS HOW MUSIC WAS MEANT TO BE DONE!!!!!
The Sound effects are good too. There's not much to be said about the
typical blaster sounds, but if you listen closely enough you can hear the
Storm Troopers shout, ambient sound effects (such as water gurgling), and
the wizz of Tie Fighters as they fly by your ship with a roaring sound.
Great stuff, I couldn't ask for anything more.
GAMEPLAY:
For the most part, the flying levels in this game have GREAT control and
GREAT gameplay. They make it a pleasure to fire the game up, grab your
controller, and blast away. The 3D Doom style parts are another matter
however. The autoaim feature should have been seriously improved my
Lucasarts before this game was released. Sometimes you can see the enemies
in the distance but when you fire at them, the autoaim ignores you and goes
to get itself a beer. You are stuck trying to manually press the Z button
and aim while firing, something that is not easy nor fun may I tell you.
Some people knock the control of Dash because he can't turn in mid-air.
Well that's called realism people. Why don't we all try leaping off the
top of our houses and see if we can turn and fall in the window before
splattering onto the ground. Can it be done?!? Of course not. I agree
that it would have been nice to throw the realism factor out the window for
this game (I mean how real is fighting TIE FIGHTERS in a spaceship?) but
Lucasarts didn't it, so....we have to live with it. Dash moves like a
human, he doesn't stop dead when you let go of the control stick, and he
doesn't change direction in mid-air. Enough said.
OVERALL:
Well, we have a game that is great....but it isn't incredible. Maybe if
it had been released before the likes of Mario 64 and Wave race 64, we could
all give it a perfect score, but it wasn't......so I guess that's life.
For the most part, the challenge points to collect for secret prizes, the
extending storyline over the different difficulty levels, and the overall
fun factor of the game will keep you coming back for more. The
flying/shooting levels are great fun, while the Doom style levels are long
and intricate but on a few occasions.....drag.
Perhaps my favorite level is the Imperial Sewers, with the great ambient
sound effects, the incredible underwater graphics, and the level design all
combine to make a the atmosphere of that particular level very realistic.
So let's give a rundown of each category and then an overall score.
GRAPHICS - 8.5/10
SOUND - 10/10
GAMEPLAY - 9/10
OVERALL - 9/10