Hello my name is Mike and I am addicted to Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike.
You will be to as soon as you get your hands in it. Now Rebel Strike has many flying Missions, but the new twist is the 3rd person action/adventure part. A lot of people I know who have this game seem to be comparing it to Rogue Squadron II. They claim the 3rd person part, while a good idea, doesn’t seem to deliver.
I’ve never played Rogue Squadron II. The last Star Wars game that I spent two week so my life trying to beat was Dark Forces. Well, I thought these guys were being to harsh on the 3rd person segment until I really focused in on what they had been talking about.
Once the awe of the game had subsided, I was able to see the flaws. First let me begin with how the character runs. I just wanted Luke to run towards a door and open it, but it was like maneuvering a bad shopping cart at the grocery store. He pulls to the left and I just wanted him to go straight. I found myself asking Luke "What the heck are you looking at the wall for? GET TO THE DOOR!" The next problem in 3rd person is the auto targeting system. It’s totally unreliable.
When you read about this feature in the manual, it says hold down the L button and lock on to target. I didn’t know it would lock onto a target of a stormtrooper who is hiding behind a wall. So I’m firing the gun at this useless target while other stormtroopers are shooting me up! To avoid this you can let go of the L button and fire like a mad man. Or try this tip I learned from a guy at EB Games: He said to click the L button, unclick move Luke in a new direction and click the L Button again. The auto target will then lock on the closest stormtrooper. And finally, the last thing most hated about third person-the awkward jumping.
Now I personally have not had to make the character jump anything yet, but I have been warned that when I get to the Dagobah level where I’ll have to jump on logs and avoid hovering boulders. The obscenities will fly. So there are the complaints from fellow gamers, but now I want to focus on the good stuff.
The graphics are incredible! It truly is a detailed work of art. I happened to notice something in the Tatoonie training which was quite interesting. The game knows what time of day in the real world you have Luke train. I recommend playing in the daylight hours. Or if you only get to play late in the evening like me, just change the time settings on your Gamecube.
Rebel Strike offers all the classic space fighters, A-wing thru Y-wing, the Falcon, and Slave 1. But there is more. It also has land vehicles. Hop on a Speeder bike, climb in an AT-AT or AT-ST. I had no idea how many extras are packed in this game until I picked up the Official Nintendo Player’s guide. It told me about the Bonus missions, unlocking classic Star Wars arcade games and codes. And speaking of codes here is an early Christmas present. Go to the codes in options and spell WIMPIAM! This code lets you pick a wider range of Rebel fighters and turns the Empire into lazy slobs who are easier to defeat. LucasArts will reveal more Rebel Strike codes over the next few months.
I think what gamers will love about this game is that Rebel Strike is all about the characters from the first Trilogy. Those are the characters I know and always wanted to be in a video game. Rebel Strike has just about every mission any Star Wars fan could hope for. Yes it does have its problems with the third person segments, but there are plenty of extras to unlock, tons of side missions, classic 80’s arcade games and film clips to make up for the errors.
This is a Star Wars geeks dream game.