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Rebel Strike allows players to pilot an impressive array of ships including several types of rebel Starfighters. In addition to Luke's famous X-Wing fighter and the Hoth speeder, you'll have the opportunity to use the legendary A, B and Y-wings in combat. Each of these vehicles is equipped with primary and secondary weapons, and has a unique control and feel. You'll also be able to unlock other special vehicles during the game including Boba Fett's Slave-1, Imperial bombers and Han Solo's Millennium Falcon. In addition to these starfighters, players will also have the opportunity to use many different land based vehicles including the famous speeder bikes, which you can hop onto and race through the forests on the moon of Endor. The action on these is just as blistering as the space-based combat sequences. The does an excellent job in recreating this famous sequences. You can also switch to a first-person perspective, allowing you to relive one of the most exciting sequences in Return of the Jedi. Other land-based vehicles are less obvious. Players can also ride on the famous Tauntauns in Hoth, take control of an AT-ST walker, and even ride the Landspeeder on Tatooine. All these various vehicles definitely give the game more depth than Rogue Leader, and each one controls with silky smoothness.
While the space and air based missions should feel quite familiar, Rebel Strike's new ground based missions are a pleasing change of pace, though their implementation isn't as smooth as it could be. Unfortunately, the ground-based missions are a mixed bag with varying levels of success. While they add some immersion to the game and some are excellent reproductions of famous events, others seem half-hearted and make you wish you were back in the skies. In addition to breaking up the action, they also suffer from some poor camera placement, which makes them annoyingly difficult. However, the auto-targeting makes things a tad easier at certain points. However, the game doesn't really shine as much as it should. When you're on the ground you can walk around and fire at enemies, using your standard blaster. You can also interact with the environments in certain levels, and take control of fixed weapons. While some of the ideas and gameplay mechanics are interesting in theory, some of the ground controls are confusing, and makes completing objectives difficult. The level of difficulty in these ground-based missions also varies dramatically, some are incredibly simple and easy to complete, while others seem to be impossibly difficult. Between the awkward controls and inconsistent levels design, the ground missions make for a choppy gameplay experience that ends up detracting from game's otherwise excellent design. Fortunately, these areas are only a portion of the game, and it usually won't be long before you're back on a vehicle. However, the subpar execution is disappointing considering the polish that went into the rest of the game. While these problems are quite prominent, they aren't enough to ruin Rebel Strike.
The previous Rogue Squadron games set a high standard of production values and Rebel Strike carries this tradition forward with superb visuals that bring the Star Wars universe to life vividly. The visuals are accomplished and highly polished with brilliant light shading, dazzling special effects that once again showcase Factor 5's talented designers and artists. The graphics engine effectively creates a game with an epic feel. Rebel Strike's expansive environments seem to go on forever and suffer little from jaggies, draw in or pop-in. Players will traverse every corner of the Star Wars universe including Tatooine, the moon of Endor, the tundra-plains of Hoth and many other locations. In addition, Rebel Strike includes some unique locations as well. Even scrupulous fans will be pleased to discover that all the famous areas from the films are reproduced down to the smallest detail. Despite showing only minor improvements to the engine over the past few years, the air-borne missions are still quite impressive and move along at an impressive fast frame rate, even with countless enemies on screen simultaneously. Rebel Strike's evocative soundtrack consists of John Williams' classic score and as usual, these majestic compositions compliment the action perfectly, enhancing the game's epic feel. The voice-over acting is also well done, and the game's cinematic approach is outstanding, fully immersing the player into the Star Wars galaxy. Rebel Strike's production values are quite impressive throughout, displaying a lot of production polish the series has become known for.
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With
such a strong lineage of solid gameplay and dazzling graphics built with the
past two games, Rebel Strike has some tough acts to follow. Instead of taking
the safe route, Factor 5 and Lucasarts have created an ambitious game that
attempts to recreate the films' epic scale and succeeds in some ways, but falls
short in others. Rebel Strike expands the scope of the first two games
dramatically with different mission types, while keeping the brilliant aerial
gameplay foundations of the first two titles intact. Once again, the game
focuses on the events that unfolded during the classic movie trilogy. The new
installment lets players relive some of the most-unforgettable sequences from
those movies and additional areas and scenes not seen in the trilogy. Players
will find a similar cockpit interface that retains the same radar and command
icons as the first game. You can still switch between first and third person
modes, and call up the infrared targeting computer at the push of a button. The
interface's consistency makes Rebel Strike easy to get into. Rebel Strike's
mission structure and branching progression system is similar to the first game,
players advance through the game and earn medals by completing mission
requirements successfully. Like the previous games, players can go back to
missions to improve their medal standings, and don't have to complete the
missions consecutively. However, your medal winnings are capped because you can
only earn a maximum of one gold medal for each mission. This makes things
challenging and avoids cheating your way to the top. Once you've earned enough
points with your medals, you can use them to unlock secret missions and extra
content.
Rebel
Strike's missions can be quite involved because the game throws multiple
objectives at the player. These objectives must be completed sequentially in
order to progress. Many events may be going on simultaneously and the player
will have to decide what to focus on, for example shooting down fighters or
attacking the ground based forces. Luckily, you can order your wingmen to do
certain tasks while you complete the main objectives. The many different tasks
gives Rebel Strike an impressive amount of depth. While it is not excessively
difficult, you have to master several different styles of play, with walking and
flying in each area. This definitely adds to the challenge and if you fail in
one portion, Rebel Strike sends you back to the beginning of the level. This can
be annoying, but players with persistence should be able to progress through the
game at a good pace, though not without encountering a few unavoidable problems.
Rebel
Strike's extensive multiplayer support, allows two players to compete
simultaneously via a split screen mode. There will be several multiplayer modes
included in Rebel Strike including co-operative modes, endurance matches,
challenging one-on-one dogfights, and even a base capture mode. Unfortunately,
Rebel Strike won't support online play, but the included modes sound quite
exciting and should increase the game's replay value immensely. To compensate
for this, Factor 5 has another trick up their sleeves and have gone the extra
mile to include the entire Rogue Leader game in its multiplayer mode. Yes, you
heard this right. This mode allows you to replay the second game's missions
co-operatively with a friend. These take place via split-screen mode and should
increase the game's replay value immensely. Another surprising addition to the
game is the inclusion of three classic early 80's Atari arcade titles based on
the trilogy: the still-popular vector classic Star Wars: The Arcade Game plus
two relatively obscure titles: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
These are a bit difficult to unlock and require you to beat all the single
player missions and earn gold medals in the process. This isn't easy, but the
emulations appear decent, making these unlocks worth the effort. While none of
these extra modes change the main game, they are substantial and impressive
additions to Rebel Leader.
While
it doesn't completely live up to its promise, Rebel Strike is still an excellent
game that offers plenty of excitement for the Gamecube owner. As always, the
flight-based missions are superb with intense gameplay and impressive graphics.
From an aesthetic standpoint, Rebel Strike has an incredibly epic feel with
larger environments and more moving objects that keep the franchise on top. Its
top-notch visuals remain unchallenged and Rebel Strike's graphic splendor easily
makes it the most polished and seamlessly executed Star Wars games to date on
any system, not just the Gamecube. The new land-based vehicle missions are
excellent additions to the series and definitely add a lot of variety to the
gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the character-based ground based missions
don't mesh as well with the existing gameplay as they should and suffer from
choppy controls and inconsistent design that makes them the least enjoyable part
of the game. Fortunately, they aren't enough to seriously detract from the
overall experience. Rebel Strike is an incredibly ambitious title, and while it
doesn't achieve what it set out to do, it's still an impressive action title
that offers a solid single player experience and enough extras to keep Star Wars
fans satisfied.