Shadows of the Empire Review
- Martyn Young
- Sep 5, 2017
- 2 min read
Shadows of the Empire was originally a book by Steve Perry. It was the first star wars book to expand outside of the main cast. introducing a new character by the name of Dash Rendar. Published in 1996 it took the star wars fandom by storm. As part of the four game deal between Lucas arts and Nintendo, the game was soon a reality.
You play as Dash Rendar as you try to get back Han solo back from Boba Fett and take on the dark sun crime syndicate led by prince xisor. Dash rendar took a lot of flak for being a poor mans Han solo a mercenary smuggler but unlike Han solo he is more acquisitive and is completely uninterested in helping the rebel cause, for anything other than credits.
The gameplay is completely polar, as in some parts are fantastic to play like the Hoth snow speeder opening level, where you get re-enact the empire strikes back scene and take out AT-AT's with a tow cable. To completely boring the Ord mandell train level which is literally on rails level where you do very little but shoot at whatever comes near you. There are challenge points to collect that allow you to see the true ending on easy. The problem lies in the platform-shooting levels. These are boring and feel like the devs weren't interested and were trying to get to do the more fun parts. The vehicular parts. Even when you are shooting asteroids in the thrid level it is still a lot of fun.
The graphics are still nice and look good on the Nintendo 64 with may varied levels. From the snowy tundras of hoth to the sand dunes of tatooine. you can safely say no two levels are a like. The vehicles look great and the snowspeeder being in full 3D looks amazing. The sense of speed in speeder bike level is outstanding and the extra easter eggs the devs but like watching the millennium falcon take off from Hoth is great.
Shadows of the empire is a must own for any star wars fan. If only to see how the story progresses. The flaws are apparent but are over shadowed by the great parts that follow.
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