Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire

The Good
Basics: Rebel Assault II is more of same from LucasArts, basically a higher-tech cash in on the success of the first game. The basic idea is you play through several very linear scenarios, each of which plays like a different arcade game, with different camera points of view and goals.

Graphics

Rebel Assault II looks pretty for a '95 game. The dogfight sequences in particular are quite engaging, with bright and crisp explosions, lasers and other effects. The acting in the game is real FMV acting, sometimes presented through cut scenes, sometimes mixed with the gameplay itself. It serves its purpose as far as looks go. However, there is nothing particularly special to be found here; while the visuals are technically quite good, they're pretty mundane as far as artistic merit goes. All the good stuff was taken from the movies; the couple of new ships, uniforms and locations are pretty drab.

Then we get to the actual acting. It's poor-- very poor. When it's not wooden, it's cheese. Not even the extras can seem to act like proper Star Wars extras; the two protagonists constantly overact with big, goofy grins and melodramatic dialogue. If acting was its own category it would score a 1.5; as it is, however, this only partially falls into graphics.

Score: 3/5

Audio

The sounds and music are, as far as I can tell, all ripped straight from the movies. I don't really have a problem with that as there's no point in reinventing the wheel. The sound is crisp enough (for the time) and the music works all right; however, since the musical score wasn't composed for the game, it feels very out of place at times and is occasionally really repetitive.

As mentioned above, the acting is a whole different ball game. It's poorly written and spoken without any real heart. The in-game voice clips; snubfighter pilots speaking over the comm. for example; aren't as bad as the FMV sequences, and generally work fine.

Score: 3/5

Interface/Technology

The game is pretty high tech as far as that goes for a '95 release; mostly it's just slightly interactive FMV sequences, but the graphics and sound are high quality so it scores well as far as use of technology goes. Game setup was painless and it never crashed on me. The basic game controls are simple enough for an eight-year-old to get a hang of them in a matter of minutes. I don't have any complaints as far as controlling the game goes; again, LucasArts doesn't reinvent the wheel, but sticks with the tried-and-true control scheme that worked in the first game. It never gets more complicated than aiming and occasionally clicking, though, so this is hardly a difficult system to create.

Score: 4/5

The Bad
Single Player Gameplay/Balance

The game is painfully simplistic. As mentioned earlier, the most you have to do at any time is point and click at the right times. This can work if the game is difficult enough and the acting carries it, as in the first game; unfortunately, there is not a single scenario that is very difficult to get through and the acting only serves to irritate, which just highlights the bare-bones gameplay. A bit of extra strategic depth was really needed here.

Score: 2/5

The Bottom Line
I could have enjoyed the game despite the weak gameplay and lack of strategy if I felt like I was really in Star Wars. That's obviously what the developers were aiming for; however, the poorly written, directed and acted FMV sequences ruin any chance of that working. I could have also dealt with those if the gameplay had more to it, but it remains annoyingly simplistic throughout.

Young children would probably enjoy this the most, as they probably wouldn't notice the lack of game depth and poor quality of acting. Apart from that, I can only recommend this game to Star Wars collectors.

Total Value: 2/5

The Good
Games classified as 'interactive movies' are not always favoured or welcome, but this one can attract your attention.

First of all, this part of the series is infinitely better than R.A. I in every aspect.

The game follows the same recipe, shot everything you see, or avoid obstacles not to lose health. This is however interwoven with a nice plot and scenario. After the classic old Death Star, this one branches away the classic elements and establishes an original story: The Empire has devised a technology of invisible starships that can fly unseen and appear only to strike.

As a story, it is well developed and narrated, like a movie. At first you hear about a threat but you don't know what it is about. The missions will lead you to more elements which will make you know the existence of those ships until you proceed to the main plot of capturing one. The acting is not perfect but this is not bothering since we are talking about a movie-game hybrid.

The graphics are consisted of actors layered over a wonderfully done CGI environment (the blue screen trick if you haven't figured out yet). These two tie together smoothly and often you won't be able to tell the difference. I was surprised when I learnt that the cockpits are not actual props (I wondered how did they find them) but CGI matched to the pilots' movements. These techniques have been used in cinema only recently. The image quality of course is not impressive nowadays (low-res with high compression) but it was breathtaking back then.

I liked also some small tiny bits the director added, like zooming on the cockpit screens showing accurate diagrams of TIEs and other 3d rotating stuff surrounded by the Aurebesh letters.

Speaking of props, it's nice also to know that the costumes and other props that the actors carry, are actual props of the classic Star Wars trilogy! Who knows? Maybe the Stormtrooper armor your two protagonists are disguised with, are the very ones that Hamill and Ford wore on the Death Star!

Overall, I think this is a game (or tale, as you prefer) that catches well the old Star Wars feeling, better than its predecessor. Sometimes it's like watching a lost Star Wars episode.

The Bad
As a game, I think it is satisfying. The main reason not to like it, is hating Interactive Movies, although I still think the game is recommendable for Star Wars fans. But if you don't like I.M.s why bother anyway?

The only thing I didn't like in this generally excellent production were the ship explosions. You just see an explosion growing before the ship, which then fades out. No debris, no parts or wings thrown here and there...

Oh, and now that I think of it, what good is Star Wars without the Force and Jedi? Yes, this is a space flight shoot-em-up but if they wanted to, they cold fit it somewhere.

The Bottom Line
Definitely better than the first, and your only way to relive the classic Star Wars trilogy after ROTJ. I think it has some of that 'magic' and the general feeling of it. All in all, a very good production, with a nicely-told story, actors, effects and props.

The Good
It's Star Wars! Any game with a spaceship shooting lasers at other spaceships and things is awesome.

The Bad
Maybe this is just my CD but the Tie Training level freezes and then starts back up again. I like the game style of Tie Fighter and X-Wings better because I like to have the freedom to choose whichever level I want to instead of going in order. Plus there are only 15 levels compared to 150 from X-Wings.

The Bottom Line
You fly in a spaceship and shoot tie fighters or maneuver through tunnels. There is also a level in which you are in a building and you have to take out a bunch of guys with white helmets (can't remember the name) with your laser gun by taking cover behind a wall and then spinning around to shoot at them.