Saying Rogue Leader is the best Star Wars game is no easy task, but denying its greatness would be madness
This masterpiece mainly follows the events of the original trilogy, putting you in the shoes of a rebel leader on some of the most pivotal and exciting battles of the Star Wars universe. Immortalized scenarios such as the two strikes at the Death Star's core and the battles of Endor, and Hoth are successfully translated in all their glory to your home television set and by leading your squadron you will be responsible for stealing away the victory from the hands of the evil empire and handing it to the brave rebels who fight against a powerful evil.
The game has pretty straightforward controls, but their amazing tightness joined by the quick responses and nice array of camera options deliver an experience in the control of intergalactic ships that is pretty much unparalleled. Through most of the missions players will be controlling the unmistakable X-Wing, but the game offers a delightful variety of spaceships, for instance: B-Wing, Y-Wing, A-Wing, speeders and many others. Each vehicle presents a unique behavior as some are faster and harder to handle, while others are powerfully armored, yet slow. The differences between ships go on and on.
Although vastly different in their specifications all ships are controlled in the very same way with the A-button serving as your standard laser weapon and the B-button activating special more powerful weaponry. Breaking and boosting your ship can be done with the L and R buttons, and the targeting computer, a device that takes the game into a first person view where enemy ships have special colors is triggered by pressing Y, unfortunately that button has to be constantly pressed if players want to keep that view. A bad decision by developers since those who enjoy playing with the targeting computer will always have their fingers in an awkwardly placed position.
Fortunately you are not alone on your struggle against the empire, or they would probably have an easy time wiping any threat to their domain, and in that fact lies one of the game's nicest features. You will be on charge of a small squadron at all times and by using the D-pad you can command your wing mates to flee from battle, form by your side, go after the enemy ships or focus on the many guns firing at your direction. The friendly AI response is outstanding as they will never get in your way, instead they will most of the times be of great help. Different approaches in manipulating your allies will lead to different outcomes during the missions because this is not a one-man war, but a series of battles that require good unit handling.
The game is consisted of eleven unique missions that follow a linear and surprisingly well-connected story arch, with each mission having a set of goals to be achieved. It is undeniable that eleven missions is an underwhelming number, but most of them are so hard to beat that the game will certainly last longer than most players initially expect. Some of the missions are direct reproductions of battles portrayed in the movies, but others are brand new and throw fresh scenarios and problems at the players. The difficulty of the missions is one of the game's biggest qualities, and worst flaws because the level of challenge is awfully irregular as it is common to come across an easy errand right after dealing with an extremely tough mission. Instead of following a smooth rising curve, the game's level of challenge looks more like an electrocardiogram.
Another issue that is aggravated by the game's difficulty is the poorly designed menus. Instead of allowing players to restart the missions they have failed on right away the game will more often than not send you all the way back to the start screen, making you select your save file, browse through the mission menu once again just to get another shot at clearing the mission. It may sound like a silly little flaw, but it becomes frustrating after you have just failed stopping the enemy from blowing up rebel transports for the tenth time in a row.
Rogue Leader's unrelenting, yet fair, level of challenge is not the only characteristic that will keep you going back to the game's missions. The title features a very deep medal system on which players are awarded a kind of medal according to their performance on the mission, with the always likely looming possibility that you will not get any medal at all. Medals are given according to the shooting accuracy, enemies defeated, dead allies, lives lost, completion time, among other factors and by getting a good number of medals it is possible to unlock a bunch of five extra missions that are also directly connected to the game's main story arch, and ultimately there is a chance to play as the other side of this epic war.
Star Wars aficionados have yet another reason to keep playing Rogue Leader. During your first attempt at a mission only a standard ship will be available, but after successfully clearing it another group of vessels is unlocked so players can try to beat the game's challenges with different spacecrafts. This fact is only made sweeter by the uncanny level of detail Factor 5 put into the physics of the many different ships, fulfilling the many dreams of the most avid Star Wars fans.
Rogue Leader is an impressive game with every sense of the word. If you thought the original Star Wars movies looked pretty great, then you will be blown away by the visuals that the game is able to produce. Massive scenarios like the Death Star or the snowy plains of Hoth may sound like an ordeal to render, but the game does that with such ease that even the addition of hundreds of fighters and walkers on the screen at the same time is not able to slow its amazing framerate. When the game's extremely convincing sound effects, orchestrated tracks and voice acting are mixed with the visuals you will have the most immersive Star Wars experience to ever hit a console in your hands.
Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II is an absolute blast for both fans of the movies and those who are not quite excited about George Lucas' universe. At times it may seem way too hard for its own good, but blasting enemy ships is so fun because of the amazing visuals and real sound effects that chances are most won't even bother. Sadly the game lacks a multiplayer mode to further extend gameplay time, but the value for those more than willing to collect medals and unlock new missions is more than enough to justify a purchase.
Actual Score: 9.1