Star Wars Rebel Assault II (PS1)
This game....this is one from my childhood. One that enraged me, because my copy as a kid was scratched to all hell. Which meant I could only ever play the first two levels at the most before my PS1 refused to read any more of the disc. Naturally, I reacquired this game as an adult to bask in it's entirety. How does it fare? Let's see.
Star Wars : Rebel Assault II
Set after the events of Episode IV, Rebel Assault puts you in the pilot seat as the creatively named Rookie One. Vader is pissed that his Death Star was blown up and is on a plot to find something else in the galaxy that will bring the Alliance to it's knees. A Rebel crew of pilots receives a message from an ally, claiming to have information on the Empire's new secret weapon.
The story that follows plays out across over a dozen broken up levels in an arcade style. These levels take various approaches too. Some are just flying through obstacle course type areas, others are ship-to-ship combat, while others you'll be on foot slinging guns.
Now, depending on which type of level you're playing, you'll experience a different type of frustration. The ground gun levels are probably the nicest of the bunch. You'll fight from a stationary position with enemies spawning at fixed points on the screen. They'll respawn through a certain number before you can move on to the next area and so on until you finish the level.
Ship levels are where the nerd rage really sees some light. Whether it's a combat stage or a navigation one, the flight itself can be quite annoying. Flight only stages situate the camera outside the ship you're piloting, while combat ones give you an option of a first-person cockpit view. No matter which you're choosing to fly, it's gonna be bad.
The courses you need to navigate through have a lot of twists, turns, and obstacles to make your life difficult. What makes them more frustrating is the fact that through certain corners, the camera tends to swing itself and ends up forcing the ship to one side or another. This ends up causing damage to your ride and, enough of this you'll crash, explode and have to start all over. Granted, this is a game that came out in the mid-90's, but the frustration can still be felt.
Overall, the game as a whole is pretty good. Around the levels, you'll be graced with FMV sequences that were originally filmed just for the game. You'll even see some familiar faces from the original trilogy movies which makes the experience that much more fun.
However, the gameplay itself....let's just say it didn't age well. You can instantly tell that this game is super retro by today's standards. The shooting sections when you're on the ground take place on backgrounds that have been 3-D rendered, but it honestly looks like a photo was just copy and pasted into the game.for the characters to dance in front of.
I would label this game as "avoid completely" but we're here to be honest....and honestly despite how bad and corny it looks, it's pretty fun to play. Yes, even with all the rage-inducing moments, you can still enjoy this. For one, it's a Star Wars game, and on top of that the price tag isn't too hefty. For around $8 you can find this game CIB, and even a little cheaper if you find the "Greatest Hits" variant. So if you want to dip into one of the greatest space epics ever to exist, and possibly hate yourself a little for doing so, then grab a copy of this game if you ever stumble across it in the wild.
