Blowing up tie fighters never gets old
This may not have made it on my top 10 Star Wars game list but it was the foundation for the much improved sequel. Thus it has some of what made the sequel really good while having other issues like game balance. Rogue Squadron picks up a bit after the destruction of the Death Star and follows Luke and Wedge's new elite fighter squadron through 14 missions. This set up lets the developers take the player to many different environments from the sand dunes of Tatooine all the way to the volcanic base of Sullust. Although the draw distance in a N64 game isn't that good they do manage to keep the frame rate at a respectable level during heated firefights.
The missions in this game can be divided into two types. The first type is a search and destroy mission for certain imperial targets. Depending on the mission it could be something as big as a AT-AT or even a small target like a Tie Bomber. On the other side we have everyone's "favorite" mission type escort/protect. These have the player protecting something like a train or a town depending on the circumstance. All of the levels in this game are ground based so don't expect any big space battle in this video game.
At least if your the kind of person that likes to get perfect scores in a game this one gives you reasons to get a gold medal in every mission. 3 missions can be unlocked if you ace every bonus objective. After competing the game it also lets the player choose different vehicles in almost every level. I should also mention that it is possible to play as just about any Rebel craft you could want. Between the X-wing or even a Speeder they give each level some variety depending on the craft they let you pilot.
All of this sounds great but the difficulty is a bit one sided in this game. Either you will be blowing up the enemies with ease or a endless onslaught of missiles will blow you out of the sky. Missile turrets are a real issue since I've never seen a good way to blow them up without at least getting hit once. Which would be fine if they didn't put so many of them in certain levels. The later missions also feel like a test of endurance thanks to those missiles or they give you something flimsy to protect that'll lead to quite a few game over screens.
I guess they expect the player to die at least once which is why they have a lives system. It just seems like it would have been cool if it was possible to compete every mission without dying but that seems nearly impossible. Still in the end I liked blowing up the assortment of Imperial targets this game sent my way. The simple controls make it easy to come back and play. If you are interested in playing a mission based Star Wars starfighter game this one is worth playing.
