X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Dark Forces have absorbed embarrassingly huge blocks of my life. When news arrived of a Star Wars game for the Nintendo 64 über-console, I had to lie down for a while. Nintendo's Shadows of the Empire is a bona fide jaw-dropper, eye-popper, mind-blower of a game.
Designed by LucasArts, Shadows combines spacecraft flight-sim, first- and third-person search-and-destroy shooter, and combat racing genres into a gaming experience that is visually stunning and extremely playable. That you play Dash Rendar, a character from the Shadows novels and comics, is very cool indeed. Who wants to deal with all the personal baggage that comes with a guy like Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker? They've already been fully realized by their creators. With Dash, you play the funky, scruffy rogue mercenary while fleshing out the character details in your mind.
Shadows is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Crime lord Xizor (that's pronounced Sheezor for you trainspotters) and Darth Vader are duking it out, and Princess Leia is frantically attempting to rescue Han Solo's freeze-dried body from a league of nasty bounty hunters. Dash is there to lend a helping hand - and firepower - to our rebel pals.
The 10 missions on Shadows ingeniously mix gameplay styles, from piloting Dash's Outrider ship to humping it on foot, thus giving the player the equivalent of several games in one. Several tough games, that is.
Nintendo 64's proprietary processors allow for unbelievable graphics, and LucasArts has fully harnessed the potential with Shadows. Levels such as Gall Spaceport are truly massive, and the color and detail are astounding; the days of blocky pixels seem long ago. The resulting gaming is deeply immersive and distinctly cinematic. A majestic, orchestrated soundtrack enhances the movie mood, and the movable camera feature allows you to fool with perspectives and make your own minimovies during subsequent plays.
If you can't handle the formidable task of collecting all the bonus challenge points the first time around, make an effort to do so at the earliest possible opportunity. At different levels of difficulty you are rewarded with handy extras: an overhead map, increased armaments, and the opportunity to pilot an X-Wing and Tie Fighter during the final level.
Be still my beating heart!
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for Nintendo 64: US$79.95. Nintendo: (800) 255 3700, +1 (206) 885 7529, on the Web at www.nintendo.com/.
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