Summary
Solid Star Wars action, and the game that spawned Rogue Squadron
The Good
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire starts you off with a kick, flying a Snowspeeder in the battle of Hoth. From there gameplay progresses through several first or third person shooter levels, with a couple of turret shooting missions and a swoop race through Mos Eisley for changes of pace. Each shooter level has a large boss at the end, and provides a wide variety of different weapons. The high points of the game are the Hoth, Mos Eisley, and Skyhook levels, which involve flying a Snowspeeder, Swoop, or YT-2400 in battle. The action and control during these levels is extremely similar to Lucasart's Rogue Squadron series of games. In fact, Shadows is the game that spawned Rogue Squadron, and is certainly worth playing even if only for that fact alone.
The Bad
The worst part of this game is the repetitiveness of the shooting levels. Although the level design is all right, the hybrid design leaves both first and third person shooter fans wishing for slightly better gameplay. Although the third-person view is default, I found the first-person view to be easier to play with, however, the total lack of crosshairs makes aiming more difficult than it should be. In fact, the awkward control and clunky aiming are the primary contributers to the irritating nature of the shooting levels.
The Bottom Line
If you've enjoyed the Rogue Squadron games, this is the game that started it all. It's not perfect, but it is a lot of fun.
