Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Description official descriptions
Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire tells the story of Prince Xizor's quest to replace Darth Vader as the leader of the Sith, and wipe out the Rebels' chances of victory. The only man that can stop him is the interstellar bounty hunter Dash Rendar. The game is based on the novel of the same name, with locations including ice planet Hoth, Mos Eisley and the sewers of Imperial City, all in full 3D.
Levels each have very different objectives, ranging from piloting snowspeeders on Hoth and racing speeder bikes on Tatooine to shooting stormtroopers and droids on foot throughout the galaxy. Dash primarily uses a blaster with unlimited ammo, but can also find more powerful weapons with limited ammunition. Each level has optional "challenge points" that are hidden throughout the level, and finding all of them will unlock a cheat dependent on which difficulty setting the save file is on.
Spellings
- スター・ウォーズ 帝国の影 - Japanese spelling
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Credits (Nintendo 64 version)
139 People (88 developers, 51 thanks) · View all
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 76% (based on 51 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 76 ratings with 11 reviews)
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.
Nintendo 64 · by Shadowcaster (252) · 2002
The Good
- Successfully conveys the Star Wars feel
- Nostalgically reminds me of the (far superior) Dark Forces series
- Nice variety in level types
- Cool story and cut-scenes
**The Bad**
- Limited control over the camera
- Some very bland and empty levels
- Badly thought out level bosses
**The Bottom Line**
At the time of this game's release my PC did not live up to the minimum requirements. So even though I was quite a Star Wars fan I had to let this title slip by. I did have the chance to play the first level at a friend, but it stayed at that. Until 2010 when I finally got around playing this game. Interestingly for an early Windows 95 game it installed without any problems whatsoever on my Windows XP machine. I could just jump straight into the action. Unfortunately I was staying at my parents where I did not have a gamepad at my disposal, so I was forced to play the game with mouse and keyboard. I must say that I preferred playing it with just the keyboard. Except for the boss fights where quick circle strafing seemed to be the dominant strategy. More on this later. The game sucks you in immediately with splendid Star Wars music and sound effects. The menu interface is obviously designed for consoles, but hey we're kind of used to that in 2010. Might have been a shock at the time. The first mission is immediately one of the best. It's a re-imagining of the Battle of Hoth from Star Wars Episode V. The player controls a Snow Speeder and has to take out Probe Droids, ATSTs and ATATs (2 legged and 4 legged walking tanks). The controls are very easy and very arcade like. And even with the keyboard it's quite easy to aim at your targets even with the lack of a cross-hair. The Snow Speeder scene is the only level in which you get to fly on land. There are some other missions where you fight in space, but most of the missions are third person shooter levels. Although the camera is configurable. It is also possible to play in first person, top-down or with a stationary camera. But even though I'm a big fan of first person perspectives I found that 3rd person works best for this game. Mainly because you can't look up and down. Dark Forces and its sequel Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight count themselves as some of my favourite games of all time. And I think that in the end those games are the reason I started liking this game. Because in reality it is far inferior to those two games. Continuously throughout the game I was welcomed by warm nostalgia. Textures and 3D models that were reused in Jedi Knight, rooms which had a very similar layout to rooms in Dark Forces and other similarities forced my mouth into a smiley at a regular interval. But while there was a lot of recognition and the art was quite good for the time, there's not much positive to be said about the actual level design. Most levels are very straight forward and plain to look at. There are some interesting levels that try to do something completely different. For example a train level in which you need to jump onto passing cargo trains. And some levels feature slightly more elaborate switch puzzles. But nothing to tease the mind. The controls for the third person sequences work, but pale in comparison to
Windows · by vedder (70793) · 2010
A long time ago in a store not so far away, this might have been worth it.
The Good
This game was the first Star Wars game to come out for the N64. The game pitted you as Dash Rendar, a friend of Han and Luke's as you fought along aside them in a timeframe between Ep. 5 and 6.
The first level of this game really gives you high hopes, with you flying around with other landspeeders trying to haplessly destroy AT-ATs as they approach Echo Base. This level was truly amazing. You could shoot AT-STs and wrap up AT-Ats. To a Star Wars nerd, this is pure bliss. However, this level ends a bit short and you are left with the rest of the game.
The other really exciting part of this game is that last level. Skyhook battle is open, surrounding a giant space station. Nearby is a giant star destroyer, constantly letting out tie fighters, as the skyhook lets out their fighters. In between all this is you and rogue squadron. This provides for a nice three-way war. Buddies help a bit, but not as much as you do. And besides that, there is not much to do except destroy a never-ending wave of tie fighters or else do your mission.
The last, and most valuable part, of the game which I liked was it told you where Luke goes between Ep 5 and 6. Multiple cutscenes have him fighting along side you, but too bad you never get to do it in real play. However, you could have just read the books too.
Sound is a classic, with classic blaster noises and screams. Music is brought straight from the movies with nice tones like the asteroid field music. They made good choices when it came to sound.
The Bad
The rest of the game is mediocre. It's a generic third-person/first-person shooter (they are switchable in game by tapping a button). Besides a blaster, Dash gets a seeker missile, an automatic pulse rifle, a flame thrower, and a pulse bomb which wipes out everything within seeing range. Yeah, thats it. 5 Weapons.
Enemy AI is stupid. Guards patrol nicely when your not around, but when they see you, they NEVER move. The only time they will move is if they've seen you and you go out of range. Then they will get in range again, and stand completely still to shoot. Not much of a challenge there.
The other two vehicle levels are not much to boast. The asteroid field leaves you on a rail cannon, unable to drive. The skiff bike chase is repetitive and annoying.
Graphics are nice (I mean that), however there is a lack of detail in the environments. Why would the rebels even want Echo Base if there wasn't any computers in sight? Most of the levels are just hallways. Boooring!
The Bottom Line
Overall, only about half the game is worth seeing, and even those parts have been vastly improved upon. The Rogue Squadron series improved upon Hoth (number 2 had the best version) and everything else in the air. The Clone Wars improved upon ground vehicles. Even the story has been out for years in the book. The music can easily bought as the Star Wars soundtrack (the background music is taken directly from it)
Unfortunately, at its time of release, had lots of potential, however, it has been left back in light of more updated games.
Nintendo 64 · by Matt Neuteboom (976) · 2005
Trivia
Dash Rendar
Dash Rendar is the only character developed from the Star Wars franchise that actually made it "back" to the movies. You can see his modified starship, the Outrider YT-2400 lifting up and taking off from Mos Eisley as Luke and his gang enter the city in the new revised sequence featured on the Star Wars: Special Edition. Also, Dash Rendar in the Nintendo 64 cutscenes looked more like a brown-haired, younger and rougher George Lucas with a rough shave instead of a beard. In the PC edition, he looks more like the original concept art for the character.
Rogue Squadron inspiration
In the first level of the game, where you fly a snowspeeder in the Battle of Hoth, was the inspiration for Rogue Squadron.
Version differences
The PC version is a revised edition of the N64 version (the major difference between the two versions being 3D cutscenes for the PC).
Awards
- Electronic Gaming Monthly
- March 1997 (Issue 92) - N64 Game of the Year runner-up + Best Music runner-up + Action Game of the Year (Readers' Choice) + Best Music (Readers' Choice)
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Related Sites +
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Lucas Arts: Shadows of the Empire
Official site. -
Video review of Star Wars games (WARNING: Language)
The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, reviews various Stars Wars-based games, including Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on Nintendo 64.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Kartanym.
Additional contributors: Apogee IV, chirinea, Joshua J. Slone, Alaka, LepricahnsGold, vedder.
Game added January 21, 2001. Last modified March 9, 2024.