Star Wars: Rebel Assault

The Good
The technology of the game is impressive, given its system requirements. With only a single-speed CDROM drive and a high-speed 386, you too can play numerous action sequences in front of a motion video backdrop. Like Novastorm, the background isn't just for looks; on occaision, you interact with it. If you don't dive fast enough, your ship can run into a geological formation and crash. If you don't swerve to avoid the asteroid hurtling toward you, don't expect to come home.

One nice touch about the video background is that it is larger than the screen. This allowed the developers to shift it up/down/left/right according to player movement, and it helps mask the fact that it's on rails. Another nice trick is a very quick interpolation and rotation section of the video playback code, which allows them to rotate the backdrop +/- 15 degrees if you bank left or right.

The Bad
The action sequences are too hard. Since the action sequences make up the core gameplay. I'd have to admit that the game itself is too hard. I guess I can't put it more bluntly than that, eh? :-)

The joystick code is very sensitive; almost 'twitchy'. There is a patch on Lucasarts' website that fixes this, though.

The Bottom Line
Rebel Assault is a good game to stick on a fast 386 if you want to simulate an early console CD action game like those written for the Sega CD. It looks pretty. It's also a little too hard for anyone other than die-hard shooter fans, so try before you buy.