Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader

I didn't find the tutorial mission to be much help (though you do get to bulls eye womp rats); it was more exploration than instruction. You're probably better off just jumping into the first mission that pits you, Luke Skywalker, piloting your trusty X-Wing as Red five, against the original Death star.
It looks right out of the movie and really sets the mood for the game. The first two parts of this first mission are basically tutorial as you attack cannon towers and hapless tie fighters that rarely shoot back or do much in the way of evading. You're able to give your wingmen commands to do a number of things and they're pretty effective at carrying out orders. The only difficulty in the mission comes when Darth Vader appears with a guard of Tie Interceptors, wounds Wedge, and then blows Biggs away(*sniffle*). You must, as Obi-Wan's spirit guides,'..Use the force, Luke' to finish off the Death Star. You all know the rest.

Each mission gives you three lives to complete the three-part missions. After each successfully completed mission, statistics are compiled and medals are awarded (or not awarded) according to your proficiency. Each medal is worth points and can be used to unlock alternate fighters and missions. Each mission also has upgrades hidden somewhere in the map which can be used to upgrade ships' components. It is worth noting that the missions jump rather radically in difficulty so that by the third mission, you're up against a Star Destroyer and cursing blasted Wedge for not backing you up. If you could clone Porkins, I'm sure he'd die in every mission.

The mission difficulty is probably the most frustrating aspect of the game, but also the most rewarding. One minute you'll be cursing the game and its makers and trying to restrain yourself from smashing the controller and then suddenly realize some new tactical strategy that lets you finish the mission. I will say that the final mission is simply too difficult--realistic, but too difficult. I beat it after much pain and cursing.

The technical aspects of the game are very well done. The controls are responsive and every craft feels very different to pilot. There are also several views (inside cockpit, just behind fighter, far back of fighter, and bombing view for those fighters that are capable) and each viewpoint has advantages and disadvantages. The graphics are some of best to be seen on the Cube to date--up there with Resident Evil and the like. The missions that recreate battles from the movies look exactly like their movie counterparts. I also didn't encounter any glitches or bugs while playing this game.

The audio is terrific and appropriate for a Star Wars game. The staple soundtrack and sound effects are right out of the movies. The voice acting was the most surprising, as any spoken dialogue not taken directly from the movies is voiced by actors who do a convincing job of imitating the stars. The replacement voice for Lando (Billy Dee Williams) was especially convincing.

In all, Rogue Squadron II faithfully recreates the major battles of the Star Wars movies in all their difficulty and technical brilliance-just be prepared to see Biggs die...again.


Rogue Leader here   January 25, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This game is one of the best star wars installments yet, besides clone wars and bounty hunter. First I'll start off by saying that this game really tests your coordination and quickness. When you're in the X-wing, duking it out with Tie fighters it's an adrenaline rush. the backdrop is this- you get ten levels, not counting bonus levels, icluding the great battle at Hoth and vengaence on -? I forgot the name. But its great to play, because each ship has it's speacality, like the Y-wing's bombing capabilities, and the TIE advance'd tracking missles. However, some cons are the lack of misions, the difficulty of the second death star attack, and the repetative "who's side are you on" and "red leader where are you" comments made by other characters in the game when youre trying your hardest to eliminate the enemies. But, I never really got to the hard parts because after I beat the first two levels, I went to Gamefaqs.com and got the cheat codes for it, likeunlimited lives and the TIE ADVANCED fighter, which dominates the competition. The levels where you have to protect other ships is a drag, because I figure if they cant handle a few fighters in a place and time when the empire is a little........powerful, they really shouldn't be in the open, but more like tucked in the quilt-covered beds in some cozy little cabin nestled in some trees- haha. I think a few more protect-yourself levels would be nice, but thats just me. I strongly suggest that you go to Gamefaqs.com and get the cheatcodes...you might even b able to drive a car into battle.
Overall, this game is good, and it's extremely dignifiying when you take down a starfighter by blowing up the sheild genorators. If you dont like star wars, ignore the words Luke, Hans, Tatooine, Death star and so on and you've got a classic sci-fi combat game. The graphics are great, except for the undersides of the transports, and the audio is just peachy. the only faults I could point out where the lack of levels and the protect-some-other-guy-you-dont-even-know-levels. OUt of a hundred, I would give it an 87.


star wars fan   December 30, 2003
Awsome game. I would say that this game is very emersisive game. But mostly for the avid star wars fan. This game has very awsome graphics that few games can beat. So if you're into star wars buy it know.


Rogue Leader   December 15, 2003
 0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This game is awsome!The graphics are really good.You get to do the death star trench run,battle of hoth,and even the second death star.Of course you do much more than that.You can fly the X-wing,A-wing,B-wing,and Y-wing.You can also fly the Millenium Falcon,Naboo Starfighter,Imperial Shuttle,and a few different ties with the cheats.That says it,this game rocks!


Great Game   November 17, 2003
Good game with great graphics and challanging game plan make it a good game.