"The most overrated launch game still manages to be the best one."

It seems that when videogames are made into movies, something always goes wrong in the process. The movie either has a horrible plot, horrible acting, or a combination of the two. Granted, that was back in the 8-bit days before games themselves started to turn into ''interactive stories'' like the CG-filled 3D games we have today. As a result, flicks based on games have been improving recently, but they're still not up to the standards of what we regularly like to watch.

On the contrary, videogames based on movies usually turn out well, if done right. That was the key to making Rogue Leader so fun. Factor 5 was able to recreate the experience from Star Wars movies while developing the sequel for the Nintendo 64's Rogue Squadron. And don't forget the they were under a lot of pressure to make it fun as well--this may be THE game to help out the 'Cube's less than stellar launch lineup. Sure, there may be innovation, but there is no Mario. Don't fret, though, because this Star Wars game is definitely worth buying as a launch game.

I don't fancy the idea of only buying one game with a new console, but that's all I had money for at the time. After all, I could have bought six games with the cash I spent to play just one. But I figured it would be worth it in the long run, and I couldn't wait any longer for Rogue Leader! I had been anticipating it for months, and I forced my weak dialup modem to download every QuickTime movie I could find for this game. In a way, I had set myself up to be disappointed by expecting too much from this. And I was in fact somewhat disappointed, but was still pleased with the game overall.

When the game loaded for the first time, I was already impressed with the game's interface. Clips from the movie run while you flip through the options and menus, but that's not all. It's designed to put you right into the game, so everything is designed to make you feel like you're actually controlling what you want to do, rather than merely setting up before you go out. Even simple things like selecting a ship is put into full 3D for you to walk around and enjoy the scenery of the hangar. You can also look up and listen information on the various craft in the game. Yes, the disk was packed with everything imaginable.

You'll start off with two available missions; one of them is just for training. Your first real mission plops you right into the plot of Star Wars with a lovely cinematic scene, whereupon you'll learn what to do and have a go at it. It's the attack on the Death Star, and fans of the series should know exactly what's going on, but I won't spoil anything for you. All the missions are fairly varied, although some are more fun than others, but it's nice to play through them all and relive the experience of watching all the old movies.

To keep the missions from getting too repetitive, a difficulty curve is added after playing through everything for the first time, and you can earn three different kinds of medals based on your performance--the game becomes nearly impossible when aiming for the highest scores. It gets to the point where you'll slam the bloody controller down in frustration, but those fit to do the challenge are well rewarded in the end. By earning medals and points, you can unlock bonus missions for more stuff to play around with. There are plenty of secrets to discover, with enough extra missions, vehicles, and other goodies to tickle your fancy.

It plays out almost exactly like Rogue Squadron. You can do a speed boost with the R trigger and hold it until it clicks to go even faster. Hold down L to slow down, and you can steer the craft with the joystick. The gigantic A button fires your main laser and then you can do secondary functions with the little red B button. X switches camera views and you can move the camera around with the C-Stick. I must say that the cockpit view is pretty cool because they put so much detail into it--and you can see it all by looking around with the camera stick!

Speaking of which, the graphics are excellent. This is really the showcase game to show what first-generation GameCube titles can do. It's all so detailed, and the craft were even modeled after those from the real movie. The cutscenes flow smoothly with the rest of the game, and are usually done in real-time in conjunction with everything else. Every little detail has been clearly made and the explosions have improved from the N64 game, obviously.

The graphics aren't perfect, though. There is some popup in certain areas, but it's good for the most part. In some instances, the sun is actually used as the light source, so shadows cast realistically as you fly by. It all looks amazing!

A special computer-targeting feature was put in and can be used by holding down the Y button. Enemies and prime targets are displayed in different colors, so it's easy to find them. It's very annoying trying to press the B and A buttons while still holding down Y, so often times you can't shoot in this mode. That's the biggest problem with this, and I wish you only had to hit it once and hit it again to deactivate it.

If you're stuck trying to find targets, don't worry, because your teammates can do it! Sometimes, anyway. The D-pad can be used to execute up to four different commands to the AI members in your fleet. You can tell them to go after certain targets and they'll do whatever you want. That doesn't necessarily mean you want to just send them in and kill themselves for your sake-if they all die off, then you'll have no backup later on in the mission. And don't forget that you earn medals based on how few that you lost, so it's best to keep everyone alive, if possible. There is an option to make them flee, and you can tell when they're in trouble because they'll tell you so through the transmissions.

Voices in the game are pretty good, are everyone in the game talks amongst each other. You can adjust the volume of the voices, sound effects, and music in the options. All of the sound and music is very good. You can hear the TIE fighters screeching by and everything just sounds realistic for the most part. The game even supports surround sound (Dolby Pro Logic II, to be exact) which definitely helps, assuming you have the right equipment. That option is a very good one indeed, and can make for the perfect Star Wars experience. The music is from Star Wars, and it's all good.

Even with all the pretty graphics and crisp acoustics, the game is not perfect. For one thing, it's too much like Rogue Squadron 1. Even some of the missions are the same, so I feel like I'm playing the same game. And the controls are problematic at times, mainly with the targeting system, although they're great for everything else. The difficulty curve is steep, so this is great for gamers looking for a challenge. And even though it doesn't take long to beat, you'll be playing it for a long time when trying to earn all the medals and unlock all the extras. So even though I think this is the most overrated launch game, it's still the best one. Buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/01, Updated 11/22/01