Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is Great… At First…
Have you ever gone to a nice restaurant and get an appetizer that ends up being absolutely fantastic, but then you get to the main course and dessert and it’s just kind of ok at best? This is how I’ve always felt about Star Wars Shadows of the Empire on the Nintendo 64. Yes it is true that first impressions are very important especially when it comes to video games, after all you have to have a hook to grab the attention of gamers. However, first impressions are not everything. That’s the lesson I want to teach with this game. So what makes it start so well only to fall apart later… well let me tell you what ended up being my first look into the Star Wars universe not just in gaming but any media in that matter.
Yes for better or worse, Shadows of the Empire was my first experience with Star Wars. I heard of Star Wars around the time I played this as a kid but never really KNEW what it was. I only knew a few things from pop culture memes and just thought it was some sci-fi thing people liked back in the 80s. One day I decided to rent the game from a local store since the selection of Nintendo 64 games was kind of slim at times. Hey there’s not enough Super Mario 64 or Wave Race 64 to go around for everyone. Sometimes you gotta go and take a chance if you wanted to play something that weekend. So I rented Shadows of the Empire not really knowing or understanding much of anything of the Star Wars universe. I thought the box art looked super cool and it had some space combat. I remember renting Star Fox 64 before this and loved that game so I was thinking maybe this is a more serous game of the same kind of game play, so why not? Let’s give it a go I said to myself.
The game has you playing as Dash Rendar, a bounty hunter who is friends of Han Solo, who decided to help out the rebel forces to stop the evil Empire as a bounty hunter for hire. Hey if the pay is good…
The first level of the game has you replaying the epic moment in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on the snow planet of Hoth. You pilot the Snowspeeder on the snow planet to stop the Empire from reaching the Rebel base. The game has you with full 3D control to fly around in. Much like another space shooter of the time in Star Fox 64 as I mentioned before. However this felt more realistic and had much more of a darker tone then Starfox 64. The first objective has you destroying android pods that just sort of fly around. This is where the game lets you get a hold of the controls and flying your space ship. Use the ship’s blasters to destory the droids, simple as that.
Next objective has you taking on AT-STs, you know those two legged things from Empire Strikes Back? Now the game starts to fight back a little and will shoot lasers at you. You can beat them with a few shots from your own blasters to take them down in short order.
The final objective has you battling AT-ATs, the bigger 4 legged things from Empire Strikes Back. This is where you will need to use your tow cables to wrap around the 4 legged powerhouses just like in the movie. The controls with the new Nintendo 64 joystick make this feel so satisfying when you do it correctly, even if it takes a few attempts to get it right. All this while you have some of the best music the Star Wars universe has to offer, even if its a little bit crushed, really gives way more tension and adds to the 3D Star Wars experience.
The amazing sites and sounds, the smooth game play a long with flying around the open snowy world, and tons of action and space stuff that makes Star Wars so great is all here. I’d argue it’s one of the best first levels or introductions in a video game. It really feels like you are playing the movie and hooks you in. They understood the assassinate, filling you with the excitement of what else this game can have in store for you…
… Sadly it’s all down here from here.
The next level is the Escape from the Echo Base. This is where the game play changes to you playing as Dash Rendar on foot in third person shooter like game play. You have a blaster that you can shoot many shots at a time but does over heat if you use it too much, so you can’t just run and gun your way. Not to mention the amount of storm troopers and other creatures you might run into that will get in your way. The game play here is very… ok. It is fun to shoot at times when you get the controls down even if they are a little sluggish. This level can be quite long as the base is quite the maze. There’s also a few platforming parts but nothing too complex and thank goodness as the controls especially for platforming in this game is let’s say the force is not strong with this one.
The next mission has you in an asteroid field having you fight off tie fighters and boy is there a ton of them. You would think since it’s more flying and shooting that we’d get that peak of Hoth again, but sadly no. This time your ship is much bigger and bulkier and turning 360 to shoot at things can be quite challenging but is not the worst. It’s nothing awful but if I wanted to do a space shooter section like this, I’ll just play something like Star Fox 64 that was also out around this time.
The next part has you in the Ord Mantell: Junkyard, where parts of this level has you on a train track, doing more platforming and shooting. Again, platforming and controlling Dash is not this game’s strong point and it’s very noticeable here. There’s also a ton of waiting around for the next thing to trigger and death means you have to do all that waiting again and again, leaving you very frustrated. I think for me this is where the game really starts to fall apart and you realize that we might have peaked at the first level. This level ends with a boss fight that again, is just ok at best. Again the platforming and clunkiness of the game really shows its ugly head here. At least you get that classic Star Wars orchestra music even if it’s a little bit crushed due to the limits of the Nintendo 64, so it’s not a total loss.
In the next level, it’s more walking on cliffs with delicacy in the fear or falling off. At least part way into this level you get a booster pack that keeps you fly around. It’s not the best controlling jetpack but it’s better than the standard clunky jumping from platform to platform, so I guess it’s a little better.
There’s a speed bike section of the game where you have to race to get to Luke Skywalker that’s feels very off, with super tight corners and is a nightmare to control and has the feeling that the track is just too small for what you can do on the bike, leaving you hitting walls and corners over and over again. This is possible the lowest point of this game, then after that you get more Dash on foot 3rd person shooter missions that by this point you are more than done with. This is the point it likely hits you that it’s never going to go back into how good that first mission was.
I will say the final mission in the “Skyhook” battle is another space shooter section and is not too bad with some tense moments in it. Pretty good for a final mission, not as good as that first Hoth mission but after all the mediocre game play this game has thrown at you at this point, gladly take what you can get.
In the end Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a strange game to review as the highs are high but the lows are low. The game starts fantastic with the first mission and is a great showing of how gaming and Star Wars can go hand and hand now with the 3D graphics of the Nintendo 64. However, the 3rd person shooter parts off the game are a low point and unfortunately about half of the game is that. If only there was a Star Wars game that was just that Hoth part and focused on the space shooting bits of this game but the full game… If only….
Luckily there is!!! Star Wars: Rogue Squadron would come out a few years later that in itself is a pretty good game, in fact one of the hidden mission in that is you doing the battle of Hoth. So kind of cool to see a somewhat of a remix of the Hoth level of Shadows of the Empire. If you’re a Star Wars fanatic and want to play every Star Wars game, Shadows of the Empire is again, a roller coaster of ups and downs, otherwise this might not be the droids you’re looking for and you’re better off playing Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. Still, a hell of an effort for the first Star Wars game on the Nintendo 64 system, I can at least give it that.
