Shaun Conlin The Game Geek @ Nintendo 64: Star Wars Rague Squadron (LucasArts) Oh yeah, baby! Yeah! Here’s another only-reason- you-need to own an N64. Star Wars Rogue Squadron takes the best parts from the other LucasArts N64 gem, Shadows of the Empire, the flight and dogtight parts, and offers wpa non-stop wet- dream of a cartridge filled with heroic reliels and evil Imperials ina full-throttled barrage of air/spaceborne controntation, This rocks. Giving us a peak of thing to come, Rogue Squadron follows the escapades of Luke Skywalker and his team of ace piiors who must batele the remnanis of the evil Galactic Empire after its fail in Return of the Jedi. No small task. I've only completed a nandful of sorties at this point, and ('m playing with- out the 4 MEG Expansion Pak (guess I should get onc of those j, but I’m in awe. This is everything you want in a game: stratagem action all balled up in the sweeping cpic we've come to know and love. Fly any number of rebel craft starting with the Squad’s preferred machine, The X-Wing; try the spunky A-Wing on for a while (my favourite so far), and suffer the clunky death-trap Y-Wing only because you must. The Snowspecder levels feel like an old friend, espe- 3B, Es kan aH om nnsuneene resent this ad for 2ee a saa, i x ¥ y ra z & fs pownemeeeenn: EP Map nN I, aT Va: ME Ht SEES GY. Eins tearm sess toly sat ache w 1437 Clyde Ave. cially if vou repeat-played the opening level of Shadows a few thousand times, but alt craft play a liule differently from cach other, though basic controls remain the same. This makes for quick and friendly control, yer offers up something fresh for cach level. Keeping in mind that Rogue is not trving to bea flight- simulator, rather, an imaginary-craft simulator, control is flawless. A tew quirks that might be called flaws in any other game include sore pop-up and draw-in (I suppose a Ram Pak might fix that), and a couple of chances to fly through selid rock- what's that all about? Furthermore, playing the game as Luke Skywalker doesn’t seem right. I mean, what sight does he have to be “Rogue Leader”? Sure, he’s supposedly the son of the best star pilot in the galaxy, but his leadership skills are sub-par to say the least. Luke, you all -remember, was in the habit of taking off to visit old friends or ducking out to go deal with some dysfunctional-family crisis. Stalwart, reliable Wedge Antilles would have made a better Rogue leader, but what are you going to do? Another perturbing factor involves the Star Wars atti- tude change this game forces us to endure: No longer do we root for the out-manned, out-gunned rebels who are lucky just to be evenly matched, now we can pick off Storm Troopers from the comfort our cockpit. That feeis all wrong in the grand Star Wars scheme/theme of things, cowardly even, but it sure is ‘Spring 1318 Lonsdale Ave, N. Van 985-2556 manwanancascnanacuamascreaqaacanTcaucccacsescommacnnanp LAUNDERED SHIRTS West Van 922-2413 “eno Odd too is the Empire's turncoat character who comes in to aid the rebels in their various mission, Never thought Pd see thar happen. It feels like cheating. Undignified plot develop: ment aside, this is a top- notch game, the best of it’s kind, in fact. Go buy a Nintendo 64 then buy this game. Excellent rental. Excellent purchase. G Playstation: Twisted Metal IIT (989 Studies) I realize thar the Twisted Metal franchise pretty much started the auto-marauder- shooter craze, but this third outing doesn’t seem to match the current standards for the genre. Control feels clunky, graphics are fine burt often dark and gloomy, tired and uninspired. Gameplay simply screams “been here, done this, got the T-shirt, washing my car with it.” Also, it could be just as good as the modern benchmarks except that the laws of smash *n” crash physics don’t play a huge art in this game: there's a lor of spastic spinning and careening around after being tagged with a homing missile and some bizarre un-con- trolled hang-time if you drive off a rampart the wrong way (is there a right way?). Too, I never like the closed arena settings of TM. Considering the number of haurs ve logged on both Activision’s superior Vigilante 8, a free range + ‘marauder, and GT Interactive's equally superior Rogue Trip, a See more page 39 ace oe Sale! 3233 Connaught St. NiVan 988-2450 ‘WEDDING DRESSES $2500] 99 - | COMFORTER OR 39 1” PER ITEM + SLEEPING BAG 4 0 1182 Marine Dr, H.Veu. (Nex! fo Seve Oe Fods) 333 Brookskent, WVea, (Pork & Titord) 1554 Lonsdole Ave, N. 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