My random game chooser, Selectron™, actually picked a different game for me today, but when I woke up to a "May the 4th be with you" gif, I knew I had to bump that to tomorrow and find something Star Wars related in my backlog to play.
There were two available, but since one needed installing and the other just needed jamming into the top of the N64, Rogue Squadron won out.
Truth be told I'm not much of a Star Wars fan. I don't actively dislike the franchise, but I think it's good moments are outweighed by the average and the just plain bad. For each of the last two movie trilogies the poor second instalment has deterred me from seeing the third to this day.
Some of this will be down to it being a universe that just doesn't appeal to me. I often find that my favourite Star Wars products are those that are not generally embraced by the hard core fans - Notably Genndy Tartakovsky's phenomenal Clone Wars animated series, and Rogue One, which I believe to be the best film in the entire canon.
But good, bad, or average, the one thing you can always count on to be fantastic in Star Wars is the sound and visual design, and if there's anything Rogue Squadron does brilliantly, it's recreating both of these impeccably.
Visually, there's a natural cross-over in the retro-industrial blockiness of the original Star Wars craft designs, and the graphics capabilities of the N64, and as a result most of the available vehicles look incredibly similar to their movie counterparts.
And if ever there was a series defined by its sound design, then Star Wars would be it. From the almost Prokofievian (I might have made that word up) nature of John Williams' score, to the terrifying whine of a Tie-fighter engine and the radio chatter between pilots, this is audio world-building at its most evocative - and, despite this not being an area in which the N64 usual shines, it's all replicated in Rogue Squadron perfectly.
It's not all good news on the presentation front. The live action movie stills on the menu screens look cheap, and on some levels the game masks environmental pop-in with some of the thickest fogging I've ever seen.
There are levels where this is barely an issue. The draw distance is never amazing but it can unintentionally benefit the atmosphere at times: Flying through a valley only to have an AT-AT pop out of the fog at close range is an exciting experience, even if it isn't entirely deliberate.
Unfortunately there are some levels, thankfully not many, where it's more of a problem and has impact the otherwise excellent playability.
There are people in the world who take Star Wars too seriously. It's not just a Star Wars thing, it's a human obsession thing, but at the core of Star Wars I feel there is a knock-about action adventure with good-guys, bad-guys, and cool spaceships, and Rogue Squadron does this side of the franchise brilliantly.
Each of it's sixteen missions will have a slightly different plot and set-up, but rest assured by the end of each of them you'll have gone toe-to-toe with the empire and emerged victorious in a hail of laser fire. Handling all of the available craft feels incredibly natural and the game makes the N64's sometimes awkward controller design feel like the best possible tool for the job. Whether taking on tie-fighters in an X-wing or tangling up an AT-AT’s legs in a Speeder, everything feels right and, most importantly, fun.
And essentially that's what Rogue Squadron does best: It brings all the childhood action-figures and toy spaceships to life and lets you have fun with them. That's not to say this isn't a difficult game - it can be a bit of a beast in that regard - but you get to feel like you're 'in' Star Wars in a way that few other games produced under this banner have managed.
There were two available, but since one needed installing and the other just needed jamming into the top of the N64, Rogue Squadron won out.
Truth be told I'm not much of a Star Wars fan. I don't actively dislike the franchise, but I think it's good moments are outweighed by the average and the just plain bad. For each of the last two movie trilogies the poor second instalment has deterred me from seeing the third to this day.
Some of this will be down to it being a universe that just doesn't appeal to me. I often find that my favourite Star Wars products are those that are not generally embraced by the hard core fans - Notably Genndy Tartakovsky's phenomenal Clone Wars animated series, and Rogue One, which I believe to be the best film in the entire canon.
But good, bad, or average, the one thing you can always count on to be fantastic in Star Wars is the sound and visual design, and if there's anything Rogue Squadron does brilliantly, it's recreating both of these impeccably.
Visually, there's a natural cross-over in the retro-industrial blockiness of the original Star Wars craft designs, and the graphics capabilities of the N64, and as a result most of the available vehicles look incredibly similar to their movie counterparts.
And if ever there was a series defined by its sound design, then Star Wars would be it. From the almost Prokofievian (I might have made that word up) nature of John Williams' score, to the terrifying whine of a Tie-fighter engine and the radio chatter between pilots, this is audio world-building at its most evocative - and, despite this not being an area in which the N64 usual shines, it's all replicated in Rogue Squadron perfectly.
It's not all good news on the presentation front. The live action movie stills on the menu screens look cheap, and on some levels the game masks environmental pop-in with some of the thickest fogging I've ever seen.
There are levels where this is barely an issue. The draw distance is never amazing but it can unintentionally benefit the atmosphere at times: Flying through a valley only to have an AT-AT pop out of the fog at close range is an exciting experience, even if it isn't entirely deliberate.
Unfortunately there are some levels, thankfully not many, where it's more of a problem and has impact the otherwise excellent playability.
There are people in the world who take Star Wars too seriously. It's not just a Star Wars thing, it's a human obsession thing, but at the core of Star Wars I feel there is a knock-about action adventure with good-guys, bad-guys, and cool spaceships, and Rogue Squadron does this side of the franchise brilliantly.
Each of it's sixteen missions will have a slightly different plot and set-up, but rest assured by the end of each of them you'll have gone toe-to-toe with the empire and emerged victorious in a hail of laser fire. Handling all of the available craft feels incredibly natural and the game makes the N64's sometimes awkward controller design feel like the best possible tool for the job. Whether taking on tie-fighters in an X-wing or tangling up an AT-AT’s legs in a Speeder, everything feels right and, most importantly, fun.
And essentially that's what Rogue Squadron does best: It brings all the childhood action-figures and toy spaceships to life and lets you have fun with them. That's not to say this isn't a difficult game - it can be a bit of a beast in that regard - but you get to feel like you're 'in' Star Wars in a way that few other games produced under this banner have managed.
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