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Have you ever
wanted to live out scenes from the Star Wars movies? Were Rogue
Squadron and Star Wars: Battle for Naboo not enough? Now, you can live
out your dream on the NINTENDO GAMECUBE. From Factor 5, the company
that brought you Rogue Squadron and Star Wars: Battle for Naboo, comes
a new Star Wars game. Like the its N64 counterparts, RS2 puts you in
the position of Luke Skywalker, and you get to fly familiar Star Wars
ships. But this time around you get to fight battles that were
actually in the movies. Rogue Squadron 2 is a mixture of classic Star
Wars battles and of levels made just for this game.
First of all, the most noticeable change, Graphics. The GAMECUBE can
obviously handle much more than the N64. The demo showed at E3 was
running at a constant 60 frames per second. Also the GAMECUBE can
crunch a lot of polygons? What does this translate to? 50 Tie Fighters
on screen at once. Or
hundred of lasers coming at you from all directions. Another
noticeable graphical change is the addition of Bit-mapping. This is
most noticeable when you use the cockpit view. The inside of the
cockpit is bit-mapped to look much more realistic. The lighting
affects and explosions also look much better on Gamecube.
The game includes many battles straight out of the movies.
Factor 5 plans on including the Death Star trench run, the
battle of Hoth, attacks on Star Destroyers, and dogfights over Cloud
City. There are supposedly three playable ships, include the X-Wing,
A-Wing, Y-Wing, and the newly introduced, B-Wing. The millennium
Falcon is rumored to be playable at one point.
In my opinion the best addition to game play is a new targeting
system. If you press the Y-button, the enemy ships will be shaded
either orange or yellow depending on your mission. Your whole
targeting monitor is shaded in cartoonish shading and the ships are
outlined in white. The nice thing is when this special method of
targeting is on you can see ships through walls and other ships.
However this ease does not come at a cost the amount of time you have
the Y-targeting on the lower your score is. The medals from the N64
games are still in this game too.
From what I’ve read it seems
like Factor five uses the Gamecube’s controller efficiently. To fire
the primary weapon you tap the large A-button. The Gamecube’s
buttons are analog so tapping different ways will get you different
results. If you hold down the A-button, the weapon will automatically
fire at a certain rate. If
you tap it rapidly, it will constantly fire. Not tapping it at all
will automatically have the gun charge up for the next time you use
it. The B-button is an alternate fire. The B-button is a more powerful
weapon.
The cool thing about the Gamecube’s R and L buttons is that are both
essentially two buttons in one. They are analog but when you press in
far enough there is also a digital button. the L-button is used for
braking, the hard you press the more you break. Then when you get to
the digital click, your vehicle will come to a really slow braking
position. The R-Button is used similarly. But it is used for
acceleration. The harder you press the faster you go, and then when
you get to the digital click, it gives you a burst of turbo.
Look
out for this one on November 5th, because I think Factor 5
has another hit on their hands. This should be a must have for anyone
planning on buying a Gamecube. |
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"
Because of the advanced capabilities of the gamecube, there will be up
to 50 spacecrafts on the screen at any given time."
"It
features the destruction of the Death Star (complete with ravine
bombing run and aid of millennium falcon), and the defense of Hoth
(watch as your fellow Rebels run from one ravine to the other, trying
to buy time for the cargo ships). "
"If
you buy a gamecube, buy Rogue Squadron 2."
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