I had high hopes for
Rebel Strike, I really did. After watching the game's E3 trailer and seeing all the fantastic things this game promised, I literally got goose bumps. After playing the game, I feel like I just received a nice swift (with emphasis on the swift) kick in the... well, I'm sure you know where I'm going.
Rebel Strike is one big disappointment after another.
Story has come at more and more of a premium in the Rogue Squadron series. The original featured a great story that had little to do with the Trilogy's storylines and focused more on the formation of Rogue Squadron. Rogue Leader tied more into the original Trilogy, but also explained a few of the things that went on leading up to the Battle of Endor. Rebel Strike -- well, even Dionne Warwick's Psychic Friends couldn't tell you what the hell is going on here.
The game opens right after the destruction of the first Death Star with the Rebels having to escape their base on Yavin IV. This is one of the few missions in the game that feels like a true Rogue series mission. You're behind the stick of an X-wing shooting down TIEs. This portion of the mission only lasts a few minutes before you're forced to partake in the game's newest gameplay feature - ground based levels which allow you to step outside of your ship. These missions are neat, but simply don't work and feel like they were hastily cobbled together at the last minute. The camera is terrible, the targeting system is one step past unusable and there's really no point to them. Overall, they feel rushed and untested. If this was the engine Thornado was supposed to be built on, every GameCube owner should be thankful it was cancelled.
Following the evacuation of Yavin IV, Rebel Strike allows you to follow the tales of both Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. Neither of these stories really impresses or even follows a coherent storyline, other than a pitiful attempt at working a Rebel traitor into the mix (which goes nowhere). Luke's mission tree is little more than a half-baked attempt to let players play through all the 'cool' parts of the Trilogy. You'll (sigh...once again) return to Hoth and take down AT-ATs with you lightsaber and grenades, then jet off to Dagobah for a side-scrolling jump-fest 'Jedi training' with Yoda, followed by a short mission to rescue Han from Jabba. Each of these missions is tied together with brief clips for the movie, which are meant as a set up. Other than the jump from Hoth to Dagobah, there is absolutely nothing in between to help build a story, which makes this entire limb of the mission tree feel like a cheap cash in. The ground missions are an interesting concept, but aren't pulled off at all.
Wedge's adventure is just as splintered and filled with plot holes, but it at least tries to be original. Thankfully, most of Wedge' missions get back to the ship based combat that the series was built on. Wedge's mission begins with a raid at Bakura (which makes no sense in the timeline, but I won't get into that) and leads to an interesting premise about a new type of elite storm trooper brigade and their new gunship. This plotline is dropped halfway through the game when Wedge crashes on Geonosis, where he has to fight still active battle droids (yeah, right) and has to escape in a crashed Jedi Starfighter (ungh...). I know I'm letting my geek roots show here, but throwing crap like this in the game is an insult. If you want to revisit old sites, that's cool. But having to fight battle droids, a gunship and flying in a Jedi Starfighter? C'mon guys. Somehow or another, this leads to the development of a new TIE fighter, which you magically have access to during the next mission and then the entire story is dropped to stick you in two missions at the Battle of Endor and that's it. No tie up or relation to anything that happened before.
This lack of story comes from Lucasarts' unwillingness to take a plunge and try to move beyond the movies. One glance at the Expanded Universe (mostly the books) provides numerous opportunities for new stories. What about the whole Vong invasion? Sure you could argue that the casual fan might not 'take' to something that happened in the books, but that lack of familiarity doesn't seem to be hurting Knights of the Old Republic.
Rebel Strike's Multiplayer mode is one of the game's few redeeming factors. This two-player mode lets you and a friend tackle the Rogue Leader (yes, the entire game) together on a split screen. This mode is an absolute blast to play, especially during tougher missions like the Battle of Endor or Bespin.
