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Control the galaxy, but beware the mouse clicks

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: September 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Star Wars: Rebellion has been around for a while, and with the neverending stream of Star Wars games being released by LucasArts, it is surely being relegated to the backwaters of Star Wars gamers' consciousness. Its graphics aren't as gorgeous as Rogue Squadron or any of its sequels, and its style (real time strategy) may not be as popular as either first-person shooters a la "Bounty Hunter" or even "The Phantom Menace."

Yet to some strategy-gamers like Yours Truly, Rebellion (known in the UK as Star Wars: Supremacy) does have its virtues. While it is a strategy game on a galactic scale, it does combine elements of roleplaying (players can send major Star Wars characters from page and film on missions)and space warfare at the tactical level (once a player has built a few fleet units, they can be sent from their territory into enemy systems to invade planets or engage opposing fleets).

Players can choose to play as either the Empire or the Rebel Alliance, choose the level of difficulty, and the amount of planetary systems that will appear in the Galactic Information Display. The tougher the level, the more systems will gravitate to the oppposite side. The object of the game, of course, is to control as much of the Star Wars galaxy as one can, with each side having ultimate victory goals that must be achieved. To be more precise, the Rebels must capture both Darth Vader and the Emperor, while at the same time taking and holding Coruscant.

The Empire's mission is similar but trickier. Not only are Mon Mothma and Luke Skywalker to be in Imperial custody, but Alliance HQ must be destroyed. But unlike Coruscant, the Rebel HQ complex (it looks like Cloud City) can be moved from one Alliance controlled system to another. (Those who find the complete Victory conditions to be too hard at first might choose the HQ-only option.)

Things I like about Rebellion:
1. The "main title" sequence. Most good Star Wars games pay homage to their parent media source (the films) by having the "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...." card and the title crawl setting up the game's storyline. Rebellion is set immediately after Episode IV, so in some ways the game can be used to imagine alternate timelines and different outcomes to those we saw in the movies. Actual cues from the John Williams scores add that touch of genuine Star Wars atmosphere to this starting screen.
2. The use of characters from books and films. Although Rebellion shows its age by incorporating worlds and characters mentioned in books published up to 1998, I like the fact that the game designers did not limit the cast of "agents" to just the canon film characters. Fans of such Expanded Universe characters as Grand Admiral Thrawn, Talon Karrde, Borsk Fey'lya, Labria, and Pellaeon will find them included here. The one limiting factor is that only a few major characters will have audio cues included in their mission reports (and even those get old fast if you play the game in one sitting), so don't expect to hear the famous Thrawn's musings or Chewbacca's growls. I also like the fact that certain characters have strong Diplomacy ratings (Leia, Mon Mothma, Piett, Jerjerrod, and of course Vader and the Emperor) that only get better with each mission, while others are better at Combat and Espionage.
3. The graphics. OK. The game is not new and it's showing its age, but those fleet battles are still pretty cool. They may not be very varied, and at times it's best to just go to the Results screen if you send, say, a Star Destroyer or two against a system defended by one X-Wing squadron....or a Mon Cal cruiser against a single TIE squadron.

What I don't like:

1. It depends too much on mouse clicks. Another reviewer called this game the Death by 1,000 Clicks (or something along those lines). I have gotten used to this, but getting used to something doesn't mean you have to like it.

2. Team building. Supposedly, you can make a team of various characters to accomplish missions...or send out decoys to divert the enemy. While fine in theory, either the program is faulty or I am as dense as a Kowakian monkey-lizard. It did take me several months just to figure out the basic game, even after reading the manual, but geez...I still can't get the Team thing done.
3. Predictability on Easy level. OK. I don't enjoy pain much so I tend to avoid switching levels on PC games, but I have noticed that the Empire never attempts to build a Death Star on Easy level. It DOES drain resources, and maybe when I play as the Rebels I don't give the AI Empire time to gather raw materials for a battle station, but c'mon...to never try?

For an older game, it is not without its bugs -- it does crash from time to time and some of its features do get annoying, but Rebellion is still entertaining and fun to play. What more can one ask of a game designed in the late 1990s for Windows 95/98....except maybe a Prequel edition or a revamped Classic Trilogy/EU version with new graphics?

Rebelion's in the middle of the middle to top.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: November 22, 1999
Author: Amazon User

the game could have been so much more, I agree. A exucution and interrogation process for prisoners, a ground combat engine, better travel times(almost 100 days from one end of the galaxy to another?), etc. But the 3-D space combat rocks! Much like the upcoming Force Commander. Also, a lot of characters and ships to command. multiplayer is fully supported, and you can chose your difficuty, galaxy size, and play both sides. The empires forces do seem not much larger than the rebels. Also, the idea of force rulling is made impossible by the rebellions on the planets. You get several permanent characters, plus some radomly selected ones too. You can also recruit and send people on missions, like rescues and assasination attempts. Overall, a good game. Try it.

Wonderful game...don't believe the naysayers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: December 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I am one of PC Gamer's biggest fans, and there are only a few of their reviews I have ever disagreed with. One of them was Rebellion. Garnering only a 61%, I was immediately skeptical. But after playing it, I realized that this game was one of the most addictive and fun games that I have ever played. People will tell you that the micromanagement will eat you alive. They say you have to "click here and here and here and here and here and here" just to accomplish a simple task of building a ship. Well, sure, you can do that, if you take the long route approach to doing things. And once you get playing, you'll learn all the little shortcuts.

Graphics aren't great, but that's not what makes this game a winner. The gameplay is constant. It is frantic at times. Should you send Han on that sabotage mission or leave him to help lead troops into battle against an Imperial system? And some characters are Force-sensitive, allowing them to be trained by Luke (or Vader or the Emperor) once they reach a certain rank.

I can't list all the great features of this game here because of space. But this is the most addictive game that I have ever played. Star Wars fans will not be disappointed. Strategy fans will not be either. It will not appeal to everyone though, so if you really detest strat games, don't buy it because it won't be your cup o' tea. But despite the steep learning curve, you'll be enjoying it for months on end.

Let a Real Reviewer Take the Stand

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 21
Date: February 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Rebellion is the game that sets out a new type of strategy and despite old-school graphics, it rocks so much that you'll say "To hell with graphics." Some people like graphics over gameplay. I on the other hand, think otherwise, and think that this game is all about it. From galactic conquest, to diplomatic stress, natural disasters, and many characters from the Star Wars Universe (plus even more I remember from books), this game takes the cake as one of the most addicting games, if not THE MOST addicting game that you'll ever find packed all into one CD. Take it from me, my friend gave me the go to purchase it, and I was very doubtful at first, but I'll tell ya: I wish that I had bought the game when it first hit the shelves.

Rebellion gets a lot of bad press...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: January 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Which is kind of unfair. The game, in and of itself, is pretty fun. Now, I realize that it has some problems. The interface looks like it was designed by Jabba the Hutt, as far as 'being downright sadistic' goes. Apparently, the game is based on the premise that after Yavin (where the first Death Star went 'boom') the Rebellion and the Empire signed a pact which said "We're going to reduce ourselves to an equal size." Remember in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK or RETURN OF THE JEDI, the scenes where there were those great numbers of Star Destroyers gathered, showing off the might of the Galactic Empire?

Forget about it.

I am absolutely serious. I play as the Empire, because, well, I don't like the Rebellion. I've been pretty successful at times, too. But I've never had that many Star Destroyers, period. Let alone in one place.

Again, the control interface is just plain evil. It can take several steps to reach even the most basic of solutions. There are times when your advisor, (who is either an Imperial standard protocol droid if you're the Empire, or some freak dressed in gold who does a downright amusing job at sounding like C3P0 if you're the Rebellion) will tell you that no, you _can't_ send your fighters to that cap ship. Try again, and he'll let you. It can be a pain to try to get things that you want to happen to happen, like, say, getting a diplomat to try to either sway a neutral system towards you or pacify a system that doesn't take well to being 'protected' by thugs in white armor and great big metal things with legs.

So the control interface doesn't get points for simplicity. Play the game for a while, though, and it becomes less tedious and more easy to play. Just give it time.

The tactical part of the game isn't worth much either. It too is just plain tough to navigate, and you'll be crying "uncle" very quickly if you try to do anything complex at first (or later, as a matter of fact). But the manual's right, the tactical thingy can mean a lot. If you calculate the battle, you're setting yourself up for a heck of a lot of trouble. Whereas, there have been times when the Rebellion has fled - even when they had the advantage - from a fight that I personally commanded. Go figure. Still, the tactical thingy is wierd, and I still give simple commands (even though at this point, I spend more time a day playing Rebellion than sleeping...In fact, I play Rebellion rather _than_ sleeping. That explains my grades on those last finals, I guess.) rather than trying to actually command my fleet. It's a little like Nelson or Farragut just kinda pointing vaguely and saying "fire at the enemy" and nothing else. The tactical interface is simple, too. You can't select armament, or designate flight positions, or board enemy ships (remember when Leia's transport was fleeing from that 'Destroyer at the beginning of Star Wars IV? Fun, but not in this game.). That's a blessing in disguise, I think, because if they'd tried to add those other elements, it would have been nothing short of unbearable.

For all of that, though, Amazon.com asks, "How much fun is this game?" That's why it gets 5 stars. The game is fun, no denying. You'll like it, if you give it the time to grow on you. IMHO, it has an unfair rap. The game isn't bad, just confusing at times. And complex (NOT to be confused with 'complicated'). What I mean is, the game has you manage a lot of stuff. Well, good. One of the things I dislike very much are those people who don't like certain strategy games because they're "too complex." If you want a simple game that doesn't require you to think, Rebellion isn't for you. Go play "Go Fish" instead. On the other hand, if you want to be able to control a galaxy - with all the 'complexities' that come with it - do yourself a favor and click that 'buy' button right now.

Besides, who _doesn't_ want to get to use the Death Star?

-Baikal

An Indepth View of the SW Universe

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: November 21, 1999
Author: Amazon User

When I first got this game, I found it to be extremely difficult due to the complexity of it. Once you get the hang of the game, however, it is very addicting. You get to do everything from spying missions, recruiting, building armies, fighting, mining, exploring new planets and more. With all these different things that you need to do in order to win, it is a little difficult at first, but it is well worth going through all the difficulty once you really fully play this game. I would highly recomend it to anyone who loves a good strategy game and who loves star wars.

Not bad for a detail hound

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I love detail-rich games. I love to micromanage, and to have my fingers in every 'pie' in the games I play. So, with that said, Star Wars Rebellion should be like a triple-fudge chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate-covered cherries on it, for someone who likes chocolate. Maybe too much of something is a bad thing. Now, don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this game...the one time I played it. I tried it out in a 'small' universe, and it took me four weeks to finish it. One game. As the Empire. It was incredibly challenging to keep up with the game. The computer-led Rebellion was a constant thorn in my side, so the AI gets props for that. I found myself facing many of the challenges that the Empire may really face if it were a real entity; having to build and maintain a huge fleet, for one thing, was one of the many challenges. The Rebellion constantly kept appearing in systems where I had no ships or minimal defenses. Then the little degenerates would bomb my mines and refineries and disappear before my Star Destroyers could get on the scene and waste them. I found myself having to take a Churchillian approach to conquest, namely, subduing the galaxy a system at a time until I was rewarded with the final cinematic sequence showing a victorious Empire. Whew. For this title to keep me coming back for weeks should say something about the depth that it has. You have to be willing to keep on top of things, though, or you can lose track easily. While there are numerous displays in the game to keep you informed, you have to remember that they are there in the first place and actually use them. I say, if you are a true Star Wars fan, and love strategic wargaming, this title is for you. Give it a shot. Your love for the Star Wars universe should outweigh any minor problems you may have with the staggering size of this game.

Still outstanding after 5 years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Star Wars: Rebellion is a rich strategy game populated with all the equipment, characters and worlds of the original trilogy AND the expanded universe of the Bantam-Spectra novels (up to 1998). I still play this game after five years and there are many strategies left to explore.

If you are a fan of strategy games such as KOEI's 'Pacific Theater of Operations' series or MicroProse's 'Master of Orion 2,' you'll likely enjoy Rebellion. The game incorporates the standard resource gathering, exploration, fleet building, diplomacy, etc. and does it in high Star Wars style! You can micro-manage every facet of your infractructure or delegate as much or as little to your droid assistant as you wish. Fleet battles can be glossed over or you can take direct command. You can even choose how big to make the galaxy. The soundtrack is classic Williams, and is varied enough not to be repetitive or annoying.

I would rate the interface at intermediate complexity, and the game overall as mildly complex. As has been previously stated, you WILL need to read the manual, and I also recommend the strategy guide if you can get your meat-hooks on one. I suggest playing a 'small galaxy' game as the Rebel Alliance first, since the Rebels can re-locate their base. It's FUN to make the Imperials play a 'shell game' when they think they have you on the ropes. Once you've finished that first game, you will have the basics down and should be pretty well hooked.

You know you want to build a Death Star. Yes, you can watch it do the job in cinematic glory. Happy hunting!

An entertaining SW outing

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: May 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Lucas Arts has come out with some notable fiascos over the past few years as far as games are concerned. Force Commander, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter (which is only good in multiplayer), StarFighter, etc. This is one of thier outings that I actually would rate at 4 1/2 stars and is one of the most misunderstood and underrated games to come out of George Lucas's computer game brainchild.

The premise is simple. You are given control of either the Empire under Emperor Palpatine or the Rebel Alliance under Mon Mothma. If you start out as the Imperials you'll get a significant advantage in technology and capital ships as well as more developed worlds...plus you have a bonafide Jedi in Darth Vader, who can detect and train Jedi Students as he discovers them, making these officers even more valuable (more on this later). The Rebels start off with 2nd rate capital ships and planets that are far flung for the most part. Thier base is moveable, and under the circumstances that's a good thing since part of the Imperials' goals is to destroy the Rebel base.

I'll try to simplify this game, but it's not an easy task. Depending upon the size of the galaxy you have picked (Small, Medium, Huge, etc) your goal is to colonize planets and develop them, use diplomacy to introduce other cultures either into the Rebellion or the Empire, or outright conquer enemy planets. These planets can then be equipped with varying tools to make use of thier inherent commodities...for instance one planet might have multiple Shipyards for building your navy, while others might be resource sytems, used only for mining and maintaining your credit flow. Characters in the game each have inherent uses...some can do Ship Research, others can be used for Diplomacy, while others can be sent to Sabotage enemy worlds and ships. If the Character has been detected to be a Force User, then a Jedi Knight or Master can begin to train them, resulting in a Character with increased scores for thier particular specialty. In addition Characters can be places in positions of Authority, either in Fleets or on Planets. Admiral Ackbar can lead one fleet while Lando Calrissian can General it, thus resulting in your fleets doing more damage and taking less hits in battles.

Research is a lot of fun and can be begun almost from the beginning, in one of three areas. Ship research (New ship designs, fighters, etc), Building design (New Planetary Shields, Improved Shipyards), and Troop Design (Dark Troopers, Sullastan Regiments). Typically whoever has a leg up in Research has an easier time controlling the game and it's highly recommended that if you find any NPC's (Wedge Antilles can do Ship Research, Bevel Lemelisk can do all three types)to start ASAP.

The part everyone wants to know about though is the gigantic ship battles, and man they can get epic. There's nothing like seeing 100 Rebel ships do battle with the same number of Imperial ones, and engagements can run up to 30 minutes. The graphics of these battles are a little dated by today's standards, but still seeing a Calamari Cruiser turn sideways to exchange broadsides with a Star Destroyer is a sight to see. Fighters swarm around the whole time sniping at enemy fighters or helping engage the big capital ships. There's different options for your ships to maneuver into position for attacks, but as far as I can see they're for the most part pointless as both fleets typically run straight for the other and begin duking it out.

Single player is fun, but gets dreary after a while, especially if you're playing as the Rebels. The Imperials generally name thier ships at the beginning, but the database for ship names must be shallow because soon after you'll start seeing such inspiring names as "Carrack Cruiser 152" or "Star Destroyer 43". And the most glaring deficiency in Single player mode is that the Imperials will *never* build a Death Star. Ever. Leading me to want to shout "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer"!

This game becomes sterling in multiplayer though, and if you ever wanted to play a strategy game on an almost epic level, this is definitely a game you want to check out. A human will almost invariably play by different strategies than the computer will, and oftentimes you'll find different and sometimes very unique methods employed for winning. My brother tends to build zillions of fighters on each planet he owns, making capital ship conquest almost impossible to accomplish without matching the number of fighters in your own fleet. My nephew builds heavily into Capital ships with a mixed escort screen, basically heavy on planetary bombardment. I tend to make a mixture of the two aiming for a well rounded task force. And when Turn 5000 hits and you're still grappling for control of the galaxy with your opponent, well let's say that it never wears down on you. If ever you get a chance to build a Death Star, do it. It is an incredible rush to build one secretly, moving it suddenly and unexpectedly into your opponents main manufacturing planets' orbit, and then hitting "Destroy Planet", watching half of his shipbuilding capability go up in a blaze of smoke and rubble.

Unless you have a LAN at home and know someone who wants to try this gem of a game out, the only place you'll be able to play is on Gamespy and Internet Gaming Zone, but expect games to be *very* long and drawn out, sometimes lasting as much as a week, depending upon how often you have to save and reload.

The mediocrity of the Single player game is more than made up for in Multiplayer. Trust me and grab a copy and see for yourself :)

Not as bad as you think

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 22, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I know this game has gotten bad reviews, but if you are a strategy (rather than action) game junky you'll still like this one. My favorite part is the detail you get about ship and unit capabilities. You can accelerate the game to get past the long waits and slow it when you need to make a move. Forget about the tactical interface, it sucks. Just simulate all your battles.

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