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Solid addition to Nintendo's Star Wars empire.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: September 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

"Shadows of the Empire" was one of the debut games for the Nintendo 64 system, and it was a quite a debut. Capitalizing on the huge popularity of the Star Wars series of novels, LucasArts took one of the more popular books, "Shadows of the Empire", and created a video game based on it. "Shadows..." starts off with the Hoth snow battle where you use one of the speeders to take out probe droids, AT-STs, and AT-ATs. From there, you play as mercenary Dash Rendar, whose job it is to assist Luke and Leia in the capturing of a super computer that contains details of the next Death Star and to battle the Black Sun crime syndicate. The varying locales of each and methods of gameplay for each board allow for a diverse, entertaining experience. There are space battles, battles aboard moving trains, and numerous battles on foot help increase the intensity of the gameplay. One of the best boards comes late in the game and involves a mission to infiltrate and destroy Prince Xizor's (the head of Black Sun) palace. The music effects are the best this side of the original trilogy soundtrack and graphics create a haunting environment of a castle that is very dark, almost fog-laden, and very forbidding to proceed through.

Of course, there are a few flaws in this game as well. It's very clear that Nintendo was still trying to realize the full graphic potential of the N64. Several of the background images, and even some of the foreground gameplay, resemble that of Super NES games. The background is flat and the pixelization is frequently choppy. Nintendo would get it right not too much later, though, with the release of the spectacular "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron".

All that being said, "Shadows..." is a fun game to play. Even despite lacking 'gold medal goals' like "Rogue Squadron" has to help increase replayability, it still remains fun to go back and play even after beating it numerous times.

An Unbalanced Game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

For the past few months I'd been picking up old N64 games that I didn't get a chance to purchase during their initial release, and when I saw Shadows of the Empire I immediately grabbed it, being the big Star Wars fan that I am.

Shadows was one of the launch games for the N64, and while it might have been a decent game in its day, maybe even a good game (I can't, however, believe it was ever considered a great game), it hasn't aged well at all. To compare, I also recently grabbed Super Mario 64, the original launch game, and still found plenty of charm left in that old cartridge.

The graphics are a mixed bag. Our hero, Dash, is rendered rather nicely, with more polygons than one might expect. The levels, however, have ugly textures that will remind the player of early pseudo 3-D games like DOOM and Dark Forces. Hardly the graphical quality the N64 is capable of. Enemies such as the Stormtroopers and mercenaries are fuzzy with blurred details. However, the graphics on the flying missions and the speeder bike level are exceptional. With regards to sound, John Williams score has never failed before, and fortunately, the music combined with classic Star Wars sound effects is just what Star Wars fans want.

Where the game really fails is the gameplay. Shadows tries to include many different modes of play, and not all of them work. The snow speeder level is a classic, as it inspired the game Rogue Squadron; the speeder bike chase is rather cool, as is the fight with Boba Fett. However, in other areas of the game, your craft is stationary and all you are required to do is shoot. It's not much different from the Super Nintendo Star Wars games, and the simplistic gameplay can only entertain for so long. Then there is the first-person levels, which unfortunately make up the bulk of the game. Though the game has multiple view modes, Dash is easiest to control in the first-person mode, but the player won't even see the tip of Dash's gun, as is customary with all shooters. There is no target reticle, making aiming irratic. The levels are too big and empty, and are too straightforward. It's a simple matter to walk from point A to point B, with few surprises. You'll find yourself rushing through most of the game to get to the better levels, but unfortunately they're few and far in between.

If you're a Star Wars fan, there's still enough here to warrant a purchase, but mostly it'll be for a piece of N64 Star Wars history. While I might have had different feelings about this game had I bought it at launch, I can't imagine feelings much more impressed by it. Shadows of the Empire is the most disappointing of all the N64 Star Wars games.

This game is the reason I bought the N 64 system!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Any fan of the Star Wars Series will love this game. True, it's not quite as thrilling as Rogue Squadron, but at least Shadows of the Empire allows for difficulty selections, from EASY to JEDI (Jedi levels are impossibly tough, just for the record). Also true, there ARE still-photo sequences in between levels with text for the characters' speech, but understand this, this game was designed by LucasArts WAY before the N64 went into full production. The gang at LucasArts were rushed to make deadlines, so they cut a few corners. Besides, how can programmers realize a new system's full potential on their first programming attempt? The graphics, music and stormtrooper cries of pain & girly-girl screams when they fall off of steep ledges alone make up for the in-between sequences.With that in mind, ignore the critics who slam Shadows of the Empire. Gameplay takes a bit of getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it within 5 or 10 minutes. All in all, Shadoows of the Empire is an AWESOME game & if you love Star Wars, you MUST buy it. You'll be glad you did.

An Excellent game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Besides the farily difficult to master controls, this game is a blast. You play through the game as Dash Rendar. It puts many elements of Star Wras into the game and many added bonuses such as views of worlds not shown in the movie. Many levels and a high difficulty make this game a must have for any Star Wars or gaming fan.

shadows of the empire

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It is an awesome game. I recommend it for people who like star wars or science fiction action-adventure games. It has different skill settings like easy, medium, hard, and jedi. It has many different levels like one on a speeder bike and two in starship battles. It is the missing link between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It's first level starts at the battle of hoth and ends at tatooine. You see well known characters like Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, Boba Fett, Han Solo, and princess Leia. You also meat new ones like the bounty hunter IG-88.

good game........ but time consuming

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: December 08, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I think that Shadows of the Empire is a great game, but it's very time consuming. If you have a lot of time and you like star wars, i think that this is the game for you.

One of the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

"Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire" was one of the first and one of the best Nintendo 64 games that I played. While I was playing the game, at times I actually felt like I was part of a Star Wars movie in progress. The game has a lot to offer to say the least. There are a whole bunch of modes of play ranging from one where you're flying a shuttlecraft and shooting your enemies, a level where you use a jetpack to propel yourself across a huge canyon, a corridor shooting level with the familiar Storm troopers, and even a pod-racing level.

When I first saw the levels, I was in awe at how detailed they were and how influenced from the Star Wars movies that they were. The graphics in the game are great, the control can be weary at times, but it's easy to adjust to them, the sound and special effects were top notch, and the game is a lot of fun. I don't think that "Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire" gets the credit that it deserves. In my opinion, I think it revolutionized the action/adventure/shooting games in a sense.

The only bad parts about this game are that the control can take some getting used to at first and that some of the camera angles could've been better. Overall, this is one of the best games for the Nintendo 64 and one of my favorites of all time. I recommend anybody who has a Nintendo 64 to at least rent this game.

One Of The Best Star Wars Games Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's a tiny bit hard, but still VERY good. This game has flying and shooting levels. The only bad things about this game is that is is a little hard and is only a single-player game. Perfect if you are a Star Wars fan. You may also like it if you are a 007 fan.

A Game That is a Lot of Fun with Cool Cheats

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was the very first N64 game I've ever played. You're Dash Render a Han Solo like character. This game is a lot of fun, accurate to the book, and has the best debugger cheat I've ever seen. There is a three ship levels where you're in the Outrider(Dash's Ship) or a snow speeder. There is four camera modes so you can play it either James Bond first person style or Laura Croft Second person style either way it's fun. Your choices of weapons are aewsome, from laser, to seeker(a heat seeking gun), to disrupter(half grenade, half atom bomb this bay will fry everything including Dash). A great game that doesn't waste your money.

A must have for any Star Wars fan and a good game otherwize

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: June 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Being a huge Star Wars who had just bought a N64 obviously, the first game I bought was Shadows. Fortunately this game was worth the purchase. The story line is pretty much you'd expect from a Star Wars game. You control Dash Rendar, a mercenary for hire who is a long time friend of Han Solo. The story starts of as you help defend Hoth from the Empire, but soon afterwords you'll be sent of to rescue your friend Han from Jabba the Hutt and eventually wind up in a complex conflict between the mysterious Prince Xizor, the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. By far the best part of the game is the first level which will have you flying a snow speeder through Hoth while dodging laser fire from AT-ATs and AT-STs. You'll also get the opportunity to use your harpoon and toe cables to take down the mighty AT-ATs, just like in the movie. Another great level is the... seventh I think. You'll ride arround in a souped up speader bike, and have to destroy other bikers by smashing them into walls and caves. The rest of the game is a toss up. Some will hate it, others will like it. Shadows is different from any other action game, it has a poor first person view, and the weird gameplay may turn off some hardcore gamers. Shadows also has some annoying flaws, Dash can jump about 3 miles, this will come in handy in jumping puzzles(there are many) but you can easily become confused about which jumps are jumpable and which are not. The stortroopers are also incredibly dumb. It takes them a while to aim for you, even when you're 2 feet away. They are also stunned for two seconds after there hit, which makes finishing them off way too easy. If you are a huge Star Wars fan, you probably be able to overlook the game's flaws and enjoy the story and I recommend this game without hesitation. If your not, rent, or demo, the game before you buy, you may end up hating it. Even if you do, at least you'll be able to enjoy the first level

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