Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II by Lucas Arts Entertainment Co. LLC
List Price: $49.99
Price: $19.99
You Save: $30.00 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours
Offered by: Toysrus.com
Platform: GameCube
ESRB Rating: Teen (Content suitable for persons ages 13 or older.)
Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
Average Customer Review: 4.4 Based on 275 reviews

Features:
Based on the original 1977 movie
Stunning recreation of the climactic scene
Detailed background graphics
Play as Luke, with R2D2 riding shotgun
11 missions over ice planet Hoth, the Death Star, and more
Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II features some of the best graphics ever seen on a home console, and it is a proper, old-fashioned, Star Wars game. If those two facts don't raise at least an eyebrow of your interest, then there's probably not much in the world of video games that will. Thankfully, the jaw-dropping graphics are matched up to a very playable shoot-'em-up concept that works as a slightly more in-depth version of the PS2's Star Wars Starfighter, except without any of that Episode I nonsense. Rather, it re-creates everything from the Death Star trench run to the Battle of Hoth.

The game is actually a sequel to Rogue Squadron for the N64--an excellent game that many only remember from the rather lackluster PC version. It's structurally very similar to the original, with a dozen or so levels and a Star Destroyer full of secret levels and ships. The game does feature a few new ideas, such as controllable wingmen and ground troops, and some of the levels are set in deep space rather than planetside, but at its heart this is still Rogue Squadron deluxe.

What elevates the game to an object of worship is the graphics--they really do look almost identical to the movie's, with several scenes appearing like exact copies. The ships move with a fluidity and grace you wouldn't have thought possible from such a tiny purple cube. The only flaw is that the missions are needlessly short, but there's plenty of replayability, and by gosh there's those graphics. --David Jenkins

Amazon.com E3 Game Preview
Probably the biggest surprise of the show, Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II deserves every syllable of its incredibly long name. Why? It's simply the best realization of the magic the original Star Wars brought to the screen in 1977. The musical cues, the sound effects, and even the X-wing's targeting screen (use the Force, Luke) is perfectly appropriate. Don't even get us started on the movielike visuals--one looping maneuver into the Death Star trenches and we were drooling on our shirts.

You play as Luke, with R2 riding shotgun, and you stick it to the man in 11 missions over ice planet Hoth, the Death Star, and other fabulously familiar locales. LucasArts and game developer Factor 5 definitely stayed on target for this one. --Porter B. Hall

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