Also much of the OST was Composed just for the game but this was totally lost on them…

Tomb Raider sucks btw

Shadows of the Empire

Publisher: Nintendo Developer: LucasArts

Easily classified as one of the most anticipated third-party titles for Nintendo 64, Shadows of the Empire is a game that ultimately will rely more on its movie license than any innovative or entertaining gameplay. Considering the high expectations associated with Nintendo 64 games. Shadows must be considered somewhat of a disappointment (especially when you think of what it couid have been!) but there’s no doubt that it will sell extraordinarily well.

So what’s wrong with it? Technically, Shadows of the Empire seems to look and sound great — especially on initial inspection. But closer examination reveals that the graphics and sound tire quickly and that 64 Mbit cartridges are — in today's day and age — far too small for this kind of game: The sequence in the sewers of the Imperial City are particularly sad with the water/sludge being one big unmoving plane of texture; the main character of Dash Rendar looks as if he is stuck in a solid floor as he moves through the liquid without even causing a ripple; the looping of the background in the Mos Eisley race sequence also screams of space limitations. As for music and sound, they’re lifted directly from the film soundtrack so they are authentic and satisfying — but once again cartridge restraints force a lot of looping, (Again — imagine what this could have been with the full John Williams' score.)

Aesthetics aside, the three-inone gameplay in Shadows can best be described as uninspired. The majority of the game is a shooter that can be played from either a first-person or thirdperson perspective. All these levels lack sparkle, however, and there are plenty of Doom-clones that are faster, smoother, and more compelling first-person shooters — even the environments of the third-person perspective Tomb Raider dwarfs Shadows in terms of size and exploratory freedom.

The best levels in Shadows of

the Empire are the AT-AT battles on the ice planet of Hoth at the beginning of the game — and these really are quite fun. Piloting a snowspeeder is every Star Wars fans’ dream, and zooming through a pack of the Empire's armored behemoths is exhilarating. But even here, there are irritating restrictions on gameplay. The speeder can only move up, down, left, or right (forget about any acrobatic spins and rolls), and forget about flying over the mountains to explore the ‘3D’ world — the gameplay in Shadows is for the most part restricted to a single arena or a particular pathway.

Levels like a asteroid field TIE fighter attack, a race through Mos Eisley on hover bikes, a final space battle shoot-out, and a mine cart level (shudder) add variety to the gameplay but none of it is new, or for that matter particularly exciting. In fact, it may be that this vast variety of game-types is the ultimate downfall of Shadows of the Empire. A well-implemented, detailed, snowspeeder flight sim with an expansive 3D environment would’ve been an intriguing, better focused game. So would a solid first-person shooter such as Dark Forces. Instead, by being a student of all genres, Shadows of the Empire is ultimately the master of none. Rating: **

https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-26/page/n119/mode/1up

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3566003&forum_id=2Reputation#49152812)