Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (Nintendo GameCube, 2003)

A great game for the gamecube or even the Wii, Rogue Squadron III is one of the few good flight simulators for nintendo platforms. The controls are some of my favorite in console flight simulators, keeping control simple while still allowing for some almost stomach turning maneuvers.
This game is part of the star wars franchise, and it provides a great experience, offering two brief sets of missions, one following Wedge and the other Luke, taking place after the attack on the Death Star. What struck me first was that it acts more as a supplement to Rogue Squadron II, in that III does not have the major battles of the movies, instead providing some of the "in between" stories, like the escape from Yavin and Hoth, and also the lesser battles from the movies, like the battle over the sarlaac, and taking down AT-AT's with a lightsaber and thermal detonator. So if you are looking for the "complete" star wars experience, it is strongly suggested to purchase this game AND Rogue Squadron II, or you will miss out on a lot of the story.
The mechanical addition to this iteration of the Rogue Squadron series is the third person shooter missions, in which the pilots are controlled outside of their vehicles. Though it is very interesting and a new experience, the flakey controls, poor camera angles, and lack of bacta makes these missions more of a painful distraction. I gritted through them, and they had their fun moments, but the Rogue Squadron games have always been about the dogfights. It also adds AT-ST missions, and even an AT-AT mission, and while they have questionable controls, their firepower makes up for it.
Rogue Squadron III has several very nice unlockables, two of the classic arcade games, several fun unlockable ships including Tie Bombers and the Slave 1, and my favorite mission of all: playing as Arvel Crynyd in his suicidal attack on the Super Star Destroyer.
I recommend this game to any fan of the star wars saga, and even more so to anyone who prefers playing the rebels in dogfights. However, if the dogfights are important, it might be better to buy Rogue Squadron II, which offers only starfighter combat and follows the major battles (as wedge) more closely. Rogue Squadron III gives a much more enjoyable experience as Luke, and once you have a handle of the third person shooter controls, can be much more fun, as the on-foot and AT-walker missions provide a fun change of pace to the space missions.

Basically, this third installment in the series is nothing more than the same stuff you've done before. This time you'll have some more missions focused around the fight scenes from the movies and you'll also be able partake in land missions. The land missions, however, were poorly executed - which is a shame, because the idea is a really good one and I think it's what lead them to release the Battlegrounds games at a later point in time. What makes the land missions more of a tedious burden, rather than a joy, is the control schematics and the animations. Basically, neither are anything because of the low quality. The dog fights in space and on other planets from the Star Wars lore are great. As usual you'll have certain missions to accomplish - guard someone or something, destroy a particular number of enemies, etc - but this never gets old. If you enjoyed the previous releases, you will definitely enjoy this - the land missions may set you off, but the flight battles are awesome. The graphics are as good as they can be when you're whirling around as fast as can be in a space ship and the music is ripped straight from the Star Wars soundtracks - which are always awesome. This game is great once you get over the initial awkwardness of those missions you have to go through on foot. What is unique about this game is that it mainly follows the adventures of Luke and Wedge - so you kinda get to choose whose mission you want to take on at a certain point, so it gives a little bit of variety in an otherwise straight forward game. Again, if you liked the second, you'll love this; as it is just the same lay out with new presentation. It's a great game that just needed a little tweaking to make it an excellent game. I highly recommend to previous fans, fans of Star Wars and fans of flight simulator games.

Don't get me wrong, Rebel Strike is a fun game. Unfortunately it is severely hampered by level design in the levels where you play as Luke or one of the other characters running around places. The targeting in such stages is also very poor, and really hurts your chances of getting a gold medal at the end of the stage. They're not that bad, but considering they're not nearly as cool as all the flying and outer-space stages, they're kind of a waste of time. What there is of the stages that take place in outer space or piloting an AT-AT is pretty awesome though. Those stages save the game from becoming a disaster.

I mean yes, it's cool to be able to walk around planet Hoth shooting a cable up at the under-belly of an AT-ST then blowing that giant mammoth up in a style that strangely mirrors Shadow of the Colossus, but this is the only time where running around on the battlefield feels significant at all!

Anywhere else you're just running around shooting bad guys, and that's cool but the gameplay is done in such a way that you'll get sick of it, fast. Did I also mention one of the final stages where you play as Luke on Jabba's sail barge? You really have to be careful where you jump or you'll alter history by easily allowing Luke to become a morsel for the Sarlaac. That actually sounds kind of fun, but unfortunately the game mechanics are not open-minded enough to allow you to have an alternate ending for the stage.

So basically, flying levels, great, on-foot levels... not good. This is why I give this game an average score. It's worth buying and playing, but try to skip the on-foot stages.

Back when I had Rogue Squadron on Nintendo 64 it was my favorite flying game of all time. So when I got this game for the Game Cube, I had high hopes. I was not disappointed! Not only is this game extremely challenging in places, but it is also diverse. You can fight from the air or the ground in different scenarios.
The training area from the beginning is all that is needed if you want to skip the instruction book and just get right to playing.
There are a couple things that I don't like about this. One is the jedi training section. Those jumps are hard! I keep missing them! The other is the attack on the shipyards. It's like flying along the surface of the death star only deadlier!
A few things that I really like is trying to get through the trees on that speeder bike. OUCH! I also like the fact that you need to get points from getting bronze, silver, or gold medals in order to unlock certain areas. Nice touch. If you liked rouge squadron on nintendo 64 I would definitely recommend this one.

The lack of Star Wars titles on Nintendo's Gamecube is rather disappointing, but the Rogue Squadron series has found an exclusive home on the 'Cube for its second and third chapters, and they blow all others away. Rebel Strike focuses around the adventures of two characters (Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles). The new land-bound missions are a nice way to break up the sometimes-similar flying ventures, but the controls are noticeably lacking. In general though, this system is passable. Flying in this game is very similar to Rogue Leader (the second instalment in the series), which is to say EXCELLENT. It is in this area that the Rebel Strike really shines. Multiplayer has finally been added to the series, and it fits very well. Whether playing cooperatively through the ENTIRE set of missions from Rogue Leader, or against one another in intense dogfights, you'll never notice the hours passing. It's certainly a pick-up-and-play type of game, for the story mode isn't very in-depth. I often find myself coming back to this game months after I thought I was finally finished with it, and playing it all over again. It's just that good.