Rogue Squadron 3D™ (RS3D) has been out for nearly nine months now, and Lucas Arts and Factor 5 have touted this game as ultimate in the Rebel Assault™ series. It has been given very good to excellent reviews for its solid story line, playability, and extremely smooth graphics for a PC-based arcade game. I tend to agree with these assessments. To give the game new life and "legs", LA and F5 have decided to release an update that allows you to fly the Naboo star fighter in the game. To some this may not mean much, but to those true Star WarsŪ afficionados, this was something to really try out. Since I'm mainly into simulation games like X-WingŪ CD (XWCD), X-WingŪ vs TIE FighterŪ (XvT) and X-WingŪ Alliance™ (XWA), I had originally given RS3D a pass. I had tried the Rebel Assault (RA) and Rebel Assault II (RAII) games and found them to be too restrictive after having enjoyed XWCD and XvT so much. However, I had heard about the RS3D update, and by chance, I found a copy of RS3D at a Wal-Mart in Macon, GA for less than $15 (clearance sale), so I thought "What the heck?".

Simple to Install, Simple to Play!

Like the RA and RAII games, I was able to install RS3D in a matter of minutes. It did help to have a Viper 550 video card and a P233MMX system with 12GB of HD space [bg]. I had downloaded the 1.20 update from LA's website and stored the update on a floppy disk - a rarity these days in the tens and hundreds of megabytes we normally see associated with 3D games. I quickly fired up RS3D and launched into the first mission, Ambush at Mos Eisley. It was an X-Wing mission, me as Luke Skywalker, leading Rogue squadron on Tatooine shortly after our victory at the Battle of Yavin. After making short work of some probe droids, and picking off a few stormtroopers on foot and on dewbacks, I found Mos Eisley being hit by TIE Bombers and finished them off. It was an easy mission and I earned a silver medal for my efforts. Not bad I thought. However, I soon learned that each subsquent mission was more complex and difficult, with the Imperials getting smarter and more accurate. I soon ran into AT-ST's, Laser Batteries, TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors, Missile Batteries (I hate these with a real passion), Stormtroopers on foot, speeder bikes and dewback, and the dreaded AT-AT. Only the Snowspeeder, with its famous tow cable, are able to take care of these Imperial bad boys. I found this to be a pretty neat feature and it did take a few tries to get the process down. Once you fired your tow cable, your point of view (POV) shifted from behind your snowspeeder to a side view, angled at 45 degrees. While difficult at first to maintain my speed, height, and heading around the AT-AT, I finally became quite adept at taking down AT-ATs, which helped on several missions.

Along the way, I flew X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, the Snowspeeder, and the V-Wing Airspeeder. I saw planets such as Tatooine, Barkhesh, Corellia, Kessel, Fest, Cloud City, Sullust, and culminating at the waterworld of Calamari. Along the way I picked up a smattering of bronze and silver medals (I'll go back to get golds soon enough). Once you've won the final mission, the timeline indicates the Rebels are gathering at their new headquarters, far from Imperial eyes and spies, on a planet known as Hoth. (We all know how that turned out, don't we?) However, if you've managed to earn a medal for every mission along the way, you are allowed to fly three bonus missions: Beggar's Canyon, Death Star Trench Run, and the Battle of Hoth. Despite the limited playing (it is afterall an arcade game, not a combat simulator), I found the graphics great and the storyline interesting. I liked how RS3D filled the gap between the Battle of Yavin the Battle of Hoth, telling Rogue squadron's history under Luke Skywalker's command. All in all, I found RS3D an interesting diversion from XWCD/XWCS and XvT/BoP.