The game is challenging, but you will keep wanting to come back for more. I also find myself wanting to replay missions I have completed to see if I can increase my medal rating.

Rogue Leader, is perfectly fitted to the original shape of the Gamecube controller, making use of all buttons and setting each command well to each button. Nothing ever feels out of reach and it is only a matter of simplicity to execute all functions of your spacecraft. The games first mission- Death Star is of no real complexity and whilst your novice gamer will fit in perfectly, those with more experience in the gaming department should pretty much flow through it (whilst of course, admiring the scenery!), simply following the instructions. However, there is no time to settle in to this kind of difficulty as after the first couple of missions the whole learning curve is pretty much decimated as the challenge heavily increases to such a level that even the most avid of gamers would struggle through. On one hand, this is a bonus on the games lifespan, whereas the on the other it can put people off and perhaps becomes a game that should not be recommended to a beginner. Another flaw would be the striking similarities to its predecessor on the N64- the original Rogue Squadron, many of the missions are almost identical, removing the element of surprise when some players of the previous title venture into the game.

All moaning aside, there is indeed a nice variety of missions that you come across which should please newbies to the Rogue Squadron series, each main mission that you approach contains several little side-missions which often need accomplishing within certain time limits. For example, in your third mission Battle of Hoth, you are instructed to take down 3 AT-ATs by flying up close carefully and wrapping tow cables around their legs. Its these such missions that do make the game entertaining and despite constant frustration after the sudden difficulty rise has settled in and you begin to fail, this game really does have superior gameplay to not only its predecessor but a large quantity of other Star Wars games for that matter.

I have already discussed the close relations to the actual films, well to expand your experience the crafts are almost identically reconstructed from the Star Wars trilogy and they include such classics as the B-Wing and the Millennium Falcon, each craft responding in the air with a unique fashion which really does add to the games interactivity. Some may say that the game is linear in the way you are set out to complete specific tasks, but as you are controlling your craft, options are often brought up to offer you another path to take a stroll down, options are also provided to make you feel as though you are in charge on what goes on during the game. Indeed the game does have a controversially long lifespan and the gameplay may have its argued flaws but Rogue Leader is a graphical masterpiece and the whole experience really does put you straight into a interactive movie and a pretty darn good shoot em-up at that!

The game also has the capacity to annoy; the enemy ships will literally fly into you and cost you a life. Yes, its their job to attack you, but that just struck me as stupid. Cut-scenes, the first time you see them, look good, but until you complete a level and return to it, if you die during a level, the game forces you to watch the cut scenes again, and again, and again, without letting you skip them. Why game testers didnt raise a hand and say you know, thats really quite irritating the fifth time around, I dont know.

However, there have been a lot of Star Wars games produced opver the years, most of them pretty poor, and Rogue Leader is one of the better ones. If youre a Star Wars fan youll probably love it, but if you just like playing good games, youll enjoy it about 70% of the time, but might not feel all that compelled to return to it once youve finished the last mission.