STAR WARS™ Shadows of the Empire™

This game is really great, it's really fun to play and enjoy on a monthly basis.

I keep seeing bad reviews of the controls and was a little scared but as soon as I started the game and was playing the Hoath Level. All the controls work and mapped out nicely but the only problem is the frame rate it’s a bit too fast. I only remembered the N64 game being a slower frame rate. I feel like I’m playing this in fast mode but it’s great Nostalgia and full cut scenes but the presentation needs a little bit of work. For 1 dollar this game is worth it.

Let it be clear I don't think it any fault of GoG as the same issues are apparent on the Steam version but... Essentially the game needs a legitimate remaster a la Nightdive Studios , but the likelihood of it getting greenlit through the intellectual property minefield that is Star Wars IP rights, and Dark Horse factors in here as well since it's technically their storyline in tandem with LucasArts IIRC. Which is really unfortunate. It's an extremely interesting entry for gaming history in a lot of ways - in spite of being a middling game even in its time that's only because it was too ambitious. Seen here are a lot of roots though - roots of the Rogue Squadron series, roots of the 3D entries in the Dark Forces series. And from the Star Wars side of things this entire storyline was a really interesting plot bridge of the ~2 years in universe between ESB and RoTJ which is now not canon AFAIK, AND YET maybe it is as Disney has renewed trademarks on some of the names and such in the storyline (Dash Rendar and Leebo, the Outrider). Not to mention this was the ONLY Star Wars media between 1983's RoTJ and the 1997 remasters. We will have to see what if anything they ever do with it. Game runs, but faster than it probably should which creates some wonky control issues - too boot whatever the engine is doing for movement and player model movement momentum makes uneven surfaces in one level brutal (protip: crouch a lot on Gall Spaceport as it seems to anchor you). It's playable but rough and the source game, while underated in my opinion, is certainly not the strongest entry in Star Wars games. Still it is among the first to foray into 3d space and runs fully 3d modelled enemies instead of sprites which is again ambitious and worthy of respect given the era it was done in. As a game it's alright. As a historical piece its more important than its given credit for IMHO. And as a piece of Star Wars media its been lost to time BUT is really undervalued for its role.

Foot missions are next to unplayable with the icy-like slides, especially on Galls Spaceport. Both Steam and GOG fail to fix this issue, even after tweaking Nvidias FPS limit. A poor release on PC that always needed a proper remaster!

Shadows is on PC?!? I played the N64 version to death and, not only was this was an instant buy, but I found it surpasses the N64 version (already considered a classic game) in every way. The controls aren't as wonky as legend has it (certainly not as awkward as in the Gothic series), and you can jump, duck, run, strafe, fire alternate weapons...all the usual goodies are here, although levels can appear pretty sparse. There are six different camera angles, so you can play à la Duke Nukem 3D, or à la Laura Croft. Controls can't be reconfigured, but multiple gaming styles are taken into account: keyboard players, gamepad users, and keyboard/mouse combos (as I prefer) are all supported. Plus: Kill Wampa (those yeti-like creatures from TESB)! Take down AT-AT walkers with tow cables! Fly in space! Fight on a moving junkyard train! Fly a jetpack! Fly a jetpack while battling freaking Boba Fett! Battle giant droids! Ride a 74-Z speeder ("swoop") bike from Return of the Jedi! Get killed by a Sarlaac Pit! Bottom line: Empire of the Shadows is an action flight sim, a first-person shooter, a third-person shooter/action game, a game of find-the-collectibles (called "challenge points"), and more...and it's all set to one of the most adrenaline-pumping soundtracks in the history of gaming. It's also playable in 1920x1080, and looks razor sharp (although the FMV cut scenes(!) are in a lower rez). Other games in the Star Wars universe may have excelled in specific genres (such as Dark Forces) but, for my money, no single game has encompassed the feeling of actually being inside the SW universe in the same way Shadows does. It's a special game with its own plot; every level has its own feel, and I'm thrilled to be able to play it again. (PROTip: The amazing soundtrack, while not advertised on the storefront, is available in ogg format in the game's directory.)