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[BlackThornn]

*putting on his geek badge* I just picked up this game yesterday... and actually it's pretty good. I'm around the beginning of the second mission set.

What do y'all think about this title, and where are you at if you've got it?

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Hay blackthorn you played the original right.Is the any differences between the 2 games.

[BlackThornn]

The origional munched. I only rented and got completely and utterly bored with it after one hour.

For this game the controls are more streamlined (Force powers are cool.. bye bye swarm of Scarab fighters! *force lightnings 'em*) and the story seems to be better. (though that may be just because it's got major Ep. II spoilers in the plot.

Even in the training missions I haven't been bored with the game.. so I'd say it's a whole lot better than the first one. Plus the graphics are kinda better.

[Sleazy P Martini]

I don't see why they can't give us a good X wing game. I don't feel like I'm playing Star Wars when I'm shooting Scarab fighters. I'd rather take on a swarm of Tie Fighters.

[BlackThornn]

Seriously. I'd take the Empire over a bunch of merchants throwing mindless droids at me any day. I feel more like I'm fighting against Vasudans in Descent: Freespace than in a Star Wars game.

[BlackThornn]

Just finished the game (medium diff.), and I've gotta say. Wow!

That game really got good. It was very subtle, changing from kind of a cheesy plot into a truly outstanding storyline in the course of a few missions and a cutscene.

Gameplay

Very good. Much better than "Colony Wars" and the secondary weapons/force powers really round it out. The controls take a good four missions to get really used to, but they're intuitive, allowing for a great amount of manuverability and control over your craft. I'm not gonna rant about it here, but it's really cool. (I would have liked the option to either twin-link my cannons or have them on single fire, though)

Graphics

Also very good. I noticed very, very few jaggies (that I noticed) and no drops in framerate. And there are some pretty big battles goin' on in this game. The CG lip synchronization could have used a little more fine tuning in the earlier ones.. (a few of the characters look like they've got five pound weights attatched to the corners of thier mouths when they talk), but the graphics for these are good too. The later battles of the game are just downright cool. While earlier you see 'Scarab' fighters and the standard droid armada and you feel like it's not really star wars, that feeling changes as themes from the story get mixed into it, and the swarming droids coming up on that Frigate you're supposed to protect suddenly have a very Tie fighter-y air about them. (The explosions for the bigger ships could have been handled better, IMO.. but for gunships and below they're handled great.. nothing cooler IMO than seeing a Republic Gunship's beam weapon slicing through a half-dozen droid starfighters and seeing them all break up and explode differently.. then again that might just be because other than the playstation 2 I don't have a decent platform to play flight sim games on)

Sound

The voice acting is good. Unfortunately they didn't get Sam Jackson to do the voice for Mace Windu, but I wasn't really *expecting* them to get him. Sounds for the battles around you though make you think you're watching the fleet battle in Return of the Jedi. The sound of laser blasts whirring past or the crash of two ships (It happens.. Droid fighters have a nasty habit of crashing when they follow me into a strafing run of a missle frigate) really has a sense of depth to them. They're not all funneled through a tin can like some of the games I've played in the past. Again, this might be just because I haven't played a decent fighter sim since Freespace 1, but hey..

Story/Overall

The story is suprisingly good, but it takes a little while to take off. At the end of the game I felt like something had actually happened, not just that I'd fiddled around in some small role that had nothing to do with the grand scheme of things. The way the game's presented makes you think you're there. In the thick of it with the main players. Even beyond the story and the presentation this game has some meat to it. The bonus stuff is really cool, giving you the opportunity to do extra 1 player missions, 2 player missions, fly different craft (Sleazy.. you got yer X-wing and a Tie fighter. ^_- Plus advanced versions of the craft you pilot by default.. for when you just need a little extra to get that hidden objective you missed. Additional bonus craft are a Republic Gunship.. very fun to fly.. and Slave I ). Bonus material is nice, too, giving you trailers for two upcoming lucasarts games plus CG "Outtakes". These things are absolutely hilarious.

(Quote Mace Windu: mmkay.. um.. tell me the truth, k? *turns to the side* ..does.. this robe make me look fat?)

Overall I would recommend this game to any Star Wars fan or a fan of the genre, the battles in the beginning are small, but they become really epic later on. At first glance, or even first hour or two of play, it might not seem like Star Wars.. but it will most definantly grow on you. It's not the tried-and-true tale of battling Tie fighters or Rebel squadrons.. but it is definantly on the same scale as that. It's really revved me up to see Ep. II more than I was, too.

8 out of 10 is my rating.