Rebel Strike cooperative mode, flipada!!!

Almenos igual de rápido que RLII en modo multiplayer!!

Es una lástima que el juego no sea LAN...


October 07, 2003 - With all the hoopla about Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike's single-player levels, there has been very little mention of the game's multiplayer selection. But readers shouldn't take this as a sign that the 3D action-shooter lacks variety for two players. Developer Factor 5 has actually devoted much of its time over the last two years to ensuring that this -- the third installment in the Rogue Squadron franchise -- finally features a deep and intriguing multiplayer offering. So has it succeeded? Keep reading, young Jedi.

The multiplayer modes in Rebel Strike are split up into two main categories. The first is the two-player cooperative mode. Here, players can fly and blast their way through all of the levels from the hit GameCube shooter Rogue Leader. Yes, every single one of them. To make this possible, Factor 5 went back and re-wrote the impressive 3D engine powering Rogue Squadron II so that it could squeeze out more polygons, more lighting and more particle effects for the sequel. Believe it or not, the cooperative mode in Rebel Strike runs almost at the same framerate as the single-player mode in its predecessor.

Factor 5 also made the cooperative mode more difficult. This is a fact that's noticeable from the very first level, which is the Attack on the Death Star. Structures require two-to-three times the laser fire to explode and that's just for starters. There are more enemy craft to contend with, too. We played through the first five levels of Rogue Leader in cooperative mode and had fun the entire time. One's teammate cannot take friendly fire in cooperative mode, which is probably the smart move; otherwise this offering might quickly turn into standard one-on-one dog-fighting. The most impressive of the cooperative modes we played was that of Hoth simply because it requires players to be much more strategic about their attack. One of us would take out AT-ATs while the other shot at AT-STs and we would both cover each other whenever possible. The first-person cockpit views from the original game are fully functional in two-player coop.







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The second category is the versus mode. Here two-players can face off against each other in split-screen mode. At the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2003, Factor 5 had hoped it could deliver a full-blown four-player versus mode, but this option was pulled due to memory constrictions. The good news is that the two-player offering is still a deep one. Players can square off in a number of different styled battle variations. The selection includes 'dogfight,' which is exactly that. Here, two people enter a level, which range from the Death Star to Geonosis, Bespin, Hoth, Ison Corridor, and Endor, and go after each other using pre-selected ships. In our experience, this mode amounts to a lot of in-air chases and often revolves around finding one's foe on the on-screen radar and then trying to blast him or her.

In 'rampage,' which is the second sub-category of the versus offerings, two players try to destroy anything and everything in a level and the person who causes the most carnage wins. Here, gamers can select from levels such as the Gas Platform from Bespin, Death Star, Kothlis, and more. Rebel Strike's hugely expanded particle effects system helps make this mode -- which more or less is about blowing things up -- all the more satisfying.

The third sub-category, 'tag and defend,' challenges two competing players to destroy and capture bases; the person who holds the most bases for the longest time wins. Locations available include Prefsbelt IV, Asteroid, Kothlis, Maw and Tatooine, among others.








Square off in Imperial Walkers on the surface of Tatooine.

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Finally, there's the 'special' sub-category where players can go to Endor as an Imperial Walker and destroy as many enemy forces as possible, or take to Tatooine as an Walker and do the same. There's a Death Star trench run where the players race each other through the gap, shooting at each other and avoiding structures all the while. There's even an Endor speeder bike race which was a lot more intense and satisfying than we had anticipated.

In many of these modes, players can actually choose the ship of their choice. The selection includes everything from the X-Wing, B-Wing, A-Wing and Y-Wing to the Tie Fighter, the Interceptor, Vador's Tie and more.

We asked Factor 5 if it had any intention of including last-minute LAN support for Rebel Strike and the answer is, flatly, no. The libraries to include such support weren't made available until recently and there wasn't enough time to feature the mode. Besides, the developer would rather include LAN support with a game that also featured a comparable online mode, and Rebel Strike isn't that game.








Cooperative mode in action -- and it actually runs smooth, too.

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Everything said and done, the multiplayer mode in Rebel Strike surprised us -- it turned out to be deeper than we thought it would be, and we've had fun with many of its modes.

IGNcube has posted new movies of both the cooperative and versus modes in the game. Readers can download them in our media section below. Insiders are advised to download the QuickTime versions as these are of higher quality.