Star Wars: Rebel Assault 2
In only two short years, LucasArts created a sequel to Rebel Assault that was leaps and bounds beyond it technically. And of course, being a huge fan of the first one, I was on board like it was a YT-1300 freighter.
LucasArts really did take this game big new places, it must have had a budget ten-fold the original Rebel Assault. (Though I can't find anything to back that up.) Where the first game used mostly early CG renders and a ton of still captures from the films, this one contains a ridiculous amount of new live-action footage and renders that are far superior to what we saw the first time around. In fact, this was apparently the first time since Episode VI that anyone had officially shot any new footage in addendum to the Star Wars universe.
Rebel Assault II came out when using live action footage in games was at it's height. Though nothing compared to what we can do today, compression got better and average processing power was better and so being able to use higher quality video files for the game really made the overall experience much better. Lucasfilm apparently loaned out all
the props and costumes necessary for production; everything you see in this game is from the original movies and nothing was made new for this game. And although the acting and script is a bit campy at times, it was pretty awesome to see all this fantastic new Star Wars footage at a time long before Episode 1 when no one ever thought we would see any more.
Plus, on top of it all, in a short couple of years, the quality of 3D rendered animation that could be produced was far and above what we saw in Rebel Assault 1. Now we saw much more accurate renders of the ships and environments and the game could be taken to more exciting locations.
One of the best parts about the whole game for me was the inclusion of a speeder bike chase. It was as if any movie moments you wanted to enjoy in the first game, but didn't make it in were now included in this one. Plus, it really went places we hadn't see before. Lot of absolutely fantastic locations and even some new ships. There's a great point in the game where you end up flying a stolen TIE fighter into an Imperial base and leading up to that you train in a hidden, foggy dangerous canyon. Which both looks amazing and hails back to the first training level in the first game, where you fly a T-16 Skyhopper through Beggar's Canyon.
On top of it all, Rebel Assault II actually included not only on-rails shooter sequences flying a ship, but also included a number of moments where you are controlling the live-action character as well from a third-person perspective. It certainly wasn't the height of the game, but it was really neat to see.
Rebel Assault II was just chock full of amazing moments. And since it was all pre-rendered it was full of fantastic scripted action and flight maneuvers that would be tough to accomplish otherwise. This is another one of those games that was definitely 'of it's time' and was pitched at just the right time to get all the help it needed during production. It's been a very long time since I've played this game, I'm actually quite curious to see if it will run on my new computer, after I un-pack my box of old PC games I'll have to give this one a try.
In only two short years, LucasArts created a sequel to Rebel Assault that was leaps and bounds beyond it technically. And of course, being a huge fan of the first one, I was on board like it was a YT-1300 freighter.LucasArts really did take this game big new places, it must have had a budget ten-fold the original Rebel Assault. (Though I can't find anything to back that up.) Where the first game used mostly early CG renders and a ton of still captures from the films, this one contains a ridiculous amount of new live-action footage and renders that are far superior to what we saw the first time around. In fact, this was apparently the first time since Episode VI that anyone had officially shot any new footage in addendum to the Star Wars universe.
Rebel Assault II came out when using live action footage in games was at it's height. Though nothing compared to what we can do today, compression got better and average processing power was better and so being able to use higher quality video files for the game really made the overall experience much better. Lucasfilm apparently loaned out all
One of the best parts about the whole game for me was the inclusion of a speeder bike chase. It was as if any movie moments you wanted to enjoy in the first game, but didn't make it in were now included in this one. Plus, it really went places we hadn't see before. Lot of absolutely fantastic locations and even some new ships. There's a great point in the game where you end up flying a stolen TIE fighter into an Imperial base and leading up to that you train in a hidden, foggy dangerous canyon. Which both looks amazing and hails back to the first training level in the first game, where you fly a T-16 Skyhopper through Beggar's Canyon. On top of it all, Rebel Assault II actually included not only on-rails shooter sequences flying a ship, but also included a number of moments where you are controlling the live-action character as well from a third-person perspective. It certainly wasn't the height of the game, but it was really neat to see. 
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