Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 39
  3. Negative: 4 out of 39

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  1. TJbro9
    Feb 17, 2014
    10
    If you like the original N64 game, then you will like this one. It is just like the N64 version except, you can play this one in HD, it includes voice dialog, as well as fully animated cinema scenes. It will defiantly take you back to the good old days of gaming.
  2. suneater
    May 31, 2017
    1
    Shadows of the Empire is a genuinely bad, clunky mess of fanfiction that is at times barely playable. Sliding around with early 5th-gen single joystick tank controls, you control Not-Han Solo, Dash Rendar, through 10 levels of miserable auto-aiming (except during the extremely disappointing flight sequences) on a mission to escape death at the hands of frequent bugs & broken physics. OfShadows of the Empire is a genuinely bad, clunky mess of fanfiction that is at times barely playable. Sliding around with early 5th-gen single joystick tank controls, you control Not-Han Solo, Dash Rendar, through 10 levels of miserable auto-aiming (except during the extremely disappointing flight sequences) on a mission to escape death at the hands of frequent bugs & broken physics. Of course, calling this auto-aim is generous; even the original DOOM's auto-aim pales in comparison to the "aim in their general direction to snipe your enemies" you'll encounter in this game. Most alt ammos are useless because they either don't ahere to the default blaster's auto-aim or are too close range to be used outside of a specific boss. Don't even bother trying to use the Not-BFG since you'll end up killing yourself half the time from self damage. The only two levels I didn't hate were the Hoth mission and surprisingly the obligatory sewer level. I thought the sewer map had surprisingly good level design which reminded me of a Quake map but otherwise most levels are either boring or too frustrating to enjoy because of the aformentioned issues.

    I wholeheartedly admit I bought this just for the nostalgia rush of getting to play the initial Hoth map again. While it was a much more miserable experience that I remembered as a child, there is still a glimmer of that diamond of fun in this abandoned coal mine of a game. I would only recommend purchasing this if you enjoyed it on the N64 as a youngling and want to experience a working version of it again on Windows.    … Expand
  3. BrettSiebenhaar
    Aug 13, 2018
    9
    Well, metacritic doesnt have an option for the N64 version, but oh well, I am talking about the N64 version. This was one of the first games I had for the N64, besides Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. I loved this game. My all time favorite Star Wars game. A lot of people hate on this game, but it was amazing. It was like its own little movie. All 10 levels were interesting and wellWell, metacritic doesnt have an option for the N64 version, but oh well, I am talking about the N64 version. This was one of the first games I had for the N64, besides Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. I loved this game. My all time favorite Star Wars game. A lot of people hate on this game, but it was amazing. It was like its own little movie. All 10 levels were interesting and well developed. Flying the snow speeder never gets old. Fighting Boba Fett at Gall Spaceport is still the best! Dash Rendar would make a great character in a Star Wars movie, but of course this story doesn't exist now Disney owns Star Wars... BTW, I am not even a Star Wars fanatic!… Expand
  4. mr123
    May 21, 2018
    2
    I think this game is the worst game I have ever played on my n64 machine. The controls SUCK big time. The graphics are ugly to look at, AND it just was not that fun. For example to duck you press down C. WHAAAAAT! And to press buttons you press R. Also the flying stages are crap you almost have no control on on-rail segments which just is like. STARFOX 64 WAS AN ON-RAIL SHOOTER AND YOU HADI think this game is the worst game I have ever played on my n64 machine. The controls SUCK big time. The graphics are ugly to look at, AND it just was not that fun. For example to duck you press down C. WHAAAAAT! And to press buttons you press R. Also the flying stages are crap you almost have no control on on-rail segments which just is like. STARFOX 64 WAS AN ON-RAIL SHOOTER AND YOU HAD CONTROL OF THE SHIP!! DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN! AND THE CONTROLS MAKE A SIMPLE TASK AS WALKING OUT A DOOR HARD! But are the levels fun? NO! they are weird doom like stages that make no sence at all. And the bosses are also crap. OVERALL IT JUST SUCKS. And does not deserve praise. 2/10!!!… Expand
  5. Captain_Chaos
    Apr 17, 2017
    9
    A classic Star Wars action title, Shadows of the Empire thrilled me in my youth with its eclectic mix of stage types, different specialist ammunitions and one of the most user-friendly jetpack mechanics in gaming. This game formed part of a sub-universe created within Star Wars that included comics, novels, and toys, and at the time, there had been no novels exploring the period betweenA classic Star Wars action title, Shadows of the Empire thrilled me in my youth with its eclectic mix of stage types, different specialist ammunitions and one of the most user-friendly jetpack mechanics in gaming. This game formed part of a sub-universe created within Star Wars that included comics, novels, and toys, and at the time, there had been no novels exploring the period between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi before. Telling the story of the mercenary, like-Han-Solo-but-cooler freighter captain Dash Rendar, his droid sidekick Leebo and their ship, the Outrider, Shadows weaves a critical piece of what is now known as the "Legends" Continuity, pitting him against the Imperials, the bounty hunters IG-88 and Boba Fett, and the powerful underworld syndicate known as Black Sun. Although since they saw fit to edit the Outrider (or at least a ship that looked like it) into the special edition of New Hope, who knows. Maybe Dash might make another appearance some day.

    That being said, Shadows isn't for everyone now. This version is still technically superior to the Nintendo 64 version with its sharper textures and pre-rendered, voiced cutscenes, and this Steam port runs splendidly and without the overly sped-up gameplay you'd encounter trying to play the CD version on post Y2K computers. However, the graphics are nonetheless quite dated, it has odd control schemes that don't quite suit a mouse-and-keyboard setup, and while you CAN run it at a modern monitor resolution, doing so causes the cutscenes to render improperly. It is also rather short. In my youth I would struggle with some of the puzzles in the later stages for hours on end, but my playthrough this time took about two hours. Nonetheless, I think It's a shining example of what they were able to do with the property and worth playing if you haven't before.    … Expand
  6. antenneone
    Aug 3, 2018
    7
    Primer juego de star wars que jugué para la Nintendo 64. Tiene fallos en su jugabilidad pero es bastante variado y su duración es ideal para no cansarte de él. Gran juego de una saga venida a menos en lo que a peliculas se refiere. Segunda trilogía infumable y tercera inclasificable
  7. Baltifru
    Apr 19, 2020
    4
    My review is for the Steam version released a few years ago. It has nothing to do with the N64 from 1997 which is a masterpiece.

    This game is a real catastrophe. Let me start by saying I played the N64 version when I was young and I loved it. Star Wars universe, great music, side adventure to the episodes 4-5-6... Was great. But this "remake" is a joke. No effort whatsoever was made    My review is for the Steam version released a few years ago. It has nothing to do with the N64 from 1997 which is a masterpiece.

    This game is a real catastrophe.

    Let me start by saying I played the N64 version when I was young and I loved it. Star Wars universe, great music, side adventure to the episodes 4-5-6... Was great. But this "remake" is a joke. No effort whatsoever was made to adapt the game. It is basically the exact same game with a few lines of code to adapt it to support keyboard and controller play. The gameplay is completely outdated: you will spend most of your time dancing around the corner of a wall to maximize your killing potential on the enemies behind the corner and minimize the damage they can deal to you. You have one laser weapon which you will basically use all the time because the missiles and their fake live control are useless and never hit anything.

    All this, I could accept (since it was already the core of the gameplay on N64) if nothign of the following was true...

    The controls are awful. Nobody should look for excuses like "with a controller it's much better than with the keyboard !": how the hell can you not set the "Move" control ?? You can rebind any other key, but not the "Move" one. Consequently, you have to accept that a very small move of your mouse will potentially throw you into the ravine. Seriously, a mouse move should only control the aim, not the movements... The result of this is that you will constantly fall off cliffs accidently. To make things even worse, the handling of the terrain is terrible and will drastically increase the probability you fall off every single cliff there is in the game. To tell you how this works concretely: sometimes when you make a step (in any direction) on a non-horizontal surface, the character starts inexplicably drifing into that direction with nothing you can do but try to keep your calm while losing a precious life. More generally, all platform phases are a real pain and induce useless frustration.

    Don't buy this game. Even less so if you have loved the N64 version: it will completely waste your good memories of the game.    … Expand
  8. SHINIGAMI-BATUN
    Oct 16, 2020
    8
    Sinceramente un juego espetacular para le época en la que salió, un apartado gráfico decente, un soundtrack épico directamente de las peliculas y un extraorindario gameplay con una historia coherente que encajaba bien en el universo de la saga.
  9. Mayvire
    Nov 20, 2020
    10
    Nomas, esta chido. es muy entretenido y me gusta el audio del juego, y le gusta mucho a mi papá
  10. AValis
    Mar 10, 2022
    6
    A Lukewarm response to this game seems almost universal. You get a jetpack.