It was bound to happen. This year has been unbelievably kind to Star Wars fans in terms of gaming. First we were treated to the incredible Knights of the Old Republic, which was soon followed by the equally impressive Jedi Academy. For a time, it looked as though we might just possibly be treated to a trio of Star Wars gaming goodness with the release of Rebel Strike, the third chapter in the Rogue Squadron series. Rogue Leader, which premiered on the GameCube at launch, was one of the systems' few definitive system sellers. The game managed to combine amazing next-gen graphics with remarkable gameplay and proved to be one of the defining Star Wars game experiences. With this in mind, there was never a doubt that Rebel Strike would be a bad game. Right?

The graphics are easily the best thing about the game. Looks like everything have received a nice overhaul from the last version, but it's not much of an overhaul. Basically, it's just touch up stuff. The 'out of ship' models are nice and terrible at the same time. The characters look alright, but move like they were stop-motion animated action figures that are slowly gliding on ice-skates. The game's 'real time' day/night cycles also return. For those who haven't played the original, whenever you play certain missions at night, it's night in the game. Play during the day, and it's daytime in the game. This adds something to the game, although it seems that the developers have gone a little overboard with the idea this time around -- especially on the Tatoonie training level, which is nearly impossible to complete during the night. I know the Dune Sea isn't dotted with lamp posts, but headlights on the landspeeder would have helped.

Sound is the one aspect no Star Wars game will ever go wrong with -- it's just impossible. The game's score is a mix of John Williams' classic score and a few new tracks that really fit with the game's atmosphere. Major props to Factor 5 for including the original Ewok victory dance song for the game's final scene. Sound effects are just as great and go the extra distance in building the game's presentation.

I had high hopes for Rebel Strike, I really did. After watching the game's E3 trailer and seeing all the fantastic things this game promised, I literally got goose bumps. After playing the game, I feel like I just received a nice swift (with emphasis on the swift) kick in the... well, I'm sure you know where I'm going. Rebel Strike is one big disappointment after another.

Story has come at more and more of a premium in the Rogue Squadron series. The original featured a great story that had little to do with the Trilogy's storylines and focused more on the formation of Rogue Squadron. Rogue Leader tied more into the original Trilogy, but also explained a few of the things that went on leading up to the Battle of Endor. Rebel Strike -- well, even Dionne Warwick's Psychic Friends couldn't tell you what the hell is going on here.

The game opens right after the destruction of the first Death Star with the Rebels having to escape their base on Yavin IV. This is one of the few missions in the game that feels like a true Rogue series mission. You're behind the stick of an X-wing shooting down TIEs. This portion of the mission only lasts a few minutes before you're forced to partake in the game's newest gameplay feature - ground based levels which allow you to step outside of your ship. These missions are neat, but simply don't work and feel like they were hastily cobbled together at the last minute. The camera is terrible, the targeting system is one step past unusable and there's really no point to them. Overall, they feel rushed and untested. If this was the engine Thornado was supposed to be built on, every GameCube owner should be thankful it was cancelled.

Following the evacuation of Yavin IV, Rebel Strike allows you to follow the tales of both Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. Neither of these stories really impresses or even follows a coherent storyline, other than a pitiful attempt at working a Rebel traitor into the mix (which goes nowhere). Luke's mission tree is little more than a half-baked attempt to let players play through all the 'cool' parts of the Trilogy. You'll (sigh...once again) return to Hoth and take down AT-ATs with you lightsaber and grenades, then jet off to Dagobah for a side-scrolling jump-fest 'Jedi training' with Yoda, followed by a short mission to rescue Han from Jabba. Each of these missions is tied together with brief clips for the movie, which are meant as a set up. Other than the jump from Hoth to Dagobah, there is absolutely nothing in between to help build a story, which makes this entire limb of the mission tree feel like a cheap cash in. The ground missions are an interesting concept, but aren't pulled off at all.

Wedge's adventure is just as splintered and filled with plot holes, but it at least tries to be original. Thankfully, most of Wedge' missions get back to the ship based combat that the series was built on. Wedge's mission begins with a raid at Bakura (which makes no sense in the timeline, but I won't get into that) and leads to an interesting premise about a new type of elite storm trooper brigade and their new gunship. This plotline is dropped halfway through the game when Wedge crashes on Geonosis, where he has to fight still active battle droids (yeah, right) and has to escape in a crashed Jedi Starfighter (ungh...). I know I'm letting my geek roots show here, but throwing crap like this in the game is an insult. If you want to revisit old sites, that's cool. But having to fight battle droids, a gunship and flying in a Jedi Starfighter? C'mon guys. Somehow or another, this leads to the development of a new TIE fighter, which you magically have access to during the next mission and then the entire story is dropped to stick you in two missions at the Battle of Endor and that's it. No tie up or relation to anything that happened before.

This lack of story comes from Lucasarts' unwillingness to take a plunge and try to move beyond the movies. One glance at the Expanded Universe (mostly the books) provides numerous opportunities for new stories. What about the whole Vong invasion? Sure you could argue that the casual fan might not 'take' to something that happened in the books, but that lack of familiarity doesn't seem to be hurting Knights of the Old Republic.

Rebel Strike's Multiplayer mode is one of the game's few redeeming factors. This two-player mode lets you and a friend tackle the Rogue Leader (yes, the entire game) together on a split screen. This mode is an absolute blast to play, especially during tougher missions like the Battle of Endor or Bespin.

For whatever reason, Factor 5 thought Rogue Leader was too hard, so they dropped the game's difficulty level down... drastically. I was able to easily blast through the entire game (sans hidden missions) in 3 1/2 hours. None of the challenge of Rogue Leader -- the aspect that still has me playing the game two years after it's release -- is found in this game. Medals are given for sloppy performances and it's not unheard of to earn Gold medals within three or four attempts.

The controls are way off and in need of work. Handling starfighters is just as great as it was in the last game. This is the area where the game really shines. Most vehicles are just as easy to handle after you get over the initial learning curve. Unfortunately, the control scheme for vehicles doesn't carry over to the ground-based missions. The out-of -vehicle combat is atrocious -- especially the auto-targeting system. I would really be interested to know what formula it uses when selecting which enemy to target first. For example, I have 3 storm troopers in front of me -- why the HELL does it target the one farthest away? It's not like it goes after the most powerful either. The controls are also terrible when getting behind stationary guns. The control is way to loose to get a good target and feature a really weird recoil causes you to fight the gun to keep it steady. It's no wonder that Echo Base was so easy for the Empire to take if the Rebels were defending it with these guns. I'm also trying to fathom why the hell a Shadows of the Empire style charge limit was placed on all weapons.

On a side note, Rebel Strike gets my vote for best intro to a game this year. One of the trademarks of any Lucasarts related game is the unique intro screens. Two years ago we were treated to a legion of storm troopers Riverdancing to the Cantina theme. This year we get all of the Trilogy's main characters dancing to the 'Star Wars Disco' song while a Death Star themed mirror ball floats about them. Another notable in the game is the ability to unlock the Arcade mode, which allows you to play the original 1982-83 Arcade versions of both Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. This is one of the few highpoints worth unlocking in the game. As sad as it is to say, I had more fun playing these than I did playing the rest of the game. Now if only this amount of creativity had gone into the rest of the game. Save this one for a weekend rental.