Star Wars: Rogue Leader is one of those games that people buy to show off their new game systems. It's quite possibly the most beautiful of the launch titles for the Gamecube, and it's definitely the most beautiful Star Wars game ever released. The vehicle models are superb, the landscapes are beautiful and sweeping, and the special effects are drop-dead gorgeous. The designers did a very smart thing by making the first level of the game the Death Star from Episode IV--you get a feel for the epic scale of the game from the get-go, and the graphics don't relent. The framerate does drop down occasionally, which can be a bit frustrating, but it never lags to the point of making control any more difficult.

The sound in the game is absolutely spot-on as well. Most of the sounds will be instantly familiar to anyone who is a fan of the movie series, and the voice acting is spectacular. Much of it must be from the original movies, but enough of it is original to say that Factor 5 did a fantastic job of picking voice actors that match the movies beat for beat. You'll never feel that any of the sounds in the game are out of place; everything moves to a cohesive whole, and those of you blessed with solid sound systems will be surrounded by the environment and heart-thumping action of the game. The music is stellar, as you'd expect. To be honest, the presentation of Star Wars: Rogue Leader is darn near impeccable.

And while the gameplay isn't impeccable, it's still very good. With a wide variety of ships, huge environments, and a sense of scale that's never been felt in the Star Wars series--the only things that have come close to this are the Freespace computer games--Star Wars: Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron II is a success. The brevity of the main game and the somewhat weak controls take some of the shine away from the game, but it's still a brilliant outing, and one that will make many avid Star Wars buffs and fans of action games alike giddy with joy.

The basic idea of Star Wars: Rogue Leader is reliving the big action scenes from the original movies. It starts off with the assault on the first Death Star, and moves on from there, taking you to icy Hoth and beyond, up to the necessary culmination. Along the way, there are a number of missions that are not represented in the films; they don't so much add to the game's story as they do simply flesh out the Star Wars universe a little more. It was nice to see the Maw, having read about it in the books, and other little touches like that really make the game something more than a straight copy of the movie's scenes.

Each mission starts off with you picking a ship (assuming you have a choice). Then, after a brief cutscene, you're generally thrown into the action. There's usually some serious goal that you have to manage, such as destroying towers, defending Alliance ships, or skulking about in an attempt to break into a complex. This keeps it from being a raw blast-fest, which is a nice change from the usual for the genre, and each mission really feels like it stands on its own. Some of them aren't particularly enthralling in terms of what you have to do, but they're all different, so you can't fault the game for that.

There are ten core missions in the game, which is admittedly a good bit on the short side. Of course, there is a bevy of hidden stuff in the game, which can only be found by diligent searching (or the use of guides). In addition, there are medals that you can garner in each level, depending upon your accuracy and speed of completion. Getting all of the gold medals jacks up the game's complexity considerably, but non-hardcore gamers won't bother with that sort of single-minded determination.

And that's really the only problem with the game. For those who aren't looking to play the same levels over and over, trying to optimize their times and accuracy, there's a handful of hours of fun and then retirement to the 'show off occasionally' shelf. Completists like myself will find a good bit more entertainment on the disc, but the relative ease of the missions for those not shooting for the gold will definitely dampen some spirits out there.

The game sports a wide variety of extras, which are unlocked by a variety of means, which keeps the value up even higher for completists.

If you're playing Star Wars: Rogue Leader just to beat it, you'll probably finish the game in anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen hours. It's not particularly lengthy, and some of the missions are over before you even realize it. They don't become truly challenging until quite a ways into the game, and even then any veteran gamer shouldn't have any problem blazing through them.

The real challenge comes from trying to garner the medals in the game. The golds range from challenging to damn near impossible to get, and anyone who wants to get a gold medal on all of the levels, secret and otherwise, has a big quest to embark on.

Controlling the various spacecraft in Star Wars: Rogue Leader is a simple and intuitive affair, made even more so by the well-done training mission on Tatooine. You'll find yourself zipping around the Death Star and Hoth with ease; the various vehicles control differently enough to change your strategy, but not so much as to completely discombobulate you the first time you get a new craft. Indeed, perhaps the biggest problem with Rogue Leader is that the craft just don't feel quite right. Perhaps it's my space-sim sensibilities, coming from Independence War 2 and Freespace 2, but I felt that the ships were just a little too arcadey for my tastes. However, this may have been the feel that Factor 5 was shooting for. The game has minimal load times and a fantastic interface, with great clips from the movies playing in the background to really set the mood.

If it were a bit longer, and the difficulty level a little higher (or more configurable), Star Wars: Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron II would be the Gamecube's killer app. As it is, it's still a very highly desirable game, especially for fans of the movies or the genre. The graphics are nothing short of astounding, and the gameplay is quite solid for as long as it lasts. Completists will spend many hours unlocking the myriad secrets, and while you may feel a little saddened at the small overall number of missions, rest assured that just about everything there is quite solid. There's nothing like assaulting the Death Star with an X-Wing and really feeling like you're in the movies; green lasers zipping by and circling TIE fighters draw you in like no previous Star Wars title. It's not perfect, but Star Wars: Rogue Leader is very good.