Love isn’t perfect and no journey ever begins with a perfect step. I got my N64 at age 7, my first ever game system, and suddenly my life was changed. The first game I ever got was Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi we follow some dude named Dash Rendar who looks like young Hano Solo but ain’t Han Solo because… well ,reasons. The game begins during the battle of Hoth via Empire, and we’re treated to a pretty impressive snowspeeder segment that is pretty badass. A majority of the game we play as Dash as he shoots and platforms his way across different worlds and bosses. At first, the game is fine. Damn near awesome I’d say. First 3 stages run good but things start to unravel. Stage 4, for most of my young life was the hardest shit I had to deal with and that evil mechanical son of a bitch I G 88 was the bane of my existence. A decade later, after some hard gaming experience I kicked his ass only to really see the flaws unfold. Boba Fett’s level pissed me off enough where I nearly smashed the TV and controller and well…I never finished it.
Shadows of the Empire isn’t a bad game, regardless of how it aged, but damn it’s flawed. Platforming can be a royal pain in the ass, the shooting can be crap and feel automated, and there isn’t much really tying it into the Star Wars we know but it is a interesting time capsule of a game, though for the love of the merciful gaming gods find the cheat codes for it so you can unlock all the stages and get some booze for the horrors of Stage 6’s speeder bike controls. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
