Well, it's here...the one you've been waiting for. If you're like me (you lucky dog) then you've been on tenterhooks waiting for the release of the first real multimedia arcade game for the Macintosh - Rebel Assault for the Macintosh - and you won't be disappointed (well, maybe a little).
After years of floating dream-like though Mysts of slow, convoluted, puzzling artwork or flipping mindlessly through pages and pages of Grandma and Me you can finally indulge the truly destructive adolescent in you and do with the Mac what you've always really wanted to do - zoom through fantastic, otherworldly landscapes and blow lots and lots of things to kingdom come.
And what a ride it is!
First though, I have to admit that I'm not much of a gamesman myself. The last real video game I mastered was called "Scramble" and cost only a quarter to play. I haven't really ventured into the arcade since then, and when I do I find that I don't recognize a single game, and that I still long for my beloved Gottlieb "Gold Strike" (yes, a pinball machine - an electromechanical device that couldn't talk. You may have read about them. They were popular back when minidisks were made out of black vinyl and weren't recordable, back when the air was still a reasonable gray color and telephones weighed more than the average PC).
But I digress.
Since I like to kid myself that I'm still a member of a reasonably young, "hep" generation (I'm really a pathetic, out-of-work screenwriter), I try to keep up on the latest developments in technology, mostly by flipping through the occasional issue of Omni and buying more CD-ROMs than I can figure out how to use.
Hence my long-anticipated purchase of Rebel Assault.
First, the good part.
RA Mac is by far the bestest, mostest, spectacularest game, adventure, multimedia experience, virtual reality simulator call-it-what-you-will that I have ever seen. In this respect it truly points the way for the future of as-yet-over hyped "multimedia" technology.
By blending dialogue, film footage, musical scoring, action, and interactive control, RA Mac comes closer to putting you "inside a movie" than any program yet written.
RA Mac consists of 15 chapters taken directly from scenarios (and in many instances actual footage) taken from the Star Wars Trilogy of George Lucas, a director who might be out-Spielberging Der Stevemeister if he wasn't already light-years forward into the future of re-inventing film technology from scratch.
Each chapter follows a loose "script" as you gear up for the movie's (and game's) climax, of course, a confrontation with the Death-Star itself.
The action sequences are interspersed with "continuity" clips involving other characters and events that moves the story forward according to classic cinematic conventions, and they are very effective. Each action sequence is scored with exciting themes from the original soundtrack (for a pulse-pounding experience try playing this game with headphones on) which go a long way towards heightening the experience. Unlike the tinny calliope that normally accompanies PC arcade games, this score is a full-fledged musical arrangement that perfectly meshes with the on-screen action. Well done!
Now the bad part.
The game can be very frustrating to play.
One of the things that earmarks a good video game is the accuracy of control that is granted the player. The game need not be particularly easy to play as long as the player feels like his skill is being rewarded as he "practices" and "improves".
RA Mac disappoints in this respect.
In many instances it is difficult to tell when your ship (or your ship's point-of-view) is going to "interact" with the three-dimensional environment thrown onto the screen by RA Mac.
It is possible to fly thought sequences again and again and still be unable to estimate the criterion used to determine when you are "hitting" something or missing it entirely. There are no "edges" or well-defined "zones of contact".
A good part of this difficulty arises from LucasArts desire to try and place you in the middle of the action of a "movie", rather than simply at the controls of yet another video game.
Yet, the "move/game" suffers as a game for the lack of it. There are really only two basic actions in RA Mac...shooting at something while flying or avoiding something while flying, sometimes simultaneously.
To overcome the ambiguity during the shooting phases of the game RA gives you an "automatic sight", which flashes and changes color when you are "locked onto targets" which are themselves delineated in video arcade game fashion.
There is no such convention for obstacles. You either figure what motion of the screen avoids them (often without know exactly why) or you hit them a glancing blow and watch your damage indicator (and blood pressure) rise.
This deficiency is further aggravated by what seems to be a completely bungled interface with many, if not all of the joystick controls available for the Macintosh.
My own experience with an Advanced Gravis Mousestick II, coupled with dozens of messages on this board convinces me that the game is virtually unplayable with a conventional joystick.
What LA SHOULD have done was to include a brief "calibration" phase that could read your joystick's input and map it properly into the game's play, but alas, hindsight is 20-20 and they didn't.
At least on my PowerMac 8100, the Gravis causes wild swings in the ship's motion, which are impossible to compensate for.
On the other hand, when I switched between keyboard and mouse control, THEN I began to truly enjoy my experience with the game.
To be frank (no, you were Frank last week), I was only interested in playing the game through once on the easy level, and that satisfied my curiosity.
For those of you about to embark on a five-year missi--I mean face the Evil Empire, I've included my impression of each level of RA Mac, along with password each level and the control I found easiest to use. You will want to experiment with changing the mouse control to "Y-flipped" on many, if not all of the levels in which you use the mouse, since this mimics the motion that most people will normally associate with the mouse (in other words, forward with the mouse will translate into the motion of "up" on your screen, rather than vice-versa).
As far as video options are concerned, I found that large and line-skipped worked best for me...the action was smooth and continuous and the sound came out clear and undistorted.
Go then and may the force be with you Luke, especially now that Shannen's out of the way.
(Note to the copyeditor at LucasArts...it's "eke" out every last bit of performance.)
PASSWORDS
EASY NORMAL HARD TITLE BEST CONTROL
<none> Flight Training KEYBD, then MOUSE
This is a two-part level consisting of a third-person flight through "Beggar's Canyon", an excellent 3D trench that's well defined and visually arresting, and a third person bombing run against droids. Contrary to the suggestion of your flight trainer, going right in the canyon seems to be easier than going left. You need to hit a minimum number of droids to complete this level. Eight seems to be the magic number.
It's also here that you will first experience an unexplained "feature" that Rebel Assault seems to feel is part of the "flight simulation" experience, namely, the loss of altitude at level flight.
Someone at LA hasn't done their homework. Although RA is correct in forcing you to "pull back" on the stick to retain altitude when banking (in technical terms, when you bank to turn you reduce the horizontal cross-section of your wing, which decreases lift), when in level flight any plane (or X-wing) should maintain or even slightly GAIN altitude when in proper trim. Come to think of it, why SHOULD you have to pull back on the stick to turn when banking? This principle only applies to craft whose altitude is dependent upon the pressure of air! Oh well. This feature becomes especially maddening on later runs when more precision is required because you have to keep constant back-pressure on the stick just to maintain your course! The extra variable this adds to targeting makes the game far more difficult (and for no good reason) than it has to be.
BOSSK BOTHAN BORDOK Asteroid Field Training MOUSE
This is a fairly easy level; You fly though giant hurtling asteroids and try to maneuver around them while blasting away at special "ice" asteroids which block your path. It suffers from some ambiguity since all the asteroids you encounter seem to be passing you by until you are "hit". It's hard to make out which ones are threatening, end even harder to figure out how to go around them. Still, it's a fun level.
ENGRET HERGLIC SKYNX Planet Kolaador KEYBD
This is a level where you have to quickly fly around giant rock crystals which makes it seem as though you're flying through Superman's Fortress at light speed. It's extremely difficult and challenging, and the graphics are some of the sharpest in the game. It's easier here to tell when you are about to hit an obstacle, and maneuvering around them is less confusing than in other places and a lot of fun.
The key seems to be to watch the ship in front of you and try to mirror its motion as closely as possible. Once you get the hang of it, it's cool to try and "match" what it does and anticipate obstacles that come up too fast to react to, and it's also the best way to survive the run.
RALRRA LEENI DEFEL Star Destroyer Attack MOUSE
A spectacular level - one that really showcases what an interactive game is all about!
You circle a star destroyer and take out its surface defenses while targeting two geodesic domes which serve as its command centers. The action is fast and accurate, and each "gunsite" that you destroy stays destroyed on each pass so that eventually you are fighting only tie fighters and targeting the command centers. Each command-center-buckeyball takes 30-40 "hits" to kill, and you get to fire at them from a multiple of angles and paths. The illusion that you are really circling an enormous spaceship in real time is incredibly powerful, and the sense of achievement when you finally total the ship is superb! Well done!
FRIJA THRAWN JEDGAR Tatooine Attack KEYBD, then MOUSE
A nifty two-part level. You're back in Beggar's Canyon again, only at higher speeds and chasing three Tie Fighters. Then it's off to satisfy your bloodlust when you embark upon a mind-bending round of ultra-destruction as you pound the daylights out of imperial ground forces (robotic death-ostriches) and what seems in one instance to be one of those inverted-Y-shaped vehicles that you originally trained in Beggar's Canyon with (did you just take out Rookie Two?)
LAFRA LWYLL MADINE Asteroid Field Chase MOUSE
This is an extremely difficult level. You fly through giant hurtling asteroids as in Asteroid Field Training, while trying to target both "ice" asteroids and Tie Fighters. It's nearly impossible to tell when you've "cleared" an asteroid, since they almost all look like they're going to pass you harmlessly. The graphics are great and the 3D effect is awesome, but the ambiguity of the flight path makes this level unnecessarily frustrating. This runs ends with a spectacular flight through The Flintstone's doughnut.
DERLIN MAZZIC TARKIN Imperial Probe Droids KEYBD
Also known as the Ice Caves, this is a nearly impossible level. You maneuver the ship inside the tight confines of a spectacular but poorly designed cave, the low resolution of which makes it very difficult to tell when you are going to come in contact with the wall. The best you can hope to accomplish is to try and keep the ship near the center of the screen and pray that you can somehow thread your way through the cave before you acquire too much damage.
As in other levels, the ship loses altitude when you are doing nothing, and the annoyance of trying to compensate for this deficiency while trying to turn makes control unnecessarily complex.
At various points you can select a right or left branch of the tunnel, and play may halt for a few seconds while the software gears up to "turn" you.
Rapid fire with the mouse is suggested, and forget about trying to target anything at all...just be happy with the droids you accidentally hit on your journey. As with other levels, you do not have to hit all the droids, although the more you hit the higher you score.
The most direct route out of the cave is Left, Left, Right, Left, Left.
MOLTOK JULPA MOTHMA Imperial Walkers MOUSE
This is a "fun" level and very imaginative indeed. You fly around the surface and make "attack" runs at a huge imperial walker (those things that look like mechanical elephants with 45mm tusks). There are two "attack" modes which you chose by going right or left at a certain point and pressing the option key.
The flight paths are spectacular and very three dimensional, and you really feel like you're pounding that walker for all you're worth.
The walker is comprised of many "panels" that change color as you hit them (each panel has to be hit at least twice) and each "hit" counts down a "strength" indicator showing how much damage you've done to the walker.
Not a very challenging level in terms of difficulty, but extremely well-designed and very exciting.
MORAG MORRT GLAYYD Storm troopers MOUSE
This is a throwaway level that is nonetheless fun to execute. You chase around the inside of star destroyer and shoot down storm troopers who are every bit as inept at shooting you as they were in the movie. The option button causes you to "shuffle" from side-to-side as you aim and fire with the mouse. Interestingly enough, it IS possible to take the "wrong" corridor and find yourself surrounded and defeated.
TANTISS MUFTAK OTTEGA Protect Rebel Transport MOUSE
Kind of a yawner - you simply fly around the rebel transport ship and take out wave after wave of not-too-sharp tie fighters. A level that might have to be played at a higher difficulty level to be appreciated.
OSWAFL RASKAR RISHII Yavin Training KEYBD
Another run through a twisting canyon (rebels seem to spend a lot of time in them), similar in feel and execution to Beggar's Canyon with the added fillip that you have to fly at a fairly low level and take out droids at the same time.
Not all that challenging, but well done and interesting.
KLAATY JHOFF IRZINA Tie Attack MOUSE
An instant replay of "Protect Rebel Transport" with the twist that at one point you must take out three tie fighters that are chasing your buddy Simms. If you fail to get them he's Simm Toast and the level ends. Klaaty, borady nikty.
IRENEZ ITHOR KARRDE Death Star Surface MOUSE
An irritating run for the gold across the level surface of the Death Star, peppered with targets that shoot at you.
It might be a function of the extraordinary size of the animation in this level, but on my PowerMac 8100 the action is very jerky and stilted.
There's not much to do on this level save for blasting away at random and trying to fly evasive maneuvers. A good pattern for this seems to be a quick "Z" (shades of Zorro) from the upper left across and down the screen diagonally and then horizontally left and back to the beginning.
LIANNA UMWAK VONZEL Surface Cannon MOUSE
Although one of the lowest res animations in the entire game this two-part run is by far the best of them.
A crazy loop into and out of the perimeter of a giant circular cannon, this chapter has it all!
In part one you have to knock out the cannon's defenses, which is harder than it looks since it's guarded by some aggressive tie fighters. Ignore them at your peril. Then it's a white-knuckle dive into the mechanism of the cannon itself to take out additional controls! Multiple passes, fantastic 3D effects, a large variety of targets, and aggressive opponents make this level the touchstone of the RA experience. Worth the price of admission.
Is the passcode a comment on Ru Murleen's sexuality?
PAKKA ORLOK OSSUS Death Star Trench MOUSE
A two-part, straightforward run through a very low res trench on the surface of the Death Star, culminating in an easy hit on the exhaust port which of course blows everything up and saves the day. Hint: Don't renew Harris' life insurance.
Quite boring actually after the spectacular surface cannon, and a curiously anticlimactic denouement to an otherwise exhilarating experience.
For additional animation (and a real bummer of a message) try deliberately missing the exhaust port.
NORVAL NKLLON MALANI The Finale NONE
As Darth Vader himself might say it, "This...is CNN". You've made it! Your ultimate reward! The universe is saved (for now), The Emperor banished into re-runs of The Prisoner, and the entire Rebel Alliance applauds your pluck and tenacity, although Commander Farrell still probably gets the girl. Hint: Sit through the credits for a cute animation.
