A lot of people were excited when LucasArts announced that they would be releasing Rebel Assault( the all time highest selling PC CD ever) on the 3DO. Including me. Apparently all those people were like me in that they had never played the game before. Before I go into my personal opinion of this game- which, I might add, should insult lots of people over at LucasArts- I should explain what was explained to me about it's success. Pack-in deals- period. Apparently, the huge sales numbers for Rebel Assault were predominantly from deals LucasArts made with CD-ROM manufacturers to include this title in with their CD-ROM bundles. With that said, I can go on to the rest of this article.
Rebel Assault is awful. Unequivocally, completely worthless. George? Hello, George Lucas? I'd be offended if my name were on this game. It would be like getting an Ed Wood movie dedicated to you- no, it's worse, at least Ed's films were entertaining, though not in the way he probably would have wanted.
Why, you ask, is this game so bad?
The graphics, first off, are terrible. Grainy, pixilated screens with a color palette that couldn't have exceeded 32. This is Sega CD territory and even that machine is capable of more. Only the totally computer generated stormtrooper fights look any good in this game. Everything else is unbearable- so bad, in fact, that at times you'll be hard pressed to tell the walls from open spaces.
Next up is the sound. Lucas has always been a true innovator in the area of innovative, high quality sound. So, one would expect a CD product with his good name on it to have state of the art sound. You know, the kind of enveloping, edge-of-your-seat, you-are-there sound Electronic Arts uses for all their 3DO products? Guess again. Rebel Assault has nightmarish sound- low fi mono with such bad distortion in the vocals that it's probably dangerous to play it through good equipment.
Play control is similar to Microcosm and Novastorm's linear course, point, shoot and avoid system except it's more sluggish. While the game has 14 levels, you are forced to fly confining pre-set, linear flight paths. Some levels have multiple tunnels routes, but it still doesn't help since you end up having to do the same thing over and over anyway.
Overall, Rebel Assault is boring and totally obsolete in every way. With all it's spaceship shooting levels and Star Wars theme, Rebel Assault should have been a good game- a really good game. Instead, it's easily one of the worst 3DO titles available. It doesn't make any use of the 3DO's abilities at all.
Hasn't LucasArts seen Total Eclipse, Shock Wave, Super Wing Commander, even Burning Soldier? Rebel Assault is a total gaming travesty and it's a shame that LucasArts picked this title for a quick port over. Hopefully, now that the Christmas rush is over, they'll take their time and properly bring over something like the X-Wing collection, or- even better- the new Doom-meets-Star Wars game, Dark Forces.
