Every Star Wars fan (okay, maybe the ones who love the “original” trilogy better) already knows about the expanded universe in books, comics, TV series, and any other forms of media. The list of these books has grown tremendously over the years with their popularity, and it’s up to fans to pick and choose which part of the Star Wars saga they want to read about. Most fans like to read about events that happen in between or just before the movies. Others, like to hear about what happens after the cute and cuddly Ewoks (with their barbaric weapons) take down the most technologically advanced group in Star Wars history: the Empire. Maybe next time the Empire shouldn’t have based their entire stormtrooper technology on cheap white plastic.
One book in particular stands out in the massive library of Star Wars fiction: Shadows of the Empire. It tells the story of all of your favorite Star Wars characters (minus Han who is trapped in carbonite) in between the Empire Strikes back and Return of the Jedi movies. The gang hatches a plan to save Han, but get tied up into one of the galaxies most feared criminal organizations: Black Sun. You’ll also be introduced to other side characters that aren’t ever in the movies, like the droid bodyguard assassin Guri, the head of Black Sun Prince Xizor and one of my favorite characters being Dash Rendar, the pay to play smuggler. He’s almost a carbon copy of Han Solo, but even more of an asshole. I always loved that side of Han. He’s a dick but he wins over the princess.
It’s just enough of the main saga of Star Wars to care, but enough new fresh content thrown in to play around with. If you haven’t read the book, you might have even played the N64 classic of the same name. There, you would take control of Dash with his trusty sidekick droid Leebo, and see what happens alongside the story of the book. The book mostly follows the other main characters of Chewie, Lando, Leia, Luke and the droids. In the game, you’ll only follow Dash and will constantly go off on your own, but occasionally intersect with the main characters. I just finished reading Shadows of the Empire. Now that I look back on that game, I realize just how great it actually was. Now I want a high definition remake.
The story in the book makes for a lot of flying and dog fights in space. Its a little tough to read because you’re constantly trying to picture in your mind whats going on in large galactic battle, but the book fits perfectly into what a game should be: action. Their were a few third-person exploration levels thrown into the N64 classic for a junkyard sequence and hunting down Boba Fett (before he gets killed in the sarlacc pit). This would be perfect as well.
The story for Shadows of the Empire was the shining point. Every now and then in the book you’ll see a small connection to the main Star Wars movies. Want to know how many Bothans died to bring Mon Mothma the second Death Star information? That’s in the book. It’s small trinkets like this that tie back into the main story and you get one of those, “Oh yeah!” moments. But sadly, the story is also it’s downfall. With all of this dogfighting, chasing and battles, the end of the book doesn’t really wrap up. It can’t. It’s got to make room for the Return of the Jedi movie. This could piss some gamers off. They just battled for 8 hours and they get to the end only to see that pretty much everything is the same as the beginning. Maybe they should just have the plans fall into the Alliance’s hands and show the first couple of clips from Return of the Jedi, then cut it off. THAT would make a great ending.
With the first Star Wars: Force Unleashed having a mediocre story at best and rinse and repeat gameplay (and also a Star Destroyer glitch to hamper the game), Shadows of the Empire could be the breath of fresh air that Star Wars gamers and fans need. Sure, playing as Luke Starkiller in the Force Unleashed series is nice and all, but being able to tie into the main movies is something every Star Wars fan wants to do. That’s the reason the Rogue Squadron flight series did so well. Who didn’t want to take down Imperial walkers on Hoth? Anybody? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Everyone does.
So with those reasons right there: renewed faith in the Star Wars franchise, fun engaging gameplay, action packed sequences, and little tie-backs and hints to the original trilogy, gamers (myself included) would line up in droves to play a high-def Shadows of the Empire game. I just hope Mr. Lucas signs off on it instead of trying to slap on “Special Edition” to another turd nugget.
As long as it’s done right. Star Wars has to be handled with delicate kid gloves to not destroy the franchise’ legacy. The Force Unleashed 2 was meh enough to make me want something new and kick ass.