Hello, my name is SNES Man. Today we're going to talk about Super Empire Strikes Back, the
second game in the Star Wars Series. Does it stand the test of time? Well, let's see.
Let's get down to gaming.
This has to be the most epic title screen of any of the Star Wars games; just perfect.
But anyway, let's move on and start the game. Here we are at the first level which takes
place at the icy planet of Hoth from the movies. Luke's a little bit different this time around
than in the first game. His lightsaber, first of all, controls much more smoothly.
And of course, it's awesome that you can actually start hacking stuff up with your lightsaber
in the beginning of the game this time around.
Then, you get pelted by snowballs: one of the most lethal and terrifying things in video
game history. After this horrifying ordeal, Luke gets to ride on of those snow camels
called Taun Tauns. Unfortunately, you never get to rest inside its organs like in the
movie. Too bad. Still, the Taun Taun riding scene is lots of fun and it's a good way to
kick off the game.
The next few levels take place inside really hard ice caves. I hate these yeti enemies
that can freeze you. The gamers of this games must have known I hated those yetis because
they made the first boss a giant one of those.
No!
Okay, okay, as much as I hate being frozen, this is a pretty good first boss. You can
memorize its patterns and do pretty well against it so it's fun to fight. After this, you'll
keep on adventuring on the icy world of Hoth which makes up about half of the game. This
part is actually surprisingly difficult. The enemies in these levels can be tedious, the
bosses pack a punch, and there are many gimmicks like these ice crystals of death
But the first half of this game does have some really fun moments. You can play pretty
early on as Han Solo chucking bombs at his enemies, you can fly around killing probe
droids in 3-D levels, and most ambitious of all, the game lets you take down AT-ATs, those
evil tank things that the empire uses. Pressing 'L' or 'R' uses your rope that can trip up
the machines just like in the movies. This was a really great use of Mode-7 graphics
and pretty impressive for the time.
Overall, the graphics are really good in this game. The 3-D levels look cleaner than the
first Star Wars game, the animations of the characters are nice, and the bosses of course
are hulking and scary as usual. The cutscenes look pretty nice this time too. The only time
in the game I didn't like the graphics was in the jungle levels were things just look
kind of murky and messy. But otherwise, they did a really good job with the visuals.
Another good aspect of Empire Strikes Back was the controls.They're a little more smooth
than the first time: jumping is not so bad and slashing with your lightsaber is really
satisfying.
Luke's lightsaber is pretty cool but he also has force powers this time around. These are
special moves that you learn after you meet Yoda. There are just a ton of these that you
get out of nowhere. For instance, here's Force Freeze.
These powers are really useful but you only have limited energy with them. Some moves
like Invisibility tend to run out really quick. My favorites, though, are Force Elevate which
lets you float and jump higher, and Force Heal which recovers your health -- which is
obviously freakin' great.
These moves really brighten up the last levels of the game but my main problem is you don't
get time to learn them. The game just throws eight new powers and you and says, "Oh, better
be good with the Force!" Otherwise…
Maybe they should have just given you fewer Force Powers so you could focus on learning
those. Especially since you already have to learn how to play as different characters
and everything. In fact, both Chewie and Han Solo have their own special moves. Han Solo
throws bombs and Chewie has the awesome spin move. Chewie is my favorite character to play
as in this game. I don't know why, he's just a furry god of destruction.
Like the first Super Star Wars, this game is pretty challenging. The constantly respawning
enemies are pretty unforgiving and the bosses are hard to kill. Star Wars has a really unforgiving
collision detection. In most games like Mario or Mega Man, when you get hit by an enemy,
you recoil and flash for a minute, invincible.
But in the Super Star Wars series if you run into an enemy, you just keep colliding with
them until you run out of health.
Here, I'm purposely running into an enemy to show what I mean. Whenever you collide
with the enemy, there's no recoil; your health just keeps going down. I know it sounds like
I'm nitpicking but this has really bothered me over the years. The damage system makes
it easy to lose health quickly if you're getting attacked by a lot of enemies at once or you
can't escape from boss attacks. I just wish this game didn't have such a weird damage
system. Oh well.
On the bright side, the high difficulty is really eased by the password mode. Without
this, the game would be a lot harder and it's nice to be able to continue where you left
off.
Things to Make it Better
-A more even difficulty setting -Fewer force powers and more time to get to
know them -Get rid of those stupid ice crystal obstacles
-And a more forgiving damage system. This is the first game where that became really
apparent.
But Super Empire Strikes Back is still a very good game, well above average. It has good
controls, good graphics, and good presentation overall. The game also ends with a brilliant
battle with Darth Vader. He's not particularly challenging but it's a lot of fun to fight
him and it ties up the game well.
In conclusion, Super Empire Strikes Back is a solid game that improves upon the Star Wars
formula. It scores a seven out of ten.
So that was Empire Strikes Back but next time, we'll discuss Return of the Jedi. Is it as
good as this one? Even better? You'll just have to wait and find out. We'll discuss this
game as well as sum up the whole series next time in Part 3. Well thank you anyway for
watching. This has been SNES Man Reviews and if the Force is strong with you, I'll talk
to you again sometime soon.