Not much has changed in the Rogue Squadron formula since we last strapped into an X-Wing in 2001’s Rogue Squadron II. The same basic feel for each of the ships that you pilot has been left relatively unchanged. This, for anyone who has played the previous game, is by no means a bad thing as Rogue Squadron II and now Rogue Squadron III contain very tight and intuitive controls.

Using the D-pad to give out instructions to your wingmen, you take on various missions spread throughout the original trilogy, including some that weren’t shown in the movies. The A buton will fire your primary weapon, B takes on the secondary, with X and Y transferring you to your cockpit view and activating your targeting computer. The shoulder buttons, L and R, will slow you down and speed you up, respectively, and the digital clicks activate brakes or a faster cruising speed. Clicking R will activate this boost of speed, but your weapons will be inactive during this time. The controls lend themselves to a very user-friendly, pick-up-and-play configuration. For the most part, the control layout stays the same for each vehicle you will pilot with subtle differences depending on the craft.

The biggest change, and departure from the previous game, is the inclusion of missions on foot and the ability to jump into an Imperial AT-ST, or hold on to your hat while driving a speeder bike, like those seen in Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately, only some of these missions are actually any fun, and all of them seem to bring the fast-paced, spaced-based dogfighting to a screeching halt. The worst offender is the on-foot missions which aren’t as polished as the rest of the game. For the most part, Factor 5 included the horrendously tedious and unforgiving missions from Star Wars: The Clone Wars in their latest game and it clearly shows. In the boots of a low-poly character, you will run, jump, roll, duck and blast your way through rebel bases and grassy knoll moons without the protection of two tons of metal around you. It’s always nice to see a developer try something different in a game, but when you think of Rogue Squadron, you think of the excellent engine constructed for space battles, not a subpar third-person shooter. Speeder bike missions are a bit more exciting, but there is very little to them. Jump on the speeder, shoot floating droids and whatnot, make it to your goal. The mechanics for fun just can’t measure up to the series’ bread-and-butter: aerial assault. Only the AT-ST objectives show promise, and we are limited to just a few throughout the entire game.

For a majority of the experience you will assume the role of Luke or Wedge flying around in one of the Rebel’s many fighter craft, and this is where the tried and true Rogue Squadron formula shines once again and shows why Factor 5 is one of the best in the business when it comes to these kinds of games. For each mission, you will required to complete a specific set of tasks such as protecting an escaping shuttle, destroying gun turrets, following a huge-ass ship into an asteroid field, etc. Returning from Rogue Squadron II is the awarding of medals for completing specific tasks, having good marksmanship or completing an entire mission in a specific amount of time. Each tier of medals increases the difficulty of completing, but you will keep trying for the special features that they open up.

The graphics engine allows for a healthy number of craft to be on the screen at any given time, with TIE fighters whizzing past your craft as you blast their buddies into flaming wreckage. The texture work is, as always for Factor 5, excellently done, with high-resolution, crisp looking textures that reflect the gritty feel of the ships seen in the movies. Even with such a high number of craft on the screen, the framerate never seems to suffer any dramatic drop, or any drop for that matter. The draw distance is just that, distant, and the level of detail employed is astounding. This is what the GameCube can truly do as far as graphics go. Let it be said over and over, this game looks amazing.

Rogue Squadron III is presented in Dolby Pro Logic IIx Surround Sound, if your receiver supports it; otherwise, standard Pro Logic will give you that simulated Dolby Digital sound. As with the textures, the sound is crisp and devoid of any ill-effects from compression. The voice acting, although done with many stand-ins, is done well with a voiceover preview contributed by the game’s announcer on the mission select screen.

The most promising addition to the game is the two-player cooperative mode that includes the entire previous game in the series, Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. With the difficulty level raised considerably, you and a friend (assuming you have one) will be able to play through all of Rogue Leader using newfound cooperation to destroy TIE fighters and aid the Rebel cause. It’s nice to see console developers finally realizing something PC gamers have been experiencing for years, the ability to play through a single-player game with a buddy. Mutilating him with nails is only half as fun as fighting a 20-foot-tall boss with only a shotgun and a guy by your side with a pistol.

In the end, the game poses a certain been-there-done-that attitude about it, but it also shows that coming back and doing things even better the second time gives an added freshness to a completed objective. The on-foot missions aren’t going to please many fans, and certainly aren’t going to win any awards for their inclusion into the game, but the refined graphics engine and superior air battles more than make up for the short comings in the game’s design. The added two player co-op mode only sweetens the deal. Turn down the lights, turn up the volume, and blow the Empire into the stars. What could be more fun than that?