
Rebel Assault, by LucasArts
3DO version
1 Player
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, 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 predominately 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. Unequivocably, completely worthless. 
	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( if that). 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 LucasArts CD product to have state of the art sound- like the 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 urksomely confining, unattractive pre-set, linear flight paths. The various levels would have been semi-enjoyable in the least had the quality of the graphics been good- up to the level of Microcosm and Novastorm at least. It's especially unfortunate since over the game's 14 levels, Rebel Assault does have lots of different missions to play- from space dogfights to attacking ground targets on desert and ice worlds, even tunnel chases and 3rd person stormtrooper fights. 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. Because of the obsolete control combined with the awful graphics and despite the diverse levels, Rebel Assault looks and feels like a bad memory.
	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 and it's actually rather boring.
	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 long since over, they'll take their time and properly bring over something like the X-Wing collection, or- even better- the awesome Doom-meets-Star Wars game, Dark Forces. 
