In 1998, LucasArts released a strategy game for the PC called Star Wars Rebellion. I may have mentioned this a time or two before, but I'm a big fan of Star Wars, especially the Original Trilogy. So for me of course, this game was a "must have". The retail price at the time was 75 Deutschmarks (approx. 50 dollars) which was steep for me at the time, but seems to be cheap now, compared to what new games cost. Being in Germany and buying games often had draw backs, especially if you didn't speak German, which at that time, I had basic very basic German skills, so sometimes instructions in games were a nightmare. Fortunately for me the game itself was in English, but the instructions, (I want to say booklet, but it seemed like a novel. The thing was 5 times thicker than any of the game instructions that I had seen before) was completely in German, so I had a tough time getting started.
The story started out directly after the first Star Wars movie, so the Rebel heroes, Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie all start out on Yavin 4, And Mon Mothma, the leader of the Rebel Alliance is on a secret hidden rebel headquarters. The Emperor is on Coruscant and Darth Vader is on a random system in the Galactic Core.
The objective is:
| Empire | Capture | Mon Mothma | Luke Skywalker | Destroy | Rebel Alliance HQ |
| Rebel Alliance | Capture | Emperor Palpatine | Darth Vader | Capture | Coruscant |
To achieve this goals you are able to recruit other characters to your cause. Each have their own skill set, some are better at diplomacy to sway popular opinion to your cause, some better at leadership which makes it more difficult for enemies to preform their missions, and also helps them to start uprisings on enemy held planets, some are better at sabotage missions to undermine the enemy's infrastructure, and some are fitted for special missions like research and development to improve your offensive and defensive capabilities. So after taking me a while to actually understand who could do what and how, I finally was able to start playing. I was never big into this kind of strategy games, so this made it even more difficult. Apparently I was not alone because I found there was a "Strategy Guide" was available for the game.
So I started filling in some of the gaps and slowly Star Wars: Rebellion became my favorite game. Not long after that, I found that there were game editors that I could use to rename the planets, change stats, or add characters. So yes, I did give myself a slight advantage over the computer, I mean afterall, the Empire is supposed to be stronger than the Rebels.
Below are some of the Imperial character cards (for example)
I played the game for years tweaking different scenarios some for the Rebels, some for the Empire. I changed names of planets to reflect planet names introduced in the Prequels. I added new characters, such as Baron Soonir Fel, the best Tie Fighter pilot in the galaxy (Though some say Vader is better).
Unfortunately the game was 16 Bit, which means it is not compatible with the newer 64 Bit computers, so it won't run on them. I played it on my old computer until the old box went dark and died on me. There are companies which offer a version that will play on newer computers, but I can't use my editor, and I've heard they don't really run that stable.
I am a little disappointed, but that's life, suck it up and drive on. Maybe when I'm back stateside I can find an old junkyard PC that will still run my old games, guess well see :)
Do you cheat with video games sometimes to give yourself an unfair advantage? (Me? oh just against the computer!)
Have you ever used any game editors before?
Used cracks? (No, I did not ask if you used drugs ;) )
Or simply used cheat codes?
Or do you stay completely on the straight and narrow when it comes to these games?
Let me know in the comments below.
And as always, please recommend!
