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GOG celebrates Star Wars day early with Shadows of the Empire

by: Sean Colleli -
More On: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Star Wars day is traditionally May the 4th, but GOG is kicking off the festivities a little early by releasing one of the all time classic Star Wars games: Shadows of the Empire. The game is going for a song right now, discounted to a measly $4.79, and both the excellent Blaster and Saber bundles of classic Star Wars titles also have steep discounts on GOG.

Originally an N64 launch window title, Shadows of the Empire was an all-out mid 90s media event that tied in with a novel, comic books and of course action figures. The game details the events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, following the exploits of mercenary-turned-rebel Dash Rendar. The game is notable for its opening snowspeeder level during the battle of Hoth, which later inspired the fantastic Rogue Squadron series. The rest of the game has surprising gameplay variety for its day, including on-rails ship combat and on-foot exploration and action.

Unfortunately, as is the case with most N64/Playstation 1 era games, Shadows' fuzzy graphics and clunky controls have not aged very well. The game received a PC port way back in the day but was always a hassle to get running. Once again it's GOG to the rescue, optimizing the game for modern operating systems and control methods. Forget The Force Awakens. Pick up Shadows of the Empire and relive the glory days of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.