Star Wars Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire [The Making of a CD-ROM Masterpiece--from the cover]; Official Player's Guide

185, [1] pages, plus covers. Illustrations (some in color). This work is largely in a two-column format. Also laid in Rebel Assault II Troubleshooting Guide (six pages on tri-fold sheet), Rebel Assault II Getting Started Guide (single sheet printed on both sides). Rebel Assault II: The Official Strategy Guide (single sheet printed on both sides). Entry card for a drawing for a free LucasArts prize (single sheet printed on both sides). Entertainment software guru Jeff Hoff presents the official guide to Rebel Assault II, the game that lets users fly and fight their way through 15 levels of pure fun and adventure. Hoff reveals secret cheat codes, game-winning strategies, and suggestions for customizing your own level of difficulty. He includes a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the game. Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire is a video game developed by LucasArts. It is the sequel to Star Wars: Rebel Assault, set in the Star Wars expanded universe. The player character, Rookie One, pilots ships such as a YT-1300 Corellian Transport, a B-wing, and a Y-wing, and encounters new enemy ships, including TIE Interceptors. They uncover, and disable production of the TIE Phantom, which has the ability to cloak. It contains mostly original filming with actors and stunts, while the scenery and the space scenes were 3D rendered. According to LucasArts, the game was the first media to incorporate live-action actors and footage in the Star Wars universe since Return of the Jedi. The player can control aiming, shooting, and dodging. The game uses of LucasArts' proprietary INSANE game engine. Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire is played as a rail shooter; the player proceeds down predetermined paths. The player uses a mouse or gamepad to navigate, attack or dodge specific elements while interactive, pre-rendered video plays on screen. Action sequences take place both in starships and on-foot. While on-foot the player can control whether the protagonist is taking cover, or leaning out to shoot enemies. Flight sequences are divided into two variants. Sequences which involve attacking enemy ships are in first-person, and feature a cockpit view. Third-person sequences largely consist of areas where the player must navigate tight spaces while dodging obstacles. Here the focus is on control of the ship. In addition to save games a passcode system is used to restore progress. With each mission completion players receive a password to return to that point in the story. After the destruction of the first Death Star, Darth Vader has begun a new project for the Galactic Empire. Meanwhile, in the Rebel Alliance, rumors have grown concerning "ghost ships" attacking Rebel patrols. Rookie One, while flying with his wingman on patrol near the planet Dreighton, receives a distress call from a YT-1300 transport, the Corellia Star, which is being attacked by TIE fighters. The pilot has crucial information about the Empire's new project. After fighting off several TIE Fighters, Rookie One's wingman is destroyed by an unseen attacker, and Rookie One's ship is shot down, but he is able to eject himself before the rest of his ship explodes and crash lands on Dreighton, where the captured transport had been forced to land. Having survived the crash landing, Rookie One follows a tracking scanner to an Imperial station, where the Corellia Star is being held. After fighting stormtroopers, he finds the transport and its information, but the station's doors close before he can escape, forcing him to fly through the mining tunnels. He is able to find another way out and escapes through hyperspace. Back at Pinnacle Base, Admiral Ackbar helps the pilots understand the message from the freighter. The Alliance learns that the Empire has constructed a secret mining facility in the asteroid belt of Arah, somewhere in the Dreighton Nebula, and Rookie One is sent along with a squadron of X-wings to destroy it. They encounter derillium minefields and TI. …