Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire

Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire is a 1995 video game. It is the sequel to Star Wars: Rebel Assault.

Overview
After the destruction of the Death Star, Darth Vader has begun developing a new secret weapon for the Galactic Empire. Meanwhile, in the Rebel Alliance, some rumors of "ghost ships" attacking Rebel patrols have spread in the Alliance.

Rebel pilot Kirby with his wingman, Rookie One, receive a distress call from a Corellian Transport, while attacked by TIE Fighters. The pilot had crucial information about the Galactic Empire's new project. After the first wave of TIEs, laser shots come from nowhere and shoot Kirby down. Rookie One is left alone and lands on the planet Dreighton where he goes to rescue the captured transport and escape with it.

In the Corellian Transport's records, the Alliance learn about a secret Imperial mining facility in the asteroid Belt of Arah and a squadron of X-wings moves to destroy it. During that mission, the X-Wing squadron discovers that the Empire was manufacturing a stealth version of the TIE Fighter equipped with a cloaking device, allowing them to move through space neither spotted on sensors nor by any pilot until they were ready to strike. Rookie One teams up with Ru Murleen on the planet Imdaar and, disguised as stormtroopers, infiltrate the Super Star Destroyer Terror. Stealing a TIE Phantom, they manage to destroy both the Terror and the TIE Phantom manufacturing plant.

Though they were able to return the stolen TIE Phantom to a nearby base, the Rebellion was unable to take advantage of the stealth technology, after a self-destruct destroyed their stolen ship.

Levels
(And their Beginner Mode Codes):
 * 1 - The Dreighton Triangle (intially available)
 * 2 - The ''Corellia Star (JABBA)
 * 3 - The Mining tunnels (ENDOR)
 * 4 - The Asteroid field (LACHTON)
 * 5 - Interceptor Attack (BORSK)
 * 6 - The Mining Facility (KROYIES)
 * 7 - TIE Training (AURIL)
 * 8 - Flight to Imdaar (KAMPL)
 * 9 - The Mine field (FERRIER)
 * 10 - Speeder bikes (GALIA)
 * 11 - Aboard the Terror (DENARII)
 * 12 - The Sewers (SADOW)
 * 13 - Escaping the Star Destroyer (ONDERON)
 * 14 - TIE attack (ALEEMA)
 * 15 - Imdaar Alpha (CATHAR)

Production
This part of the series contained mostly original filming with actors and stunts, while the scenery and the space scenes were 3D-rendered. According to LucasArts' magazine "The Adventurer", this game was the first media (apart from Caravan of Courage) to incorporate live-action actors and footage in the Star Wars universe since the Return of the Jedi.

In what would foreshadow the filming style of the prequel trilogy, the actors were mainly shot against bluescreens. Most of the environment seen in Rebel Assault II was computer generated; not even the cockpits of the starfighters were constructed sets. Instead, the actors were placed on a bobbing seat-like construct and filmed, while the cockpit (including the proper ship movement) was added in post-production.

The stormtrooper armor, weapons, helmets and suits, and Darth Vader's costume worn by the actors were not made specifically for the game, but were the actual props seen in the original trilogy. They taken from the archive storage of Lucasfilm Ltd., and worn for the first time in 18 years.

Cast

 * Jamison Jones&mdash;Rookie One
 * Julie Eccles&mdash;Ru Murleen
 * Gary Martinez&mdash;Admiral Sarn
 * C. Andrew Nelson&mdash;Darth Vader (costume)
 * Howard Swain&mdash;Imperial Officer
 * Roy Conrad&mdash;Captain Merrick
 * Craig C. Lewis&mdash;Admiral Krane
 * Michael Aron&mdash;Ensign Till
 * Zachary Barton&mdash;Commander Jenn
 * Marc Bauman&mdash;Cargo Captain/Stormtrooper
 * Chopper Bernet&mdash;Commander Kirby
 * Nicole Galland&mdash;Ina Rece
 * Carl Magruder&mdash;Darnell Reggs/Stormtrooper
 * Mark Christiansen&mdash;Rebel
 * Laddia Holly&mdash;Rebel
 * Garrett Griffin&mdash;Rebel
 * Kathy McGinley&mdash;Rebel
 * Howard Meehan&mdash;Rebel
 * Marilyn Moeten&mdash;Rebel
 * Ron Roggé&mdash;Rebel
 * Greg Scott&mdash;Rebel
 * Carolyn Taylor&mdash;Rebel
 * Matthew Troncone&mdash;Rebel
 * Blake Tucker&mdash;Rebel
 * Denny Delk&mdash;Intercom/Red Shirt One (voice)
 * Nick Jameson&mdash;Palpatine/Stormtrooper (voice)
 * Colin Michael Kitchens&mdash;Stormtrooper (voice)
 * Scott Lawrence&mdash;Darth Vader (voice)

Canonicity
While Star Wars: Rebel Assault had one portion of gameplay (Rookie One's trench run) deemed as S-canon, its sequel avoided any such difficulties by having a completely original plot. Rookie One's recollections of some of the events of the first two levels of the game appeared in Excerpts from the Journal of a Rebel Pilot, published in Star Wars Insider 27, while the TIE Phantom has been thence adopted to other sources, and described by Star Wars Insider 66.

The game also established the player Rookie One as a male, something its predecessor had left open. He commands ships not appearing in the previous game, like a Corellian Transport, a B-wing starfighter, a BTL Y-wing starfighter and encounters new opponents, like TIE/In interceptors. The fly videos now seem to move and rotate according to how the player "moves", so that there is an illusion of "steering" the ship (which in reality is following a "rail" in a pre-rendered course).