Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire

For other uses, see Rebel Assault and Star Wars: Hidden Empire.

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

Opening crawl[]

Episode II
THE HIDDEN EMPIRE

By destroying the Death Star, Rebel Forces
proved themselves a serious threat to the
GALACTIC EMPIRE.

Darth Vader, enraged by his defeat, became
obsessed with the Alliance's elimination.

Toward this end, his forces have scoured the
Galaxy for a new weapon; a weapon Vader
hopes can catch the Alliance off guard and
give the Empire undisputed rule of the
Galaxy...

Plot summary[]

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 among the ranks.

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.

Back at Pinnacle Base, Admiral Gial Ackbar helps the pilots understand the message from the freighter. 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 not simply mining ore, but is instead supplying rare metals required to manufacture a stealth version of the TIE Fighter; the new V38 "Phantom" equipped with a cloaking device invented by Grand Admiral Sarn, allowing them to move through space neither spotted on sensors nor by any pilot until they were ready to strike. After destroying the facility, Maarek is killed along with Rookie One's wingman. Rookie One narrowly escapes into hyperspace. Back at Pinnacle Base, Admiral Ackbar comes up with a plan for 2 people to infiltrate the facility building the Phantom P-38s at Imdaar Alpha.

Rookie One takes a crash course in TIE piloting from Admiral Krane. Then, they head out to the jump point. Rookie One teams up with Ru Murleen on the planet Imdaar. They fly to an Imperial Landing Platform on the far side of the swamp on Swoop Bikes. Disguised as stormtroopers, they 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 (initially 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)

Development[]

RebAssault2 PSedition — Special Playstation Edition cover.

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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 were taken from the archive storage of Lucasfilm Ltd., and worn for the first time in 18 years.^[5]

Continuity[]

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 YT-1300 light freighter, a B-wing starfighter and a BTL Y-wing starfighter, and encounters new opponents, like TIE/IN interceptors.