Not much of a plot. That usually makes me wary despite the fact that a few good levels had poor plots. However, this one really had me grimacing before I even set foot in it. Does anyone else feel that the Holocron bit was tacked on for no apparent reason. Furthermore, why would Imperials hide a prototype A-wing in a gallery? Why not hid it in a base? Oh yeah, and what happened to the Shrike? Did the Imperials do something to the it as well? It seems that the author had a chance to answer these questions and come up with a really good plot at the same time, but chose not to.

Mediocre is perhaps the best word I can use that politely describes the design of this level. The majority of the rooms consisted of boxes along a flat plane with maybe one or two objects in them. In other words, there were almost no slopes, or any geometric features besides the typical square and rectangle. The detention cells were squares with dead rebels in them-that's it. What happened to the beautifully designed detention centers that we all saw in "A New Hope"? Although some rooms had a lot of objects (beds, computers, chairs, etc) thrown into them, it didn't seem to hid the fact that almost every room was a 900 angled cube: No, pillars, beams, nothing. Now, some of these complaints can be excused because each room needs to have some semblance and not look out of place. However, there is a small section of the level that takes places in some caves where the author had an opportunity to show off his talent. Alas, that wasn't the case. Almost every area was straight and cubed. None of it felt natural, despite the good use of slopes here. It was sad to walk through areas that squandered the opportunity for some truly remarkable scenes. Texturing on the other hand, was well done. There were only a few minor errors (although a serious and dedicated author would have none) in the alignment and stitching of the textures. What I liked was how the textures were able to distinguish the gallery parts from the Imperial parts. My favorite were the textures in the gallery rooms, a checkered pattern, which helped capture the feel of a gallery. Although there wasn't anything extraordinary, there was a nice blend of a variety of textures that helped the levels design and aesthetics.

Enemy placement was perhaps one of the best parts of the level. There was a lot of challenge in the level, which increased the all important fun factor. Although the gallery rooms had some pretty tough customers (Trandoshans), there were some spots that allowed me to gain the upper hand and kill them all. Overall, the last two rooms had some fun and challenging firefights. Another plus was how the author placed the enemies so that they would be able to get in a surprise attack. The caves, for example, featured Noghri which roamed the hallways. Therefore, if you play the level again, you might not find them in the same spots as the last time. Items, unfortunately, were lacking. Health packs were always available, but shields were almost non-existent unless you were fortunate enough to find some of the secret areas. I beat the level with full health, but almost no shields. Of course, that was only after playing the level twice. Also, most of the items are clumped together in two or three random places, which means that you will be forced to backtrack if your health gets low. This level is hard enough that it might tempt some newbies to cheat. Then again, it might offer some challenge to veteran players. I don't mind the difficulty, but I am a little annoyed that the items weren't spread out. Backtracking through half of the level just to find a health pack is not something that I enjoy. Enhancements were a nice touch, but I think there should have been more of them. The most obvious and notable are the new textures. The pictures along the gallery walls were well detailed and helped capture the feel of a gallery. There were also some new COG's, but most of them didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the level. There's one scene where a rebel trooper is slowly spinning in a small cube while electrical currents zap him at periodic intervals. It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the level. Other then that, there really isn't anything new that this level offers.

This is where the level slowly falls apart, and for such a mediocre level, that's not a good thing. For one thing, there isn't a bit of semblance to the level. You start off in a cave without any clue as to how you got there. After walking up a ramp and then down an elevator I realized that I was in a cantina. Seconds later I'm in an Imperial Barracks area. I then proceed through another door in the cantina and suddenly I find myself in a detention facility. But that not the worst part. Once I find a key that unlocks a door in the beginning of the level, I go through it and open a door to my left only to discover a whole network of caves! Then I exit the caves and walk through another door and all of a sudden I'm in the gallery! Who sets up their bases like this! One minute you're in a bar, and the next it's detention facility. There's a secret Imperial hangar room behind a wall in the gallery! Why not have the secret room in part that's obvious Imperial? The entire level was so random, it felt like the author was just slapping rooms together as he designed it. However, that's just the setup. Then you have the realism problems. For example, why are there civilians in a garbage masher? Furthermore, why are there civilians and a droid in a wall that crushes them when the correct switch is pushed? This is supposed to be a gallery, not a slaughterhouse! Also, what's with the Imperials? The text file says that an Imperial strike team stole the A-wing. However, it never says anything about an Imperial base, that's meshed with the Ginda Kell's gallery. Are we to believe that the Imperials and Kell, a mercenary, have some sort of allegiance? I don't think so. Every SW fan knows that the Imperials and the mercenaries have an animosity between them. If you don't believe me then go watch ESB again and listen for Admiral Piett's line, "Mercenaries! We don't need their scum!". Then go read all of the SW novels out there and you will see that there is no live between those two sides. With all of these problems, it's no wonder that there was absolutely no mood established throughout the level. I won't even get into all the extra problems that this level causes by throwing the Holocron into the level for almost no reason. As if that wasn't bad enough, there were bugs ranging from minor, (CMP problems) to my computer locking up twice in the Holocron room. Needless to say, the bugs sure didn't help this level at all.

It's a mediocre level that will be given a less then mediocre score due to the bugs. There's a few things that I would suggest seeing, but it's not worth a computer lock-up.