Imperials are pretty stupid if you ask me. When are they going to learn that building a self-destruct system that destroys their entire base with the push of a button is not a good idea? Self-destruct systems are fine, but let's not make it so easy. Anyway, this two-level series has a simple, yet sound plot. I didn't find any errors between it and the established story-line. Plus, general plots at the beginning sometimes allow for more detail later on. This kind of thing was pulled off with success in "Mechanics of the Force." The lackluster plot concerned me yes, but I still was hopeful.

A reviewer at the Command Chamber once said that you can usually tell what the architecture will be for an entire level, simply by viewing its opening scene. Taking that to heart, what did I see? I saw a large box where the walls and floor were completely straight without waver. Could it be worse? Well, yes because I was outside. This did not put me in good spirits, and throughout the rest of the level, my hopes were never raised much. Exterior architecture mainly consisted of flat open areas. None of it looked natural. Occasionally, I would find a slope, but for the most part there was an apparent lack of detail in both exterior and interior architecture. It was a little saddening too, walking through so many opportunities that were squandered. The actual base wasn't much better. Cubes dominated much of the base with very little detail. The main factory room, when stripped of all the AT-ST's, is not much more then a rectangle the size of a small city. The spaceport in level 2 is structured exactly the same way, except that there are tons of ships instead of AT-St's. Don't get me wrong, a few areas were really cool looking. For example, the area with the disassembled AT-AT's looked really good. The basic structure was a box, but there's so much detail that you hardly notice it. If only the rest of the level could have been as good. Texturing, going hand in hand with the architecture, falls well below average too. Many textures were repeated over and over again during the opening parts of the level. While this might be condoned for exterior scenes, there's no excuse for repetitious textures inside an imperial base. There are, literally, over a dozen possible textures to use, which is more then enough to keep everything varied yet convincing. Around the half-way point though, the author must have noticed this as well, because he starts to use a lot different textures in (what I guess to be) an attempt to vary things a little. Some scenes end up looking semi-decent, others end up looking not too good, and still others (as shown in one of the screenshots) just look downright ugly.

The best parts about the level are its dynamics. Enemy placement was surprisingly good in the first level. There was always just enough to keep me on my toes without it becoming impossibly hard. As for the actual placement, I was impressed for the most part. Most of the imperials were around main traffic areas. Although, I would have liked to see some more movement (i.e. patrols) I can't really complain. A few were just milling around, but most were where they needed to be. The second level, however, was just a bit too easy, and it gets even easier if you find the sniper scope. Complementing the enemy placement is, of course, the item placement. Although I never had full shields all the time nor was constantly on the brink of death, I was still a little disappointed with the placement of items. For one thing, the second level didn't have anything except a revive (and a health pack if an enemy was lucky enough to drop one), and even that was hard to find. Also, in the first level items were placed in packs, so you'd have a lot at once, and then you would have to go for a while without anything. I'd prefer a bit more balance. Enhancements, though, is one category that didn't hurt the level. For starters there are tons of new COG's. None of them are particularly eye-popping, but they all fit nicely within the level. There's also a new MAT, some new KEYs, 3DOs, and PUPs. There's even a little bit of dialogue although the speaker talks quietly. Turn the volume up if you want to hear him.

This is the part where the level really starts to fall apart. For one thing, there's not much variation to the lighting. Much of the variation came in sections: The beginning part had a certain degree of light, then it would switch to another degree for another section and so on. It gave the level an unnatural feel, which is not good when half your level is supposed to take place on natural ground. There are also a lot of realism issues and general setup problems with the level. For one thing, the base in the first level is a mess! It just intertwines with a series of caves. There's a lot of linear movement as well (meaning there aren't a lot of places to explore). When I looked at the map at the end, I didn't see the well-organized base that we all know is typical of the Empire. I saw a big tangle of boxes! Also, what's with the self-destruct switch? It's just a tiny little button buried in the rock. Is it near a reactor or explosives or something that would destroy a base? No. Then how is supposed to work? Why is the Crow sitting near the base? The second level has equally similar problems. For starters, are we really supposed to believe that a giant rectangle with ships in them and civilians milling around can pass as a spaceport? Also, how come I have to fight Vader at the end of the second level? There's no mention of him at all. He just shows up. It's things like this that pull you out of the level, not to mention that it destroys the entire experience. Furthermore, there were framerate issues. Even with a graphics card, part of the level is just so big that it slows down the computer considerably. This also detracts from the fun. Fortunately, there weren't any major bugs, just a few stitching errors.

You can try this level out if you want, but don't expect too much from it. This was the author's first attempt at a level. I hope he takes what he's learned and makes a better one next time around.