If you haven't already played this, you're probably asking yourself, "Should I bother with this since I already have Birth of a Mercenary 1-3". Let me give you a hint: stop reading and start downloading. Once the download has started (it's enormous), finish reading this, delete the old versions of Birth of a Mercenary (BoaM), go watch a movie, then come back and prepare to be blown away by a great story! This Special Edition version replaces the old BoaM levels, and adds a prologue, epilogue, and tons of enhancements, like a new font, new BM's, a new HUD, and more. Unfortunately for those of us that are still "modem-bound", all these enhancements add up to 17 megs worth of downloading. Regardless, download it anyway! You won't be sorry!

The architecture was well done in this pack. Detail abounds in the form of pipes, beams, shelves, and pillars. There was some kind of nook or crannie in nearly every single room, especially in the first level, where a lot of detail was added for this SE version to bring it up to the standard of the rest of the pack. Rooms were also different sizes and different shapes, some with recessed ceilings and some with dropped ceilings. Obviously a great amount of effort was put into making the walls, floors, and ceilings interesting to the eye. You name it, he did it. Texturing was also done well. Appropriate textures were used to convey a metallic Imperial feel, or an earthy-feel in the academy. However sometimes I questioned the texture choice, and occasionally it made areas appear too busy, but it was not anything that detracted from the gameplay.

One of the areas this level pack shines is in the enhancement department. In fact, it's so bright I think my corneas are damaged. There were cogs everywhere. Besides loads of doors and elevators, there were lots custom cogs: jukeboxes that allowed the player to change the tunes, indoor soccer games, indoor swimming races, guys getting kicked around in libraries, and shooting ranges with appropriate targets (*cough*Jar Jar*cough*). There's new enemies and tons and tons of cutscenes too. There are more cutscenes in this level pack than you are going to see in 15-20 other levels combined. In fact, I dare say that the time spent watching the cutscenes equals the time spent fighting. But don't get me wrong, all of the actors have voices and moving mouths which made the cutscenes interesting. As if that wasn't enough, there's a larger font displaying their words, making the text easier to read, but you probably won't read it since the voice acting was superb. As far as the fighting goes, there was a nice balance between powerups and enemies. I don't think I was ever up against more than three enemies at a time, and they were placed well, hidden around corners, sometimes shooting down at you and sometimes shooting up at you. The other major enhancement that you will notice right away is the new HUD. Originally, I felt it was too big, but it has grown on me a bit, and I like it (although the health display wasn't very accurate, but that wasn't the authors fault). In addition to the HUD and font, this level comes with a launcher and new background images. For that matter, I think everything is new except the colormaps.

A great improvement in this Special Edition over the originals lies in the lighting on level 1. The overly-colored disco lighting (for the most part) was removed from the Star Destroyer and replaced with normal white lights, giving a more realistic feel. Ambient sounds were everywere also adding to the realism. There were easter eggs and secrets all over the place. The new prologue is a nod to the Dark Forces intro, while the end is a nod to a scene from The Phantom Menace. All of these things plus the intense cogging kept me very interested and waiting to see what was next. The greatest strength of this level pack, though, is it's story. The new prologue (featuring Yoda, no less) sets up the pack as an adventure in storytelling, and the story doesn't disappoint. Each of the cutscenes reveals more of the plot, which culminates in level three with the MR-14. In Alfred Hitchcock style, players are only given clues to the actual appearance and destructiveness of the MR-14 until the final stunning confrontation. The only downside is most of the pack is relatively linear. There are loads of places to explore, but few of them are "off the beaten path", giving a vague sense of going from point A to point B.

This is an instant classic. If you can't find what you like in this pack, you need a doctor. The old versions of Boam were good, but this is better. I have yet to see a level or level pack with the kind of storyline or the amount of enhancements seen here. Easily, this has earned a permanent place on my hard drive, as I'm sure it will on yours. Go watch a movie and come back prepared to be amazed. Save me some popcorn too.