Ever wanted to fight for the Empire? Now's your chance. In this level you take on the role of an Imperial stormtrooper charged with the recovery of stolen plans. A precise, to-the-point briefing with some nice graphics sets you up for a good time. Very reminiscient of the opening scene from A New Hope, this level does a very good job of transferring the point of view away from Katarn. The author has retooled all the weapons to include white stormtrooper armor, which looks great, and the other members of your squadron are standing by on the transport in case you need the backup. And of course you can't have Imperial troops standing guard on the corvette, so the author has replaced all the waxes with Rebel troops from the movies, which look really good too.

Settings taken from the movies have always worked well in Dark Forces levels, and this is no exception. The corvette is patterned after the one in Dark Forces, but the author has his own original ideas for it. He also does a good job of keeping the mission in perspective. But there are a couple places that could have used some work. I'd like to know why the Imperial probe droids shoot at you, and why they're flying around in the cargo hold at all. I also wish the author could have worked a little more at providing a better model of a corvette to work in. Other authors have gone as far as the technical journals to keep their settings accurate, and lots of other levels have used corvettes too. The level doesn't have a lot of extra space to poke around in. There are a few extra rooms, but that's about it. The path is pretty well laid out for you, and it's not too hard to follow it.

Overall

The thought of playing as a stormtrooper should be enough to induce any Star Wars fan to download this level. Even though some parts are lacking, there are lots of new graphics to check out, and it's fun to play from the other side of the blaster. Hopefully we'll see a few more levels like this surface.