Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Shadows is an ambitious game spanning space battles, a swoop bike run and on-foot action adventure through distinct environments. The size of some of its levels, too, was and still is ambitious; back in the day, progress on cartridges had often stalled at Ord Mantell or the massive Gall Spaceport which could take an inexperienced player up to an hour to complete.

Oddly enough, the vehicle-based levels handle brilliantly, and it's the on-foot adventure that suffers, which has some of the most floaty handling in perhaps any game, ever. The N64 Anthology book describes the game's controls as "completely unplayable"--whilst I wouldn't go that far, protagonist Dash's movement can take some getting used to and makes traversing terrain, flicking switches and combat more difficult than it needs to be.

It has its flaws, but I have a soft spot for Shadows and still find it enjoyable to play through. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it's littered with familiar characters, enemies and bosses and is one of few games that really captures the essence, feel and atmosphere of the original trilogy.