Return to Bespin: Reclaiming Cloud City

Initial Comments

This level is acclaimed throughout the galaxy as one of the greatest ever. I played it, and it certainly made an impression on me. Unfortunately, it was a negative one. I can see how this level is rated incorrectly. It's Cloud City. It's a chance to explore a set from the movie. It's the EXPERIENCE (pay attention to that word for later) of walking around a fictional place that you've seen before and know about. But once that's stripped away, you're left with nothing but a rag tag level. Sure, this level is looking good now, but you just wait and see at the end of the review!

Level Design

Let's just get this over with right off the bat. I know what some of you are saying. You've played through part of the level and said, "HEY HEY HEY!!! This looks absolutely NOTHING like Cloud City! It's all closed in and stuff!" Well, you must be one of those people who's spoiled by the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back. Back in the day, there was the original version, and its Cloud City was closed in and claustrophobic. This level was designed after that Cloud City (Wasn't it rude of George Lucas to change it after so much work was put into this level?).

Unfortunately, once you get over the overall look of the level, you begin to see a whole lot of problems. The level started on a landing pad. It looked like it was truly floating. If that was any indicator of the way the rest of the level was going to be, it would have been great. Unfortunately, the level gave way to misaligned textures and scale problems. There were halls that were wide enough to fit a good sized Bantha, while other were too small for little Kyle to squeeze through. Things are not looking very good for this level so far, are they?

Level Dynamics

Things don't pick up here, either. There are too many nonsensical puzzles, to start out with. Who would create a door where you have to shoot a switch from a vent shaft to open it? Item placement wasn't too good either.

Enemies were in good places, but pickups were just thrown in every which way. This downward trend begins within the first 2 minutes, where the author gives you a concussion rifle, making the rest of the mission way too easy. There were PGUs (Power Generating Units), those little things that blow up when they get shot, absolutely everywhere. All one had to do before turning a corner was shoot them and take out half the enemies in a room.

There are two things here vying for mention as the strangest thing in this level. One is Captain Jean-Luc Picard being here. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a Star Trek junkie, but there's no reason for him to be here. He's in a jail cell on Bespin. That might not be so bad, since the Imperials might have captured an alien guy. It's even probable. But who gave him a gun IN JAIL? This kind of thing just drives me mad. The other strange thing is the armory. Don't get me wrong, it was a welcome treat after I had fought all those nasty PGUs, but why was it located in the ventillation shaft? This kind of thing just makes no sense. The level's really not looking as good as it did a while ago, is it?

Level Experience

Experience finally gets a decent score, because EXPERIENCE (remember I said to be on the lookout for this?) is what I stripped away from this level at the beginning of the review. This level is Bespin. That's all there is to it. You can walk around a set from the movie and feel like you are there. You can see the lounge where Han shot at Darth Vader and the room where those little worker guys tried to melt C-3P0's head down. But once that's gone, you have notihing; a barely functional plot, 3 over-used aobjectives, and that's about it. So, do you really want to download this level now? Of course you do. You want to see, like everyone, the level that recreates Cloud City. And that's fine, just don't be disappointed when your dreams are not fulfilled.

Score

Design Score: 7
Dynamics Score: 7
Experience Score: 10

Total Score: 80%