Assault on the Death Star (Interactive VHS Boardgame)

After references to it in another thread a couple weeks ago peaked my interest, I went and tracked down a copy of this on ebay (unopened too) to check it out.

An interesting thing to note- both Prowse and Jones reprise their respective roles of Darth Vader for the new footage on the tape.

Alas, there is quite a bit of "stock" footage used throughout the presentation, and the majority of the 60 min runtime is of "transition" footage showing the second Death Star slowly moving through space (this is nessasary though, since thats when the majority of gameplay occurs during).

Anyways, for those unaware of the storyline, the Emperor fears the Rebels may have become aware of the DS2 and has ordered it moved (from an unstated point of origin) to Endor where construction can be completed. The movement is detected by a known Rebel supply planet (D'rinba IV), Lord Vader arrives aboard the DS2 (from an ISD that takes up an escort duty of sorts, it seems) and orders the Admiral in charge to divert the DS2 to D'rinba to eliminate the planet.

Meanwhile, a team of (up to) six force-sensitive rebels and accompanying astromech units sneek aboard the DS2 using an Imperial shuttle, and have brought explosives with them in the hopes of either destroying or disabling the DS2.

While some members are captured, they eventually manage to break out of the detention block. Meanwhile, Vader manipulates one of them towards the darkside and that person becomes his pupil, now working against the efforts of the remaining rebels.

D'rinba IV manages to evacuate supplies and eventually a small rebel fleet attempts to attack the DS2. They apparently fail, as Vader orders D'rinba IV destroyed as soon as they are within superlaser range (after force choking the Commander in charge of the detention block). That order is carried out and the planet is destroyed, the DS2 continues of to Endor.


Now, the storyline is interspared with (besides things such as references to dice which can be ignored and atributed to gameplay mechanics) footage from the trilogy that mirrors certains events that happen (such as Han, Luke, Chewie and Leia using the garbage chute to escape, the Falcon leading the rebel fleet to attack the DS2, Wedge shown during the attack, Vader's confrontation with Luke from ESB, etc), so, my interpretation would be that since it is obviously stock footage, we don't have to take the literal meaning that Han, Luke and Leia were the rebel team (especially considering that Han is not force sensitive). This also blends events better with ROTJ. This might be obviously, but I figure I'd clarify that anyways.


Anyways, there's also some fun moments of Vader just messing with the players, which livens things up a bit (ie: "you- the player with the die, start drawing cards until you have a code key." :ause:: "Do you have one? Yes, I sense that you do, that can be very helpful...a pitty you won't be able to use it. Hand it to the player at your left.")


Now, all I gotta do is transfer this to DVD so I won't have to worry about the tape degrading...and maybe I'll make a shortened edit that trims down the DS2 gameplay transitionms, as well as the repeated use of the smae two TIE fighter stock footage moments...

 

Well, the storyline is predictable after the first time- but certain events will happen to different people depending on order of turn and how long it takes you to do your turn (for example, 3 minutes in (just an example), Vader always pops on and says the current player can draw a card, steal a card or move to a certain area or add a darkside point to their dial...now, the first game it might be your friend's turn when this happens, but the next game, it might be your turn when it happens). Also, depending on what happens during the course of the game, certain actions on the tape (appearances of icons or "jail breaks") may or may not affect your game piece. Also, it's a race against time..if you get your explosives in place, you turn the tape off and win the game- fail to do so and the planet goes bye-bye and it's game over.


That's the jist of things, but I'd rather not focus on the gameplay elements and instead focus on the storyline and footage of the game for the purposes of this thread...still, I'll let ya know how it is after I get a chance to play it :