'Star wars : rebel assault' was a masterpiece of awful - at least on DOS. I don't know if it was better on console and just a crappy pc port.
I actually enjoyed playing it because of how awful it was. I think i made it about half way through the levels - hard to know - hoping it might get better, but many of the levels the controls were so bad it was pretty much perseverance and luck. The gameplay was tedious, yet also hard due to the controls - which tbf might be realistic for how actual space shooting would be.
Whenever you did pass a level the feeling was relief that it was over, and thankfulness for the luck, certainly not triumph. Save points were not after every level which was especially tiresome, and proved that it was luck more than skill.
I don't think I can blame my pc or my joystick, as this came out around the same time as the legit brilliant 'Star wars: X-wing' . The contrast between the two was remarkable. X-wing played very well even on what was probably a potato of its day. I reckon I'd have bought rebel assault based on the strength of X-wing and trust for lucasarts as a brand (until this game).
I think it was hyped due to having full motion video sequences or something or maybe just starwars fanboys, but gameplay was utter dogshite.