Yes! A good Star Wars game! (Star Wars: Starfighter - Episode 1 (PS2))

Member Name: dooyooman100

Product:	Star Wars: Starfighter - Episode 1 (PS2)
Date:	10/06/01 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent sound, Great fun while it lasts, Recreate that Star Wars magic on your PS2!

Disadvantages: Not enough missions, The odd (annoying)glitch

Bam, bam, ba-da-da bam, bam ba-da-da bam, bam ba-da-da bam…sorry (that was supposed to be the theme tune). You’ve got to love Star Wars though. That’s why it’s a great shame that there hasn’t been a decent Star Wars game for ages. With Starfighter however, all this is about to change.

THE STRUCTURE

Starfighter is a typical shoot-em-up, comparable to Rogue Squadron on the N64, and is loosely based on the Episode One plot. You get to play three characters – Rhys, who flies a Naboo Starfighter as seen in the film, and also Nym and Vana, who pilot new crafts, the Havoc and Guardian Mantis respectively. Each ship has the standard primary fire and also a secondary weapon – Rhys has homing missiles, Nym has energy bombs and Vana has a tagging weapon that enables her primary weapon to track the enemy. Pretty much par for the course, you might say. But read on…

PLAYING IT

The action is mission-based, giving you both land-based tasks and outer space combat. Most of the missions involve blowing up something, escorting someone or defending something. Not that exciting, you might think. But it is! You can take part in some truly epic space battles with laser-fire going off all around you. You’ll swear as you fly into the blast radius of your own energy bomb. And you’ll laugh as you pick off another pathetic Scarab. The controls are well designed and after a few minutes you feel right at home. You’ll soon be using the D-pad to tell your wingmen to cover you or attack your target.

'EPISODE ONE' STARFIGHTER

As you may have noticed, some of the enemies are recognisable from the Phantom Menace, but most are made up (Dianogas or Daggers, anyone?). Many of the missions have nothing to do with the film either (but perhaps that’s a good thing?) and you’ll regularly visit unknown planets. This does take away the Star Wars feel a little because you
217;re playing unknown characters, fighting against new enemies on unrelated worlds. You do get to blow up that control centre-thingy from the inside like Anakin, but a bonus Death Star mission would have been nice.

"NYM, GET OVER HERE NOW!"

The sound makes up for it however. The music is taken from the films and is spot-on. You can hear your R2 unit chattering in the background, the rest of your squadron talk to each other, and all the explosions sound real. Stirring instrumental cut-scenes link the action and you once again feel like a fighter pilot going out to battle.

The graphics are pretty spectacular. The draw-distance is huge and you can see for miles (although you can’t actually fly that far). You can really appreciate the lush rolling hills of Naboo, the rocky wilderness of Lok and the shimmering waters of the Solleu. There’s always loads of action on-screen but there is no visible slowdown, and every craft is extremely detailed. The only disappointment is that whenever you blow something up, it just disappears – it’s only a small gripe, but it’s things like this that prevent very good games from becoming classics. Also, there is an invisible ceiling in all the levels which bounces you back down if you go too high - very annoying.

SHORT BUT SWEET

The main fault with Starfighter is the lifespan. There are around 15 missions and most of these can be completed within a few days. There are also a few bonus missions that are obtained by completing extra objectives on the normal levels, and these are good fun (especially Canyon Sprint) but as I said before, a few bonus levels from the original trilogy would have been a good idea. As an added bonus, you do get to pilot Darth Maul’s Infiltrator, and it is the best ship in the game, but by the time you unlock it you will already have got gold medals on every level, so you’ve nothing really to use it for.

Overa
ll, Star Wars Episode One: Starfighter is a worthwhile purchase. What it lacks in lifespan and innovation it more than makes up for in graphics, sound, gameplay and pure fun. It is a great feeling when you see your energy bomb falling to the ground and crashing into a group of AATs, or when you and your squadron finish off a giant Dropship just before it delivers its cargo. It’s a very enjoyable game while it lasts, so don’t let the relatively short lifespan put you off. Besides, it is Star Wars, after all!

Graphics & Sound – 9/10
Gameplay – 9/10
Lifespan – 7/10

Overall - 8/10

Summary: