As Star Wars fever continues, so does my new series of Star Wars game Reviews. This game is rated T, for violence, I guess. It’s not that bad, of course, unless you’re offended by lots of explosions... This is a ship-flying game for the Nintendo 64, based on Episode 1. In other words, you fly around in whatever ship you are allowed to choose and blast opponents while protecting your own. You use unknown characters that probably never were in any of the Star Wars movies. They’re just there to fill up space. And I didn’t mean “space” as a pun!

This Review is judged on a 0-4 star scale. Oh no, another accidental pun with the word “star”. I’d better stop doing this...

Graphics: ***

Well, what a surprise! A N64 game with good graphics! No, I’m not making a joke or being sarcastic. This game has good graphics, and I can’t argue about it. For once, a game maker stretched the N64’s capabilities to the max. The buildings, ships, droids, and landforms look very good. True, there are a few errors, but not many.

Sound: **1/2

I give a star and a half to the opening Star Wars theme song before the first level, and another star to the menu music. The rest of the music is barely audible, or it’s not as good. I like most Star Wars tunes, but this game, like Episode 1, has not as good tunes, which, like Star Wars: Racer, are hard to hear or only are heard at different times. Strange.

Difficulty: ***1/2

Like all Star Wars games, this one is hard! No, not as hard as the other two I own, but still very hard. You’ve got to follow on the tail of your leader, or else you can’t protect him. But since he’s so slow, you’ve got to hold down your brake button to follow him well. Another thing, it’s hard to know what you’re supposed to be attacking. I’ve shot and shot at something, destroying it, and then got a “Game Over” screen reading that a certain building I was supposed to be defending was destroyed, and I was the one who did it. One last thing, more of a complaint, is that I don’t like the whole “defend your captain or a building” thing. I like the all-or-nothing, go-out-and-destroy thing, where you just attack something or some enemies and have to avoid them at the same time. I prefer having total control over the gameplay, not the game choosing what I do or don’t do. That makes the game hard. This complaint is about the gameplay as well as the difficulty level.

Characters: 1/2

Uh, who are these guys? All I know are the Battle Droids and Destroyer Droids attacking me. That’s it. I think I play as Darth Maul in one level, but that’s it. The rest of the levels, I don’t know. In fact, I don’t even want to know.

Controls: *

Well, I know A is accelerate and Z is brake, and that’s about it. B blasts, but so does C Down, or is it C Left? Then sometimes one button won’t work but the other will, or I’m supposed to hit a different button for something else. Confusing controls are worse than no controls at all. Plus, I’m not a fan of using the C buttons when my finger has to be stuck to the A button. What, do I hold the controller upside down so my left hand can touch them, or do I put the controller on the floor and use my toes? Or do I just lose because I don’t understand which button is which? The last one is the correct answer.

Speed (of the ship): no stars

Here’s a big complaint. Why is my ship so fast that I pass the guy I’m supposed to be protecting within two
seconds? Why not make my ship slower or his faster? Then why, in another level, do I get a super-slow ship,
and can’t catch up to the rest? Here’s a problem that needs to be fixed.

Levels: ***

The levels are very well-designed. You’ve got tons of stuff in each one, and they look very real. You can
easily get the illusion of actually being there, which the good graphics help with as well. For all that they put in the game, I give a good rating, as it took a lot of thought to do so.

Goals (Missions): no stars

I complained about this earlier. Why have strange goals like “protect this guy” instead of “destroy the enemy”? I mean, isn’t it a blasting-and-shooting game? Stupid, I say. Sure, maybe you’ve got to destroy enemies, but most of the time you can’t even find the ship or building you’re supposed to be protecting! That’s another problem with this game.

Concept: ***

This has become a fixture to my Reviews of different games, and I mean “innovative” by different. This was
the first N64 starfighter game based on Star Wars: Episode 1, and it’s a good idea, not to mention not a bad game, if you could only actually complete the tasks.

Ships: **1/2

There are many ships to choose from, but if you can’t unlock them or get to them, you never get to see them.
Find the special code on the Internet, like I did, and you’ll be on your way. But if not, you’ll have to struggle through some difficult levels to do so.

Replayability: *1/2

This game really isn’t that replayable, as even if you can beat a level, it gets monotonous. And once you get
moving through this game, you won’t want to play any of the difficult levels ever again. There are a few, like the very last one, that are worth playing over and over. Too bad there isn’t a multiplayer mode.

Fun Factor!: ***

Here are a few really fun things in this game: Jar Jar Binks getting crushed by the N64 logo at the beginning
is really funny. Enter the code TALKTOME and go to the second level. You’ll hear a guy singing, “It’s not
easy being green”, the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard in a game. Also, the final level is a blast, as you just mercilessly destroy all the innocent peoples' houses. I know, I’m cruel. But it’s just plain funny to hear them yell, “Where is the queen now?” as you blast their homes. (Maybe this is the reason it’s rated Teen...)

OVERALL: **

Well, they won some, and they lost some. In the end, it all turns out equal. This game has excellent graphics, levels, and Fun Factor, with mediocre music and replayability, along with horrible gameplay and characters. No multiplayer mode hurts it as well. I’d recommend a rent if you know the unlock-everything code and the TALKTOME code, as it will give you a blast. Oh no, a third accidental pun, on the word “blast”. Why am I doing this?

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