Star Wars Starfighter

"Finally...a Star Wars game worth playing..."

In a long line of games, Lucas Arts has always tried to perfect a Star Wars game to make the fans happy, and keep the license alive. Starting with games made for the SNES and following through the PlayStation and Dreamcast as well as the Nintendo 64, each game has gotten increasingly better as have the movies. With Starfighter, you control one of three different pilots and unlikely heroes during the Episode 1 time period, trying to save the planet Naboo from the evil Trade Federation.

-Visuals 9/10-

Fully detailed backgrounds and environments as well as lighting effects, ship design and rocking explosions give way to some of the best Star Wars CGI animations that give and breath life into the game. From the starting training missions, the amount of detail is truly amazing as are the space battles against incoming waves of enemy fighters. Star Wars fans will find that the amount of realism is what they've always wanted, and the type of battling that is done across three different characters is what has been delivered.

-Audio 9/10-

A musical track that even John Williams would be proud of, ther is plenty of pace keeping and pulse pounding music that is quietly in the background, but not too far into the background that you can't hear it. The sound effects are also notable, with orders barked out over the com system, and the screams of dying co-pilots during the intense battles.

-Control 8/10-

Really the only part of the game that takes some getting used to, the control interface takes alot of practice to get used to, with one analog stick controlling you flight movement, one to level you out, the shoulder buttons serve a myriad of different functions including a boost, lock on target, a brake and lasers. The facial buttons perform different functions that take getting used to, so the learning curve here is very very steep.

-Game Play 9/10-

Setting you in the Episode 1 timeline, you take the persona of different star fighters, each with a different purpose that eventually comes together through a series of intense battles. Your missions include escorting the Queen of Naboo, to protecting a pirate transport shipment, to taking out a giant convoy of freighter ships in deep space. The long and involved storylines give way to plenty of action throughout the various challenging missions.

One other mode is the bonus missions mode which can be unlocked by performing bonus objectives during the first player game. These objectives can range from the easy to the slightly insane, causing the gamer to go to the extremes just to make them all in just one pass. The replay value of the game is high enough to keep you riveted for a few weeks before you finally unlock everything there is to unlock.

-Overall 9/10-

A damn near perfect Star Wars game that gives the fans something they've wanted: A full view into the actual space battles of the movies. While the game loosely follows the movie, there are several sequences that keep the mood of the Star Wars Universe that haven't been rivaled yet in any other Star Wars game on the market. With intense visuals, a killer soundtrack and kick ass game play, Starfighter is worth buying, if not renting for a week or two.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/01, Updated 05/10/01