Star Wars: Obi-Wan

"Yet another medicore Episode 1 game, when will it end?"

Introduction
I thought that I had lost my Star Wars addiction. Between the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, I thought that I would be able to survive for a bit without spending my hard-earned cash on merchandise. But I walked into the games shop on release date of Obi-Wan unknowingly, and I happened to see two young Jedi duking it out on the display booth. I stared for about 2 minutes, and then picked up my copy and whipped out the £45 to pay for it. And later that evening, after actually playing it, I was left feeling that I had wasted my money, but also mildly satisfied. Confused? Read on...

Story
Seen Star Wars Episode 1 : The Phantom Menace? Well then you have a pretty good idea of the basic storyline. They have omitted and added a few minor details, but for the most part, it stays true to the film. But I'm not going to tell you the extras and omissions in the hope that it will make you curious enough to buy the game. I personally enjoyed The Phantom Menace, so I enjoyed the storyline as well, but I did feel that they dragged it out a bit.

Graphics
Very, very disappointing. While they aren't terrible, it's just such a waste of the Xbox's power. You can see some horrible jaggies in the backgrounds, which also, just don't look all that good. The textures are sub-par. Character design is bland as well, but at least you can still tell who you are fighting against. There is nothing eye-catching. One advantage is that each stage is very different from the previous one, which helps to keep you concentrating on the game. Also, the Naboo stage doesn't look too bad.

Sound & Music
One of the few redeeming factors of the game. LucasArts know their sound, even if they don't always hit the mark with the games. The sound effects are good, and sound like they are taken directly from the film. Whether it's the swish of a lightsabre or the explosion of a thermal grenade, the sounds are very accurate. The voices of the droids shouting, ''Roger, roger,'' and ''Intruder,'' are also rather good. The only quarrel that I have with the sound is that the voice of Obi-Wan sounds nothing like Ewan McGregor (who plays Obi-Wan in the film). But Qui-Gonn Jinn's voice is quite accurate, even though you can still hear that it's not Liam Neeson.

The music is top notch, using songs from the original Phantom Menace soundtrack. From the epic choirs singing in the Duel of the Fates to the now classic Star Wars theme song, the music stays true to the essence of George Lucas's world. The different tunes playing have been selected perfectly for their respective stages, and really add to the atmosphere.

Gameplay
The deciding category, and how does our game fare?

Average.

No other word can describe it. There is nothing innovative here, and it feels like playing just another 3-rd person perspective action game. There isn't too much variety either. You run around slashing the enemy with your lightsabre, or shooting them with a rifle. Other times you have to solve some really simple puzzles. For example, you have to press a button to cross a bridge, but can't get back over it. So you have to jump into the obvious looking streams of warm air rising in between the 2 platforms. There is also quite a lot of running around doing nothing.

On the plus side, some of the enemies are really hard to beat, and there is actually a bit of skill involved in using the lightsabre. You can block laser shots back to the person who fired it, effectively taking them out. Also, using the force is always a plus, even though they have chosen to add only 4 different powers. Force push, force pull and force jump. The other force power is the best. It allows you to slow down time so that you are fighting in the Matrix-style bullet time, or as I like to say, Sabre Time. But I hardly ever use the other powers besides Force Jump.

Control
The control is also mediocre. You control the weapon with the right trigger, which works surprisingly well. Then you can jump, which I use only to get to other areas. You can duck and roll, which is could be handy if it wasn't so difficult to use. The turning is horrible, because the screen moves too quickly, and when I am surrounded, I tend to run away and have all my enemies follow me so that they are all in a straight line. But there is a 180 degree turn button, which helps sometimes, but the camera moves horribly here as well.

Continuity
You definitely won't be playing this game for months on end. Multiplayer is quite fun, but tends to just be hacking and slashing at each other until the other dies. Single player could keep you going until you finish the game, because there are new characters and multiplayer stages to unlock, but I doubt you will try and finish it twice. There are exploration icons to collect on each stage, but I cannot see anyone actually walking around on the stages looking for these.

Conclusion
Like the topic says, another mediocre Star Wars game. With bad graphics, average gameplay and not much longevity, I would highly recommend that die-hard Star Wars fans buy this, and everyone else rent. It's not a great game, but hey, the light sabre fighting is quite good, and everyone loves the idea of swinging the old blade around. Slicing through the droids like a knife through butter is quite satisfying.


Ratings:
Story : 8/10
Graphics : 4/10
Sound & Music : 9/10
Gameplay : 6/10
Control : 6/10
Continuity : 5/10

Total : 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/02, Updated 05/27/02