Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles

Review by Aaantlion

"Beyond uninspired and awful"

Jedi Power Battles disappoints on virtually every level. Set in the time frame of episode one, JPB chronicles the efforts of the valiant jedi knights as they infiltrate Naboo to combat the Trade Federation Army and confront the evil Darth Maul.

First off, I'd like to say the title is more than a little misleading. For a game called "Jedi Power Battles," you'd expect some epic fights involving Jedi, right? Or maybe a team of Jedi taking down hordes of enemies in massive showdowns? Instead the game consists of you traveling alone, as either Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, or Mace Windu, and massacring small groups of droids. And.... that's pretty much it, except for some unnecessarily annoying obstacles (that keep the game from being a pure beat 'em up) and the occasional boss. Needless to say, the gameplay, in terms of content and design, is simply underwhelming. Levels are generally straightforward and have few (if any) puzzle elements, unlike the home console versions for the Playstation and Dreamcast (also worth noting that the Dreamcast offers actual jedi battles in a special PvP mode).

However, if that's not bad enough, the actual controls suck what little sadistic fun you may have had smashing the hell out of completely helpless droids. Each jedi has two slashing attacks which require you to practically standing on top of the droid to hit. Most of the time you'll instead opt for a blocking position, which you can use to deflect shots back at the droids. You also have some sort of a force attack that you'll probably never use. Of course, the real nuisance is the jumping. Besides boss fights, the only way you'll ever die is by not taking a running start when you jump across a crevasse or misjudging when to jump. Both problems unfortunately occur far too often and many times you'll come up just short of the next platform.... except for those annoying instances where you have to precision jump onto a narrow platform which you can somehow magically overshoot. These jumping problems are compounded by the fact that JPB uses a 3/4s perspective which forces heavy diagonal movement

Although the game has two player co-op, I've never personally tried the option and can't imagine how much harder it would be to make those damn jumps with TWO people on the screen. Not to mention the array of normal enemies offers little resistance to one player; I can't even imagine the mind-numbing boredom that would result from two people breezing through the game.

As for the enemies themselves, they're as much of a danger to each other as you are to them. The ludicrously bad AI in this game will often have one droid attempt to blast you despite another droid standing right in his path. The hilarious result is an absurdly high rate of friendly fire, which is generally 100% lethal to low end troops. However, it begs the question, why the hell do the Jedi need to be there at all if the enemies are just killing themselves?! The majority of druids also stand still and fire in various 15 degree angles making it somewhat easy for you to move right next to them while "dodging" fire, if you were so inclined, to deliver a usually fatal lightsaber hit. The destroyer droids are a lot more durable and thus present some minor challenge. However, they have the same blind spots as their inferior counterparts (although destroyers move around) which prevents them from becoming a genuine threat. The bosses' difficulty is owed mostly to their higher than average life and shoddy controls, the combination of which turns insipid AI into moderately challenging (yet ultimately forgettable) fights.

The one high point for the game is the graphics. Although somewhat jagged and a little blurry, they demonstrate the GBA is capable of nicer 3D than what we typically see. As previously mentioned, JPB uses a 3/4s perspective which helps accentuate the illusion of full 3D and show some measure of "depth". At the same time, the 3/4s perspective still looks forced and cheesy in addition to hampering gameplay.

Neither the sound nor story are worth talking about. If you've seen the movie, you have a rough idea of the premise. The game really doesn't delve any further than that, despite fighting through large segments of some areas barely touched upon during the movie (and having the option to use a character who wasn't involved in the action at all). The music isn't anything impressive and the sound effects are even more monotonous and repetitive than the actual enemies. I'd strongly advise playing with the sound off.

Overall, I'd have a hard time recommending this game to anybody. The gameplay is bland and repetitive, the controls have major faults, and there are few redeeming factors. Replay is also nearly non-existent, as this version only has one unlockable character who fights basically the same as the others and doesn't impact the story in any way. After completing the game once, odds are you won't want to go back and play through it again just to do it as a secret character.