The Uber Review Spree: Part Three – May the 4th Be With You
At the time of this writing it is 12:41 AM of May the Fourth. Although the date of this publication shall be May the Fifth, May the Fourth has been declared Star Wars day. I, for one, have always been a huge Star Wars fan. Albeit, when I was two-years-old, I was a fan of Star Trek. I guess I liked it because it put me to sleep.
However, since those dark days, over seventeen years ago, my knowledge of all things pertaining to the almighty force has surpassed all, including Yoda, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Jason McLean at least, in terms video games taking place in the Star Wars universe. So, without further adieu, I bring you four special mini reviews featuring four good / not so good Star Wars games!
Star Wars Battlefront
Who doesn’t love battle scenes? Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to hop into an X-wing or a Y-wing to take on the Death Star one minute and fight alongside fellow Rebel Alliance members during the battle of Endor the next? This game was amazing because it took what worked in the battle front games and takes them to the Star Wars universe.
You can fight major battles from the prequels and original trilogy in this game and it’s a fun treat for any Star Wars fan. Control Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Bobba Fett, or any other major Star Wars character as “heroes”. But for the most part, you’ll be playing as regular rebel alliance gunmen, storm troopers, clone troopers and all sorts of more typical and mass-produced Star Wars characters.
The aerial battles leave something to be desired, at least compared to another game in this week’s column, but Battlefront is an amazing game that is a must-play. It sounds like Star Wars and it looks like Star Wars.
Oh, and did I mention you get to kill Jar-Jar Binks? Every major Star Wars fan’s wet dream.
Star Wars Episode 1 Racer
Yeah, I know it’s episode 1. Sigh. As much as I hated the film and also hated episode 2, I have to say that this video game was actually not half bad. You can play as any number of the racers in the infamous… or famous… “podrace” scene in episode 1. But the only real thing about this game is, all and all, it’s just a racing game with the Star Wars named plastered onto it.
The only real character from the movie in the game who you’ll recognize is that annoying douche of a kid who played Anakin. I really wanted to punch that kid in the face when I was younger. Anyway, aside from him, the other characters are pretty random and are only shortly featured in the film.
The game, however, was fun. I liked the races and although the game got insanely tough near the end, it was still fun enough to warrant a rental. Of course, we’re talking about a game that was for the N64. Finding it now may be an issue. >.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron
Last week I reviewed Star Fox 64 and all I can say is this: this game is very similar. In this game you’ll be mostly playing as Luke as he works his way through the ranks of the rebel alliance post Episode 4 and Pre Episode 6. It’s a very fun game that focuses in on some lesser known characters such as Wedge, who many of you may remember from the original trilogy, although he was never a main character.
The number of vehicles in this game are huge. Ranging from X-wings, to A-wings, to Y-wings, even to things such as Vader’s Tie and the Jedi Starfighter. With all of these tools at your disposal, it really makes for some fun times and adds a tonne of replay-ability to the game.
This is one game that if you missed, I feel sorry for you.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
What if Darth Vader had a secret apprentice? This game answers that question by putting you in the role of a Jedi who uses the force in insanely awesome ways. In one such sequence in this game, he brings an entire Star Destroyer down by his lonesome, using just the force!!
The game features some puzzles, loads of boss battles, strong lightsaber combat and all around epicness. The final battles in this game are also just amazing to get to and really provide the player with a fun, fun time.
The game isn’t perfect. It crashed on my friend when he was fighting the final boss near the end (poor Austin). It will glitch and sometimes there in some repetition in the game, but even through all of that, this game takes you from post Episode 3 to pre Episode 4 and even to Hoth in Episode five depending on if you get some downloadable content.
So, let me just use my Jedi Mindtrick for a moment: “you are going to post this column on your Facebooks, Myspaces, and e-mail the link to all your friends.” And you had better, bitches.
May the Force… erm… fourth… erm… fifth… be with you.
