Star Wars Episode I Battle for Naboo

The Trade Federation has invaded the planet of Naboo. The droid armies must be stopped at all cost. Battle your way through more than 15 missions of fierce, action packed arcade style fighting to restore freedom to the planet. 7 Vehicles are available including the Gian Speeder, the Trade Federation gunboat and the awesome Naboo starfighter.

I’ve been playing a lot of mediocre adventure games lately. You know, pixel hunting, and puzzle solving. I found myself bored. Down right frustrated with the same old game-play. I needed to shoot stuff up. I wanted to blow baddies up in a ferocious fast paced kill fest. Enter LucasArts Battle for Naboo. Is it just what the doctor ordered? Well, yes and no. Like everything in this world, there is the good the bad and the ugly. What are the good parts about this game you ask? It’s a Star Wars game baby! Nuff said.

Battle for Naboo is full of the fast, intense gameplay we have come to expect from a Star Wars title. The game is similar to Rogue Squadron. Fly around in one of seven vehicles in an arcade style, and shoot stuff up. You get three lives to beat each mission. If you die, you must start over from the beginning. There are no saves. As you progress, new levels, and new vehicles are unlocked. The battles get chaotic very quickly as you are insanely outnumbered in almost every scenario. The controls are simple to learn, but rather sluggish compared to those extremely agile droid fighters. I found that the odds were often one sided, a gazzillion droid fighters verse my ship and a wingman. Very nice. That’s okay though, because I am a Padawan in training. I relish the challenge. The game boasts a feature that allows the player to change vehicles within a mission through designated hangar bays. These bays are few and far between however. Even when you are able to switch to another ship, gameplay and mission objectives are really not altered.

Control is simple, but there are hidden boundaries that you can not fly through. When you hit them, your vehicle goes spinning out of control on its own till it reaches the correct area to continue play. This sucks. The sensor readout isn’t very accurate, and I found myself flying around in circles on more than one occasion trying to find my targets. Although the combat gets frantic at times, which is very cool, it is hard to overlook this games hideous blemish. It is a port job. That’s right. There is not much difference between this version and the console version. We’re talking midi music, mediocre graphics, and no save options. The kicker is, it’s tons of fun. While this might make an outstanding N64 release, I must admit it is a weak PC offering. It is a Star Wars game however. Despite its obvious flaws, I found myself playing the hell out of this game until the wee hours of the morning. If you’re a SW fan you will dig this title. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you probably already bought it.

This is not the kick ass in your face Star Wars title we’ve been waiting for from LucasArts. Remember the good old days? Remember how good Jedi Knight was? Remember how engrossing the story arc for Tie Fighter was? Unfortunately I’ve heard Obi Wan Dark Forces 3 has been canceled. Let us hope that Battle for Naboo is just to hold us over until the mother of all SW games is released. For the time being, we will just have to wait for Max Payne.

Install: Easy
Like eating cake.

Gameplay: 7
Sluggish response time, poor sensor setup, but fun as hell to play.

Graphics: 8 
Excellent graphics. For N64 that is, but not outstanding for the PC.

Sound: 8
Star Wars sound effects straight from the movie. Midi music is a disappointment, but it’s Star Wars midi music.

Difficulty: 8
Gets rather difficult toward the end. This makes replay value a frustrating necessity.

Concept: 10 
It’s Star Wars.

Multiplayer:  N/A

Overall: 7.5
Frantic arcade style that’s both fun to play, yet frustrating to control at times. Not much different from the N64 version. Midi music is a let down; graphics could have been better.