Star Wars: Obi-Wan
Score: 60% ESRB: Teen Publisher: LucasArts Developer: LucasArts Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: I don't know what happened on the way to the Xbox, but Star Wars: Obi-Wan is definitely not one of the games you pull out to show off the graphical power of your new console. The framerate is incredibly choppy, going from smooth to sluggish at a moment's notice, in areas with no enemies and not even extended draw distances. Hur? It's painfully obvious that the engine hasn't been optimized, which is a shame; in a fast action game like this, smooth framerates are a necessity. You won't find those here. The character models are also frightening. Even most lower-budget games have animated characters; watching these rejects from the original PlayStation makes me downright depressed. Of the things Star Wars: Obi-Wan is, one of them ain't pretty. Sound, on the other hand, is generally good. The actual effects and music are precisely what you'd expect from any Lucasarts project--crisp, detailed and excellent. If you like John Williams themes, you'll have your share here, and the lightsaber clashes and clangs and the shots of the phasers are delightful. On the other hand, the voice acting is simply godawful. Obi-Wan sounds nothing like either of his movie counterparts, which makes for even more incongruity, and the rest of the characters range from passable to bothersome. At least the droids sound cool, but that's the vocoder speaking.
Gameplay: Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't nearly live up to the promise. While Star Wars: Obi Wan has its bright moments, for the most part it's a bland adventure game with little going for it, and a lot going against it. The storyline starts off on Coruscant, with Obi-Wan as a padawan trying to become a full-fledged Jedi and dealing with the requisite terrorist groups while he's at it. From there, it jumps into the storyline that we know, adding the requisite videogame bits to make it playable. Throughout the various levels, Obi-Wan will swing his lightsaber and use his Jedi powers to progress and hopefully succeed. For all its flaws, battles can be quite entertaining in Star Wars: Obi-Wan. Swinging the lightsaber with the right analog stick is a satisfying experience, and the different Force powers--jump, push, grab and slow motion--make for an entertaining battle engine. There's nothing like scattering droids to the winds with a throw, then whipping out the 'saber and causing some heavy duty damage. Unfortunately, the game's shortcomings get in the way of enjoying even the simple pleasure of combat. The camera makes it frustrating to take on more than two or three enemies at once, and since they often come in packs this can mean some serious trouble. Tied with the stuttering framerate, battles can often degenerate to whinging on the saber button randomly, hoping to get some licks in. As the game progresses and the enemies get somewhat savvier this strategy doesn't work as well, but it's frustrating to have to deal with engine issues when you're trying to enjoy the game. Add to that uninspired level design and puzzles, and you have a recipe for boredom. Remember all those games where you ran through hall after hall of nondescript locations, hacking and slashing but never really getting anywhere? Prepare to return there. Remember running across levels trying to get the magical foo that opens the mystical bar? Yeah, that's here too. A lot more could have been done with Star Wars: Obi-Wan in the realm of creativity, but it seems that after designing the Jedi powers, the dev team just ran out of steam and went for strictly traditional. There's a two-player mode that lets you duel with your friends, but it's not an attention span holder, due to the fact that the game isn't really a fighter.
Difficulty: The missions range from trivial to challenging, and there's a good degree of artificial challenge in the game as well. Since you can't save anywhere, you'll find yourself playing large sections of the maps over again if you fail; since the levels are large, you'll find yourself getting frustrated at this. Experienced gamers should be able to get through most of the levels on the first try, but the game does have its challenging times, especially in the later levels, and they can be frustrating. This is exacerbated by the aforementioned technical problems in the game.
Game Mechanics: You move Obi-Wan around with the left stick; the right stick controls the 'saber. The face buttons let you jump, crouch, use items, and tumble around in an attempt to dodge enemies. There's a Force modifier trigger, which turns all of the face buttons into Force attacks and lets you do serious damage with your lightsaber; there's also a lock-on trigger which lets you, er, lock on. The control scheme is actually well devised, and while the button placement for the Force actions seems fairly arbitrary, they're easy enough to remember and use. Star Wars: Obi-Wan's problems come not from the controls, but from the engine itself. The bad camera and chuggy framerate do little to endear the game to action gamers who like silky-smooth movement. Add to that extended load times, and you've got a hard game to sell. Star Wars: Obi-Wan has a number of neat ideas, and there are some truly spectacular battles that you can get into. But for the most part, it's right out of the adventure games of yesterday, with gaping empty halls and lots of monotony. With a limp game engine and poor design, Star Wars: Obi-Wan has little to offer anyone but the most die-hard Star Wars fanatic. A sequel could do much to clear up the problems with this game, but most people should steer well away from it.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
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