To bring you this story today, and the article in
the magazine, the movie has more or less been
spoiled for us. We've seen most of the footage,
read parts of the script, and even raced the
entire Boonta Eve race. But we're not sour. It's
been a blast throwing these news peices and
previews together, and just being a part of the
Star Wars experince has been a dream come true.
When we signed the NDA papers at LucasArts HQ in
San Rafael and ate dinner at Skywalker ranch, we
knew we were in for a fun ride. Now sit back and
enjoy this first look at this exciting PlayStation
and PC release. You'll like what you see!
The Star Wars audience was a loyal one, one that
flowed as one unit. When LucasFilm released the
Special Editions in theaters, this unity began to
separate into two units, those who didn't mind the
updated versions, and those who can't stand the
newly added stuff. Now, this group will transform
again, singling out those who don't like the
prequels. If you thought the Star Trek stuff got
confusing after Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep
Space 9, then be prepared for a similar disbanding
in the Star Wars universe.
From what we can tell, Episode I is a whole
different bag of tricks. The writing is true to
the original trilogy, but the look and vibe
produced from this film are quite different. It's
going to be tough to get acquainted with the new
faces and conflicts, but if you're a big Star Wars
fan, you'll devote as much time as necessarily to
become one with these films just like you are with
the original three films.
Episode I delivers a much larger political battle
than we've seen in the previous films. We'll also
see for the first-time well trained Jedi at work.
The Emperor was old and corrupt, Vader was in a
tin suit, Obi-Wan was old and fragile, Yoda was on
his deathbed, and Luke never finished his
training. On the other hand, the Jedi in Episode I
are one with the Force, utilizing many techniques
that are new to us. You'll gasp in awe as Obi-Wan
commands the Force Push to clear a path through an
armada of battle droids, and whenever Darth Maul
hits the big screen, we're sure you'll squeak with
glee. Maul is brilliant, and probably the most
exciting Jedi ever to grace the Star Wars scene.
He's resourceful and ferocious, yet he's still at
the bottom of the food chain. Maul serves his
Master, Darth Sidious, who is believed and
reported by Lucas to be THE Phantom Menace.
Interesting enough, Episode I is all about dual
personalities. The Queen wears two masks, all of
the Trade Federation vehicles and troops
transform, and there may be a thing or two to be
found out about Senator Palpatine, the future
Emperor.
If your breath was taken asunder by the trailers,
then we're sure you'll dig the film and the
upcoming games. For PlayStation owners, a special
treat is on the way. The entire Episode I
experience is embodied in a new action game that
original held the title The Adventure, but later
was appropriately changed to The Phantom Menace.
This release is developed by Big Ape Productions,
makers of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Metal Warriors
(an awesome game), and Herc's Adventure. Big Ape
has labored on this title for over twenty months,
and from what we see, the long development time
has paid off nicely.
The game follows the story in the movie to a tee.
However, it doesn't follow the script word for
word. You'd have a pretty boring and extremely
short game on your hands if you did that. To
enhance the experience, more action, puzzle
elements, and character interaction have been
implemented into and around the story. The opening
scene, aboard the Trade Federation Flagship throws
you deep into the action, and pushes you to slay
as many battle droids as possible as you proceed
down to hangar bay. You'll start the game as Obi-
Wan Kenobi, and will eventually have the ability
to take control of four different characters.
Along with good ol' Ben are Qui-Gon Jinn, another
resourceful Jedi, Queen Amidala, a babe and all
around good girl, and Captain Panaka, the Queen's
go to guard. You won't have the ability to choose
who you want to play. The character you command is
based on the level or event at hand.
From what we saw, the Jedi are the most fun to
play. Both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are very skilled
and have the ability to use the Force Push, they
can tear through droids with their sabers, and
even deflect shots with the blade back at the
opposition. Since this game deals out a ton
action, the Jedi have been granted the ability to
call upon a few new abilities not in the film.
They can jump further using the Force Jump and
take on a greater degree of damage. After all,
what fun would this game be if your Jedi died
after one blaster bolt hit him? It would be
realistic, but it would suck. The other characters
(the Queen and Mr. Pancake) rely on blasters and
heavy artillery to guide them through the game.
Using the blaster will come in handy in certain
instances, like when a slew of battle droids
approach in the distance, or when a hover tank
zooms around a corner. The Jedi can also use
blasters and different weapons, however, only the
Jedi can wield a lightsaber.
There's a great deal of item management in this
title. Each character comes equipped with a
subscreen that shows what items they currently
have. Another factor is character interaction,
besides the prerendered and real-time cutscenes,
you'll be asked
to explore towns and talk to the village folk for
answers and clues. All of the dialog in this game
comes packed with appropriate voice clips. Talk to
a Hutt and he or she will speak Huttese. For
example you'd hear, "wadda tou". This would
translate to "Give me back my saltine cracker, you
stupid fleshy thing." None of the actors from the
film supplied authentic speech or extra dialog for
the game. LucasArts and its staff of talented
people like marketing, human resources, animation,
and sound all added their unique touch to the
game. We don't know if these audio clips will stay
in the final game, but they sounded pretty good to
us. Whoever did Obi-Wan deserves a medal for his
performance.
With speech capabilities, the Jedi can try to
manipulate different answers by using Force mind
techniques. For example, Qui-Gon could say, "What
cracker?", "Here take the cracker." or if he used
the Force he could try to tell the Hutt, "You no
longer want the cracker." Sometimes the mind
techniques work, other times they don't. Some
species are invulnerable to the Force and will
flip out if you try to sucker them into saying
something different. When this happens, don't be
surprised if they attack or turn you down for
good. Village folk will also freak out if you walk
around with your blaster or lightsaber drawn.
Always keep it concealed until trouble arises, or
you may just create a new trouble of your own.
The Phantom Menace doesn't come packed with any
footage from the film. All of the sequences have
been created by LucasFilm, some mimicking the
flick, others presenting moments not in the film.
The majority of this game deals with non-stop
action. Hack and slashing through battle droids,
saving Jar Jar Binks from a stap invasion, and
head-to-head lightsaber duels with Darth Maul are
all part of this saga. Other techniques like
platform jumping, scaling ropes, and actually
piloting a stap are all included as well.
As we said before, this game touches ground on
every inch of the movie. You won't pilot the Pod,
nor a Naboo fighter, however, you will see what
happens via a video clip. Coruscant, Naboo, Mos
Espa, a gungan city, and several spacecraft
innards are all destinations you'll stumble upon.
We'd love to review this game, but LucasArts is
keeping this game under lock and key, for obvious
reasons. We probably won't see a review until
after the game or a day before the game launches,
so trust your instincts and wait. We can tell you
from an early look that the action was fantastic,
yet the animation needed serious work. We
particularly liked a level where Obi-Wan leads the
Queen out of the Palace courtyard. All of the
interaction at Mos Espa was also very cool. But
again, the animation -- ouch! Let's hope it
changed for the better.
