A long, long time ago, some time after the mediocre Episode I...

Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition

Release Date: 2001
System: X-Box
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Publisher: LucasArts

Let's face it: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was easily the worst of all the Star Wars movies. And some of the games that came out of it weren't all that great either.

Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition could have been one of the non-mediocre games based on Episode I, but because of one major flaw, it only manages to break the "average" barrier.

Starfighter takes place shortly before the Battle of Naboo, the climatic battle of Episode I. The game follows the course of three characters: a Naboo pilot named Rhys Dallows, a mercenary named Vana Sage, and a creepy-looking pirate named Nym. All three find themselves on the Trade Federation's hit list due to their discovery of the federation's impending unlawful invasion of Naboo. When their paths cross due to these discoveries, and the resulting threats on their lives, the mismatched trio find themselves working together to stop the Trade Federation in their tracks.

The player controls three fighters throughout the course of the game: an N-1 Naboo Starfighter piloted by Dallows, Vana Sage's tri-winged fighter Guardian Mantis and Nym's bomber Havoc. Each fighter carries a different selection of weapons, which helps keep the action from getting too repetitive since the player must take different approaches to the missions depending on which ship he's flying. Each of these fighters can also be flown from one of two perspectives - a first-person view or a third-person view.

Speaking of action, this game has a lot of it. Every mission in this game - which take place both in space and closer to the planets' surfaces - has several objectives that need to be completed, from defending Queen Amidala's starship to taking out a certain target, and the Trade Federation scrambles SWARMS of enemies to thwart you at every turn. Players will never get bored in this game, as there's always another wave of enemies on the horizon and blowing them up never seems to get boring. Fortunately, there's plenty of variety in the enemies, from Trade Federation AAT tanks to the new droid starfighters. The mission objectives themselves also help to keep the boredom factor low - while a good number of them revolve around blowing up certain targets, there's enough objectives that break from that pattern to keep the game from ever getting too repetitive. The game also boasts a number of bonus missions that can be earned by completing bonus objectives in enough regular missions, which works well in extending the game's playability.

Starfighter could have been a true hit were it not for a couple flaws that conspire to lower its score. The first of these flaws is a sense of sameness in the way the three player-controlled ships handle. I didn't notice much in the way of difference in how the ships felt while I was flying them in terms of maneuverability or other such aspects. The game could have been better served by, for example, making the Havoc more sluggish than the other ships or something similar.

Something else that could use some work is the game's targeting system. To lock onto the target you want, you either have to cycle through all the enemies in the area (which can take an unacceptably long time in an emergency), or else point your ship in the general direction of where you think the enemy is and hope it locks on - which can be kind of annoying when your target is a dinky fighter on the other side of the frickin' star system. The game's zoom feature can help with this, but it's also one more thing to keep track of while you're under fire. Some kind of radar system or waypoint indicators for crucial targets would also have been nice, since the targeting system means you may have to frantically cycle through targets just to lock onto the one you need to destroy to complete the mission.

The game's most major flaw, however, is the one that detracts from the game's fun enough to lower its score dramatically: your ship shudders violently every time it's hit by enemy fire, and it shudders badly enough that it's virtually impossible to aim accurately or even feel like you're flying in a straight line when you're under fire. My theory is that the game designers got confused and thought they were creating a Star TREK game rather than a Star WARS game at some time during its creation; that's only explanation I can think of for such a mechanic making its way into this game. Yeah, you're supposed to feel it when your ship is hit in games like this, but when you can't even shoot back due to the shuddering, and when enemies CONSTANTLY manage to hit you after the first hit (as indeed they do in this game), and when you sometimes have up to half a dozen enemies shooting at you at once (another thing that tends to happen in this game), that's when the game takes a flying leap from "challenging" into "incredibly frustrating."

Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition has a lot of fun aspects that make it enjoyable to play, but that one ill-considered game mechanic does an unfortunate job of canceling out some of that fun. Check it out, but definitely rent before buying.

Score: 6.0 out of 10 (Lots of fun action that doesn't get boring, but the frustrating ship shuddering mechanic is bad enough to potentially provoke some controller-throwing among players, and the targeting system needs some work to function more smoothly)