Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles

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Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles

Developer(s)	LucasArts
Publisher(s)	LucasArts
Release date(s)	March 31, 2000 PS October 31, 2000 DC November 21, 2002 GBA
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)
Platform(s)	PS, DC, GBA

Star Wars: Episode I Jedi Power Battles is an action adventure Star Wars video game set during the time frame of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The game was first released on PlayStation in North America on March 31st, 2000. It has since also been released for the Sega Dreamcast console and the Game Boy Advance. Critically, Jedi Power Battles was a significant improvement over the official Episode I videogame released earlier on PlayStation, and it focused more on action and battles, rather than adventuring, exploring and talking to NPCs like its predesscor.

1 Gameplay
2 Flaws
3 Plot Synoposis
4 Characters
- 4.1 Secret Characters
- 4.2 Levels
5 Images

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay is a refined version of that found in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. You use your lightsaber to carve up Battle Droids, deflect blaster shots, and jump to and from the occasional platform. In a tip of the hat to Legend of Zelda, you can lock your sights on the nearest enemy with a touch of the R1 shoulder button, although the system lacks Zelda's finesse. The fighting is clearly the best Power Battles feature. Once you get used to the control scheme and the many different functions, slicing up robots and dodging shots can be fairly entertaining. And the fact that the developers thought to include the option to play through the game with a friend is another bright spot.

[edit] Flaws

There are many points in Power Battles in which you'll die unnecessarily because of a bad camera angle, even when you're just simply walking around. Trying to pull off a platform jump is another matter entirely - one that in function is much more difficult and vexing than it's likely meant to be. Slashing your way through a few dozen enemy droids only to get killed because it's hard to tell how far away a catwalk is can be very frustrating. Beyond that, sometimes the perspective doesn't work well enough to reveal where you need to go next, hiding areas you have to leap to, by showing them to you straight on or full front so you can't see them. The levels are also quite long with few continues and no midstage save points (checkpoints only), meaning that you can be doing fine, then miss a jump and end up having a lot of backtracking to do.

[edit] Plot Synoposis

In this game, you choose from one of five Star Wars Episode I-era Jedi to run, jump, slash, and use the Force with through the game's ten levels. The game is Episode I, starting at the TF Droid Control Ship and ending with a battle against Darth Maul.

[edit] Characters

The following characters are playable in Jedi Power Battles.

Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi
Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn
Jedi Master Mace Windu
Jedi Master Adi Gallia
Jedi Master Plo Koon

[edit] Secret Characters

The following characters can be unlocked after finishing the game.

[edit] Levels

There are also 10 out of 14 levels; which include the Trade Federation droid control ship, the swamps of Naboo, The streets of Theed, Theed palace, Tatooine, Coruscant, the Gungan ruins, and the final Battle with Darth Maul.

There are also a list of levels unlockable by beating the game with certain characters, including "Drodiekas!", where players control Droidekas and attack Theed palace, and "Gungan Roundup," which is similar to a soccer game except that Jar Jar Binks is the ball.