Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
| Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi | |
|---|---|
 Box art | |
| Developer(s) | LucasArts |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | 3D fighting[1] |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Distribution | CD-ROM |
Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi is a Lucasarts fighting game released in 1997 and set in the fictional universe of Star Wars. "Teräs Käsi" refers to a martial art used in the game; both words have been borrowed from Finnish and they literally mean "steel hand".
Story
Masters of Teräs Käsi takes place between the Star Wars movies Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The destruction of the Death Star at the hands of Luke Skywalker has severely crippled the Galactic Empire. The Emperor wants retaliation against him and all of the Rebel Alliance and seeks the services of assassin Arden Lyn to eliminate the Alliance's key members. Luke and the others find out about the Empire's plot and challenge Arden, face to face.
Reception
Masters of Teräs Käsi received mixed reviews from critics. Most were disappointed in the fighting engine, which was inferior compared to competing games such as Soul Edge, Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Players were also disappointed that lightsabers, which are usually depicted as capable of slicing off limbs, were treated much like baseball bat-type weapons in the game, while characters with guns would need to charge the weapon up before being able to fire by which time they could have been defeated by a lightsaber character.
In March, 2004, GMR magazine rated Masters of Teräs Käsi number 3 on its list of five worst Star Wars games, stating that the characters in the game were grossly imbalanced.
In 2007, ScrewAttack placed the game at #10 on their list of Top 10 Worst Fighting Games.
Title
The in-universe meaning of Teräs Käsi is 'steel hands'. It is an old martial art from the planet Bunduki.
In reality, Teräs Käsi is a straight dictionary translation of the words steel and hand into the Finnish language, with capitalization added. The expression is intelligible for Finnish speakers, but grammatically incorrect. Correct ways to express the idea in Finnish include teräskädet 'steel hands' (a compound word) and teräksiset kädet 'hands of steel' (literally "steely hands"; not a compound). teräskäsi (a compound word; singular) stands for 'a/the steel hand' (Finnish does not use articles to mark definiteness).
Characters
- Luke Skywalker
- Darth Vader (must be unlocked)
- Han Solo
- Princess Leia Organa
- Chewbacca
- Arden Lyn, a master of Teräs Käsi hired by the Emperor
- Boba Fett
- Stormtrooper (must be unlocked)
- Hoar, a Tusken Raider
- Thok, a Gamorrean guard
- Princess Leia (in Jabba's slave outfit)
- Mara Jade
- Jodo Kast
