Review: 'Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo'

	GALLERY

In this story: Graphics are out-of-this-world RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Adam Levine
CNNSI.com Senior Producer

(CNN) -- The next "Star Wars" movie is more than a year away, but fortunately the Force is strong with the creative folks over at LucasArts. Their latest video game effort is "Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo."

"Naboo" is the second game for the Nintendo 64 based on the "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" movie. The first, "Star Wars: Episode I Racer" (1999), was a decent title based on one of the better scenes in the movie. "Naboo" is a sequel as well, following up the successful combat-fighter game "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron" (1998).

The plot of the game is pretty straightforward. You control Lieutenant Gavyn Sykes, fighting to defend his home world against the evil Trade Federation. The story arc of the game loosely takes place in conjunction with the movie during a few overlapping levels. For the most part it's an original, if not basic story that unravels in animated cut scenes before, during and after each level.

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The game consists of 15 levels. About half of them are aerial with the rest on the ground or in the water. Your objectives are pretty simple in each; it's always search and destroy or protect and destroy. Along the way you get the chance to save hostages, but it's a blast first and skip the questions later approach.

Several crafts are available depending on the terrain in each level. These include a land speeder, gain speeder, heavy stap, Trade Federation gunboat, Naboo starfighter, Naboo police cruiser and Naboo bomber. A few levels require you to use more than one to complete it. The cream of the crop is the starfighter. Using it to zip through aerial missions in the varied terrain is a real treat.

In my opinion, the best levels are definitely the land-based ones. The second-to-last mission, a run-and-gun through the streets of Theed (Naboo's capital city) will leave you wanting more.

Two of the levels in outer space have you attacking bases and engaging in aerial combat with drone fighters. The one noticeable flaw in the game exists in these levels because your radar is basically two-dimensional in a 3-D environment, which unfortunately makes it really easy to miss targets and foes.

"Naboo" is simply a gorgeous looking game. There's no fogging in the distance, allowing for expansive views on the horizon on every level that doesn't take place off-planet. You can change your game perspective on the fly to include your ship in the action or have a crosshairs-only view. There's also very little draw-in, which means you don't have to worry about unexpected crashes when a mountain appears out of nowhere.

LucasArts has mastered the daunting task of how to effectively compress sound samples in Nintendo 64 games. "Naboo" is just another chapter in their ongoing success. The game features plenty of crisp audio with everything from blaster fire to voice samples guiding you to mission objectives.

Perhaps the best aspect of "Naboo" is its great replay value. After you finish a level, the game rewards you with performance-based medals (bronze, silver and gold). Medals are awarded based on time taken to finish a level, enemies destroyed, accuracy, friendly saves, bonus task completion and lives remaining. Getting the bronze is just a matter of trial and error, while fighting your way to gold takes serious patience and skill. Hidden levels and vehicles are your reward for taking the time. Viewing your progress during a level would have been a nice touch. It's easy to lose a gold medal by failing to take out just one enemy.

If you liked "Rogue Squadron" then this game is a must for your collection. If you missed that one, then you still won't go wrong with "Naboo." The N64 may be showing its age, but games like this will keep you from mothballing it just yet.

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LucasArts Entertainment Company
  • Star Wars: Episode I Battle For Naboo
Nintendo

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